8/22/2020 – On August 10, Praggnanandhaa turned 15 years old. On that day he received a message by IM Sagar Shah: "Would you like to test yourself today?" Without hesitation Pragg agreed. Normal 15-year-old kids would prefer to have a party or spend time with their friends on their birthday. But Pragg is different. He is ready to give up all that if he can spend some time learning a new trick or two on the chessboard. And, so the test began! Fifteen positions were solved in less than an hour. It turned out to be a tremendous test — give it a go! | Photo: Leon Masters website

3/4/2020 – Geza Maroczy was one of the world's best players at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and at times even the best. A planned world championship fight with Lasker did not materialize in 1906. But two of Maroczy students became world champions. Maroczy was always underestimated in his role, and gennerally he had little luck in his long life. March 3rd was his 150th birthday. | Photo: Cuba News

2/11/2020 – Today Evgeny Sveshnikov, a great personality in chess, celebrates his 70th birthday. Sveshnikov was, in his prime, among the leading grandmasters in the world and also breathed new life into a forgotten opening, one which came to be known as the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian. | Photo: Thorsten Cmiel

1/10/2020 – Quick trivia: Who was the strongest female player ever born in the USA? If you said Alisa Maric, you're right! She and Mirjana Maric are twins and they are both Women Grandmasters — a unique case in the history of chess. In 1990, Alisa almost played for the Women's World title and after the end of her chess career she had a successful career as an academic. From 2012 to 2013 she served as Serbia's minister for youth and sports. Today, January 10, 2020, Alisa and her 20 minutes younger sister Mirjana celebrate their 50th birthday. | Photo: Rochade Kuppenheim

12/11/2019 – Viswanathan Anand, who turns 50 years old today, is a legend who has played many masterpieces throughout his illustrious career spanning decades. At the end of Tata Steel Chess India 2019, IM SAGAR SHAH caught up with the chess virtuoso to discuss nine of his career-best games. In this interview Anand talks about old times, untold behind-the-scenes stories of the pre-computer chess era and much more. Chess fans are in for a nostalgic treat!

12/11/2019 – December 11th, 2019, is the 50th birthday of Viswanathan Anand, the subject of ChessBase's most recent Masterclass Vol.12. TANMAY SRINATH critically examines ChessBase's latest offering in this series, a foray into the mind of a chess genius who has influenced the game in countless ways. | Pictured: Anand and his wife Aruna in Kolkata. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

10/13/2019 – She was the Women's World Championship Challenger twice, losing once and then drawing to the title holder. Before reaching the age of twenty she had won the national women's championship of the most powerful chess nation three times, and became one of the contributing players of the Soviet Union team that dominated the women's Olympiads in 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1986. Today Nana, now a FIDE administrator and general chess celebrity, turns seventy. We extend our heartfelt congratulations on an inspiring lifetime.

9/15/2019 – Hans Ree was the fourth chess player born in the Netherlands to receive the Grandmaster title from FIDE after Max Euwe, Jan Hein Donner and Jan Timman. Following his active years as a player, he became one of the most important chess journalists. Today Ree celebrates his 75th birthday. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

8/7/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the rapid chess exhibition tournament — part of what was dubbed "Levitov Chess Week" in Amsterdam — on Tuesday, ahead of Alexander Gríschuk, who came equal on points with 5.0/7. Anish Giri was the only undefeated player and came third with a half point less. | Photo: Zairon CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

8/5/2019 – Eight top grandmasters are currently playing in Amsterdam a rapid and blitz chess tournament, invited to honour the 40th birthday of the former Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation, Ilya Levitov. Among them is Vladimir Kramnik, who retired from the tournament chess in January. He and Viswanathan Anand won the blitz tournament which was held on Saturday. | Photo: Peter Doggers / chess.com

7/15/2019 – He was a world-class grandmaster, twice World Champion candidate, friend of Bobby Fischer (who enabled Fischer's participation in the 1972 WCh match), inventor of the eponymous Benko Gambit and the 1.g3 Benko Opening (which he used to beat Fischer and Tal). But he is probably best known as an author and composer of endgame studies and chess problems. He is also a loyal friend who has provided us with countless articles over the last ten years. We offer our heartfelt wishes for his 91st birthday today. Like to join in?

3/18/2019 – Vassily Ivanchuk is a fixture in the international tournament chess scene. It feels like the Ukrainian has always been there among the world's elite. In July 1991, almost 30 years ago, the he first reached number two in the world with and Elo of 2735. Today Ivanchuk celebrates his 50th birthday. Congratulations! | Photo: Nugzar Kereselidze

11/30/2018 – Today, on November 30th, 2018, Magnus Carlsen celebrates his 28th birthday, carefree, as World Champion, after successfully defending his title two days earlier in a match against Fabiano Caruana by a 3-0 win in the rapid tiebreak. Carlsen is already considered one of the best players of all time, but a few numbers show how impressive his career has been, and provide a handy gateway into the ChessBase archives. | Pictured: Magnus Carlsen in the ChessBase office in October 2017 | Photo: Nadja Wittman

8/9/2018 – Lubomir Kavalek was born in Prague, but left his country in 1968 and found a new home in the USA. In the 1970s, he was one of the world's best players and also successful as a second and coach, including Bobby Fischer, and a prolific writer with dozens of columns shared on ChessBase over the years. Today he celebrates his 75th birthday. | Photo: (left) Kavalek and (right) World Chess Hall of Fame

7/15/2018 – On his 90th birthday, which we celebrated with a major biographical article earlier today, we add to the congratulations: Happy 90th, Pal, please stay with us as long as you can, and remain as incredibly creative as you still are. It is also appropriate to present our readers with the solutions to Benko's record-breaking twin problems, which turned out to be harder than expected.

7/15/2018 – Today, July 15th, Pal Benko turns 90. As the progenitor of the Benko Gambit, chess theory will always remember him, but he also had an interesting life. He was a ladies man, spent a year and a half in a Soviet prison camp, fled from Hungary to the US, played in two Candidates tournaments, and is a renowned composer of endgame studies and problems. FRANK ZELLER offers more details. | Photo: (left) F.N. Broers / Anefo [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons | (right) Diana Mihajlova

6/7/2018 – Today, 150 years ago, on June 7, 1868, Dawid Janowski was born, one of the world's best players at the beginning of the 20th century. Janowski was an inspired and dangerous attacking player who was strong enough to challenge Lasker to a World Championship match. | Photo: St. Petersburg 1914, from the "Neue Wiener Schachzeitung"

4/13/2018 – The 13th of April is "Kasparov-day". Today, 55 years ago, arguably the best player in chess history was born and since then has shaped the history of chess like no other player — not only on the board! Andre Schulz briefly traces Kasparov's history from his first international moves, through the peak of his career in 1999, his life in politics (both in and out of the chess world) and on to his recent advocacy work. | Photo: Kasparov.com

3/23/2018 – Harvard professor Ken Rogoff is also a grandmaster who has appeared in the pages of ChessBase on numerous occasions, despite not being an active player since the 1970s. On March 22nd, he turned 65 years old, and we reached him by phone at his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to chat about the Candidates, ageing, Harvard, cheating, and a lesson learned 45 years ago. | Photo: INSM (CC BY-ND 2.0)

2/7/2018 – Jan Timman turned 66 years old on December 14th, 2017, and received an unusual gift from his friend of 50 years, IM Hans Bohm: a study competition launched in his honour. 66 composers from around the world competed for a 2000 euro prize fund. Noted study expert Yochanan Afek brings us the highlights — pull up a chair, settle in, and enjoy. | Pictured (clockwise from left): The jury: Jan Timman, Hans Böhm, Yochanan Afek, Harold van der Heijden | Photo: Dorette van der Heijden

7/18/2017 – Today, Alexander Morozevich celebrates his 40th birthday. Morozevich is one of the most original grandmasters in the chess scene and was in his best year, 2008, number two in the World Cup. The Russian Chess Association honors the anniversary with a portrait.

1/12/2017 – January 12 seems to be a special day for chess: today, three well-known chessplayers celebrate thieir birthdays! The oldest of the jubilarians is Vlastimil Hort who turns 73 today. Much younger is Sergey Karjakin, World Championship Challenger and reigning World Blitz Champion. But the youngest of the three is Harika Dronavalli. Happy Birthday!

12/12/2016 – We all witnessed Nakamura’s painful defeat against Wesley So in round 1, which meant that he Hikaru’s birthday did not go the way he intended. We all watched him put Vishy through the same pain yesterday on his 47th birthday, meaning that birthdays seem to be unlucky in chess! Sabrina Chevannes reports...

10/2/2016 – Today he turns 60, our very popular columnist Jonathan Speelman, grandmaster and mathematician, twice Candidate for the World Championship. In 1978, at the age of 21, he defeated his first GM, none other than Bent Larsen in the Lone Pine tournament (which Larsen went on to win). In celebration of his birthday Jon annotates this "ecstasy" game, as well as an "agony" encounter against Peter Biyiasas. Learn and enjoy.