10/1/2022 – Mikhail Tal was the third of the twelve World Chess Champions whom Frederic met. In our new weekly series he tells us how he met and befriended the top players, and the adventures they experienced together. Frederic has written a new book, together with Professor Christian Hesse, with fascinating chess stories from the last 50 years. It will appear (first in German) in October.

9/24/2022 – Mikhail Botvinnik was the second of the twelve World Chess Champions whom Frederic met. In our new weekly series he tells us how he met and befriended the top players, and the adventures they experienced together. Frederic has written a new book, together with Professor Christian Hesse, with fascinating chess stories from the last 50 years. It will appear (first in German) in October.

9/11/2022 – Max Euwe was the first of the twelve World Chess Champions whom Frederic met in the late before and during his involvement with ChessBase. In our new weekly series he tells us how he met and befriended the top players, and the adventures they experienced together. Frederic has written a new book, together with Professor Christian Hesse, with fascinating chess stories from the last 50 years. It will appear (first in German) in October.

5/29/2022 – Machgielis “Max” Euwe is one of the most esteemed figures in chess history. A teacher and a professed chess amateur, he did the unthinkable when he became world champion in 1935, defeating an all-time great in Alexander Alekhine. On top of that, he was a perennial top player from the late 1920s to the 1950s, an outstanding writer, and Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) President in the latter part of his life. On the recent occasion of Euwe’s 121st birth anniversary, Eugene Manlapao explores the life and times of chess’ 5th world champion.

4/30/2022 – Two world champions, Steinitz and Euwe; a chess family, the Cramlings; and plenty of 1.d4 practitioners, Moiseenko, Gaprindashvili, and Miles are born under the zodiac sign of Taurus. Their power lies in their calmness. A proper Taurus acts thoughtfully, prudently, deliberately. They calculate what they do, everything else is considered unreasonable. They may allow their opponent a refreshing nap while they think about the next move. It would be fatal to consider them limited for that reason. | Photo: Pixabay

6/16/2020 – Before the 14th and final round of the AVRO tournament, Paul Keres and Reuben Fine shared first place with 8.0/13 each. And as chance would have it, they had to play against each other in the final round. However, their game was not particularly exciting but ended in a draw after only 19 moves – which was good for Keres who won the tournament on tiebreak. After this outstanding success, the 22-year-old Estonian can hope for a World Championship match against Alexander Alekhine. | Photo: Valter Heuer (Archive)

6/15/2020 – Reuben Fine started the AVRO Tournament with 5½/6, but then suffered a setback and scored only 1½ points in the next six rounds. But at the end of the tournament Fine seems to have found his form again and in round 13 he outplayed Alexander Alekhine with amazing ease. The other three games of the round ended in a draw and with one round to go Fine and Keres now share the lead with 8.0/13 each, and will decide the tournament winner in their direct duel in the last round. | Photo: Alekhine and Fine during their game in round 6

6/14/2020 – After his brilliant win over Capablanca, Mikhail Botvinnik certainly hoped to win the AVRO tournament in the Netherlands, but just one round later the 27-year-old turned in an inexplicably weak performance against Max Euwe (the other ex-world champion in the tournament, left in the picture) and lost a short game. With all the other games of round twelve drawn, Paul Keres remains at the top of the standings table a half point ahead of Reuben Fine, while Botvinnik, with two rounds left to play, is a full point behind the leader.

6/13/2020 – The victory of Mikhail Botvinnik (photo) over José Raúl Capablanca in the eleventh round of the AVRO tournament will be enjoyed by many generations of chess players to come. At the outset of the game, the 27-year-old single-mindedly implemented a crystal-clear strategy against the former world champion, based on a central advance; then, he launched the final attack on the king with two brilliant piece sacrifices. In the shadow of this brilliant game, the most important development was almost ignored: Paul Keres secured the sole lead after Reuben Fine conceded yet another defeat.

6/12/2020 – Four draws, no win - that was the outcome of the tenth round of the AVRO Tournament 1938, which was played in the Dutch city of Breda. But despite the four draws the spectators in Breda got their money's worth as they could watch two fascinating tactical duels: Samuel Reshevsky (pictured) used hidden tactics to attack Mikhail Botvinnik, Reuben Fine used hidden tactics to defend against José Raúl Capablanca. Of course, nothing has changed in the standings. After 10 of 14 rounds Fine and Keres share the lead with 6½/10, Botvinnik follows with 5½/10. | Photo: Samuel Reshevsky (Archive)

6/4/2020 – Reuben Fine started well into the AVRO tournament. After his win against Mikhail Botvinnik in round 1 Fine also defeated his old rival Samuel Reshevsky in round 2. Max Euwe outplayed Salo Flohr and scored the second win of the round. José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine drew as did Paul Keres and Botvinnik. With 2.0/2 Fine is now sole leader. | Photo: Tartakower, Keres, Fine and Euwe analyse at the beach with a pocket chess set.

6/3/2020 – The first round of the AVRO Tournament 1938 brought the first surprise: Reuben Fine outplayed and defeated Mikhail Botvinnik. The games Euwe vs Keres, Flohr vs Capablanca and Alekhine vs Reshevsky were all drawn but Euwe and Alekhine missed good chances. | Photo: The first official move of the tournament

6/29/2019 – When on May 26th 2017, in Netanya, a man died during the preparations to celebrate his 80th birthday, the jubilee turned into a memorial for one of the greatest study composers from Israel. Many chess composers have an endless love and passion for chess, but he also had it for raising other young talents. | Photos: Arves.org

6/1/2019 – Many will know the Austro-Hungarian (and later Czechoslovakian) Richard Réti as a world-class player, but also as a great composer of endgame studies, so — in time for his 130th birthday — we continue our exploration of European chess composers with him. (Read part 1) | Photo: Ernst & Cesanek, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

4/17/2018 – Prof. Johann van Hulst, a teacher, parliamentarian, active chess player until his last days passed away last month in Amsterdam at the age of 107. For his humanitarian actions, saving over 600 Jewish children during World War II, he received the Yad Vashem distinction "Righteous Among the Nations" from the State of Israel in 1972. | Pictured: On January 28, 2011, Van Hulst celebrated his centenary in Wijk aan Zee | Photo: Alina l'Ami

4/2/2018 – Samuel "Sammy" Reshevsky was possibly the greatest player ever to never be a full-time chess professional, even as he vied for the no.1 spot during his prime. He was also one of the greatest prodigies of his day, conducting master level simuls around the world as a child. He played in many World Championship cycles, including the 1948 World Championship tournament. We bring you photos and a historic game commented by Reshevsky himself! | Photo: Kadel and Herbert

2/20/2018 – Emanuel Lasker was born on December 24, 1868, in Berlinchen, which today is Barlinek in the northwest of Poland. This year Lasker would celebrate his 150th birthday — reason enough for the German Chess Federation to declare 2018 as Lasker-year. From 1894 to 1921 — 27 years — Lasker was World Champion, longer than any other player before or after him. Let's take a look at the legacy of the second official World Champion. | Photo: (left) public domain (right) Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-00457 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

12/19/2017 – Vasja Pirc was born 110 years ago today. His name is immortalised in the opening theory, but the man himself is almost forgotten, although the Slovenian history professor was at times one of the best players in the world. Vlastimil Hort has met the wine-lover and remembers.

7/27/2017 – The "Exercises in Style" are an invitation to playfully have a closer look at the style of the 16 World Champions. In each of the four parts of the series the reader is shown four games without data and is asked to guess which World Champion played which game. Part 2 showed games by Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov and Mihail Tal. Here are the answers to which World Champion played which game.

7/18/2017 – What is style in chess? And how unique is it? Tal and Botvinnik played differently but how easy — or difficult — is it to spot these stylistic differences? Part 1 of the "Exercises in Style" presented games by Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, the first four World Champions in the history of chess. Now follow games by Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov and Mihail Tal. Do you know which World Champion played which game?

6/1/2010 – It is over five years since Kasparov’s dramatic announcement that he was giving up serious chess play. Such declarations, or intentions, are by no means rare, and the Editor of Chess Notes recalls a number of decisions, often surprising and mostly fleeting, by greats of the past: Botvinnik, Capablanca, Euwe, Fine, Harrwitz, Lasker, Marshall, Pillsbury and Steinitz. Retirement.

5/6/2008 – Moving on from mysteries, the chess historian Edward Winter now turns to myths. Euwe's 'sportsmanship' in playing a rematch against Alekhine in 1937, allegations that Frederick Yates gassed himself, and the Lasker v Janowsky match wrongly called a world title contest. These cases are explored by the Editor of Chess Notes, who sets out the facts here.