4/1/2024 – Magnus Carlsen defeated Richard Rapport 1½-½ on Monday to win the seventh edition of the Grenke Chess Classic. This was Carlsen’s sixth consecutive tournament victory. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave grabbed third place after beating Vincent Keymer in blitz playoffs, while Ding Liren beat Daniel Fridman 1½-½ to claim fifth place. | Photo: Angelika Valkova

2/9/2024 – A new super tournament starts in Weissenhaus, near Hamburg, Germany, today. But it is not just any other super tournament. This event is introduced by none other than the World no.1 Magnus Carlsen himself and it will be in Fischer-Random format or as Carlsen likes to say, Freestyle. Hence, the name WEISSENHAUS Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. Carlsen's handpicked opponents for this eight-player tournament are: Fabiano Caruana (USA), Ding Liren (CHN), Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), D Gukesh, Vincent Keymer (GER) and Levon Aronian (USA). There will be four rounds of Rapid games played today in Playoffs. Round 1 starts today at 1 p.m. CET, 5:30 p.m. IST, 7 a.m. EST. | Photos: Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

1/28/2024 – Five out of seven games ended decisively in the penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters, leaving five players tied for first place going into the last day of action. Vidit Gujrathi defeated former sole leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov to create the exciting scenario for Sunday. Vidit and Abdusattorov are joined by Gukesh D., Wei Yi and Anish Giri in the lead. Similarly, in the Challengers, Leon Luke Mendonca caught former sole leader Marc’Andria Maurizzi atop the standings. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/16/2024 – Defending champion Anish Giri joined Alireza Firouzja in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Alexander Donchenko with the black pieces. Full points were also scored by Ding Liren, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Jorden van Foreest — all three grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, six players are sharing first place with 2/3 points following a round that saw five out of seven games ending decisively. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/11/2024 – Ding Liren played his last classical rated game on May 15, when he beat Bogdan-Daniel Deac with black in the last round of the Superbet Classic in Bucharest. Just two weeks earlier, he had defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in a thrilling match to become the 17th undisputed world chess champion. Following his long hiatus, the Chinese ace will compete again at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. A week before the start of the traditional event, he played a rapid tournament in China. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

11/4/2023 – The Grand Chess Tour will hold its last two tournaments in Saint Louis in mid/late November, a Rapid & Blitz event and the Sinquefield Cup. Ding Liren was supposed to take part in both tournaments, but the tour has recently announced his withdrawal. The world champion has been completely out of the limelight lately. What’s next for Ding Liren? | Photo: FIDE

7/7/2023 – The finish of the 6th game of the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi was impressive. In a tense and complicated position, Ding surprisingly advanced his d-pawn, and this small pawn advance was crucial to a spectacular mate that could have occurred in the game. The audience was impressed, the study composers were inspired. In his last "Study of the Month" column Siegfried Hornecker had a look at "Ding's Theme" in studies, in his current column he returns to this theme with further insights. | Photo: Ding Liren | Photo: Amruta Mokal

6/30/2023 – World Championship Match 2023: All seven decided games annotated by Anish Giri, Hou Yifan, Sam Shankland and Wesley So - TePe Sigeman Tournament: Analyses by Peter Svidler, Boris Gelfand, Nils Grandelius, Abhimanyu Mishra and Jorden van Foreest - All-rounder Boris Spassky: "Special" with 27 top-class encounters from the period 1949 to 1989 + articles on strategy (Marin) and endgame (Mueller) – Is Scandinavian with 3...Qa5 busted? Martin Lorenzini thinks so - and recommends 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bd2 e6 7.Ne5! – “How I became U14 World Champion”: Ilamparthi presents the decisive moments together with Sagar Shah – “Practical tips for the tournament player”: Why are symmetrical positions much more dangerous than you expect? and much more!

5/21/2023 – Today I’m returning to a subject I’ve covered a number of times in the past: passed pawns. Passed pawns are a crucial aspect of chess and your attitude to them can have a profound effect on how you play and, in particular, your opening choices. To explore this topic, I look at a game played by Vasilios Kotronias, in which he was overwhelmed by an absolute pawn avalanche. The final phase is extraordinary and somewhat reminiscent of the famous game McDonnell versus De La Bourdonnais.

5/11/2023 – In the World Chess Championship, which still was running while this article was written but will be over when you read it, Ding Liren won the sixth game by threatening a checkmate with rook and knight. Let us see how that kind of checkmate was used in endgame studies. | Photo: Midjourney AI

5/10/2023 – After Sagar Shah, founder and driving force behind Chessbase India, spoke to former World Champion Vishy Anand about the dramatic World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, Sagar also interviewed former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik on the same subject. As a supporter of "Team Nepo" Kramnik was directly involved in the World Championship match. In the interview, Kramnik talked about his work with Nepomniachtchi, the critical moments of the match, opening preparation, nervousness in World Championship matches and much more.

5/8/2023 – When Vishy Anand talks about World Championship matches, he knows what he's talking about. He was World Champion from 2007 to 2013, played six World Championship matches and one World Championship tournament, and reached the final of the World Knockout Championships twice. In an interview with Sagar Shah, Anand takes a look at the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi and talks about the critical moments of the games, opening preparation, match psychology, Magnus Carlsen and the future of the World Chess Championship.

5/7/2023 – A week after Ding Liren became the new world chess champion and a day after King Charless III was crowned in London, GM Jon Speelman reflects on the memorable match from Astana. Referring to Ding’s much praised decision to play ...Rg6 in the deciding game, Speelman writes: “That’s the one moment of the match that I’m going to revisit, not so much from the technical point of view but the psychological. Decision-making in chess involves both pure chess skill and general intelligence, and the small calculated risk that Ding took was a prime example”. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

5/3/2023 – The most exciting world championship match in recent history has come to an end and has produced the first Chinese World Chess Champion in Ding Liren. Ding is the 17th World Chess Champion and the new figurehead of world chess. We are sure to hear many more background stories about the course of the match soon. A few themes are already emerging. | Photo: Stev Bonhage (FIDE)

5/3/2023 – During the World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi the new World Champion Ding Liren had a number of helpers in Astana. But as Ding revealed in an interview with Leontxo Garcia in the Spanish newspaper "El País", in critical moments of the match Ding also received help by thoughts and words of Louise Glück, American poet and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize of Literature, and by the "Concept of Resistance" by the French philosopher and author Albert Camus, winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize of Literature. | Photo: Stev Bonhage

4/30/2023 – By winning game 4 of the rapid tiebreakers — after three draws — Ding Liren became the 17th undisputed world chess champion! Ian Nepomniachtchi seemed to have things under control in the deciding game, and even a bit of an advantage at times, but he overestimated his chances and allowed Ding to get a dangerous passer. Ding kept his nerves and converted his advantage brilliantly. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

4/22/2023 – Ding Liren crossed the 2700-rating barrier back in 2012, and was soon regarded as one of the potential challengers for the world title. A week from now, the soft-spoken grandmaster from Wenzhou might become the new world chess champion. Thus, this is a good time to reminisce on his most spectacular victory. In November 2017, at the Chinese League, Ding played a stunning tactical combination and crowned it with a brilliant king hunt. Robert Ris examines the game in a 23-minute video. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

4/18/2023 – A dramatic seventh game saw Ian Nepomniachtchi taking the lead for a third time at the World Championship match in Astana. Ding Liren shocked Nepo and the audience by playing the French Defence, which led to a double-edged position. While Ding managed to solve his problems and gain the initiative, he also got in deep time trouble. With only seconds on his clock and no increment, he blundered the game away. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

4/16/2023 – In the third consecutive decisive game of the World Championship match, Ding Liren played the London System and beat Ian Nepomniachtchi to once again even the score in Astana. Nepo described the game as one of his worst ever, while Ding confessed that he had not prepared the line that appeared on the board. Game 7 will take place on Tuesday. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

4/15/2023 – Following a disappointing defeat, Ian Nepomniachtchi scored a remarkable win to retake the lead at the World Championship match in Astana. Once the Russian gained the initiative, he played flawlessly, making the most of his superior minor piece. Ding Liren will get a chance to bounce back in Sunday’s sixth game, when he will have the white pieces for a third time in the match. | Photo: FIDE / David Llada

4/13/2023 – The score is now tied at the World Championship match in Astana, as Ding Liren defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi with white in Thursday’s game 4. Ding had a favourable pawn structure in the centre when Nepo blundered on move 28, allowing the Chinese to play a powerful exchange sacrifice. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

1/15/2023 – Ding Liren and Nodirbek Abdusattorov were the first winners at the Masters section of the 2023 Tata Steel Chess Tournament. Both players scored with the black pieces, as Ding got the better of Dommaraju Gukesh and Abdusattorov defeated Richard Rapport. In the Challengers, Max Warmerdam and Abhimanyu Mishra collected full points on opening day. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

11/3/2022 – In the new issue of ChessBase Magazine, 21 participants from the Chess Olympiad comment on their best games, including Anish Giri, Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi, Jules Moussard, Luke McShane, Pentala Harikrishna, Matthias Blübaum, Rasmus Svane, the silver medal team from Armenia and the gold medallists Anna and Mariya Muzychuk. In addition, our authors Robert Ris, Daniel King, Karsten Mueller and Mihail Marin pick up on particularly exciting games and moments from the Olympiad in their columns and video contributions. Wesley So's analysis of his game against Hrant Melkumyan is "The Analysis" of this issue and can be viewed here in an shortened version. Enjoy!

10/31/2022 – Next year Ding Liren will play Ian Nepomniachtchi in a match for the World Championship title. Magnus Carlsen's withdrawal and Ding's second place in the 2022 Candidates Tournament made it possible. High time to take a closer look at the top player from China and especially his playing skills in ChessBase Magazine! In the current issue our authors comment on their favourite game of the Chinese player. In addition, "Ding Liren's Positional Play" (Mihail Marin's strategy column incl. video) and "Endgame Highlights of Ding Liren" (by Karsten Müller, also with a video) are awaiting you. You can enjoy Romain Edouard's analysis of the game Ding Liren - Sergei Movsesian from the World Cup 2019 in full here!