11/14/2024 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads the field after two wins and a draw on the first day of rapid chess at the Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz tournament. The Uzbek grandmaster had a lot of luck in his game against Vincent Keymer. Magnus Carlsen started with two draws and a win. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/13/2024 – Chess was invented in India, and brought to Europe in the 9th Century by the Arabs – who also introduced the first “mansuba” – middle or endgame puzzles with well-defined tasks, with stories and legends surrounding them. Today we give you three of the oldest mansuba to solve – in your head or against our live chess diagrams.

11/13/2024 – Round five of the European Chess Championship saw Ivan Cheparinov and Aleksandar Indjic joining Frederik Svane and Maksim Chigaev in the lead after scoring crucial wins. While Svane and Chigaev quickly agreed to a draw, Cheparinov battled through a gruelling 106 moves to defeat Nikita Petrov, while Indjic secured a swift checkmate against Felix Blohberger in only 29 moves. These four co-leaders will face each other in round six, with 28 closely trailing players, including top seeds Vladimir Fedoseev and Bogdan-Daniel Deac, eager to challenge for the top. | Photo: Mark Livshitz

11/12/2024 – Tata Steel, sponsor of the traditional chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, has also been organising a top-level tournament in India every year since 2018, a rapid and blitz event. It starts again on Wednesday, with Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer, among others.

11/12/2024 – "My new baby," is how Elisabeth Pähtz describes the recently published Fritz Trainer “The ultra-creative neo-London system". In ten (!) hours of video, the German grandmaster explains everything you need to know to use this variation successfully.

11/12/2024 – After four of eleven rounds only two players still have a perfect score at the European Championship in Petrovac, Montenegro: Grandmaster Frederik Svane (pictured) from Germany and Grandmaster Maksim Chigaev, who was born in Russia, but now plays for Spain. Half a point behind follow 18 players with 3.5/4 each. | Photo: Frederik Svane during an interview with ChessBase (in German)

11/12/2024 – One rule of thumb in rook endings is to get active - with your king and with your rook. But this is just a rule of thumb. In the diagram position it is Black to move and draw. What should she do?

11/12/2024 – Absolute chess superstars occasionally play a Sicilian Dragon in a classic game, and it is rare for these games to win a brilliancy prize. However, some of our readers prefer to see the Dragon in action at the highest level, and have mentioned recent games by Arjun Erigaisi and Ray Robson. Here at ChessBase our Dragon Tamer Chris Ward analyses these games, having previously done so on the chesspublishing.com website. Then, as an extra treat, he shows us a fantastic game by super grandmaster Daniil Dubov! | Photo: John Upham

11/12/2024 – The Chennai Grand Masters tournament concluded with a thrilling final round in the Masters section. In a surprising turn, Aravindh Chithambaram emerged victorious after defeating Parham Maghsoodloo and then besting elite players Arjun Erigaisi and Levon Aronian in tiebreaks. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, 18-year-old Pranav Venkatesh maintained his lead by holding Leon Luke Mendonca to a draw, securing first place and a spot in next year's Masters section. | Photos: Aditya Sur Roy and Anmol Bhargav

11/11/2024 – The line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7!? is very popular among the adherents of the Queen's Gambit Declined. The knight move has given Black solidity and flexibility. Our author, GM Yago Santiago, recently went in search of a more ‘hidden’ idea for White to surprise his opponents with lesser-known positions. The move 5.Qc2!? caught his attention and captivated him more and more during his analysis...You can check out his opening article from the latest CBM #222 in this week's free reading sample in the ChessBase Books format - right in your web browser on your iPad, tablet, Mac or Windows PC!

11/11/2024 – The second edition of the Chennai Grand Masters is taking place on 5-11 November at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai. The tournament, which will play a key role in the FIDE circuit race, is an 8-player single round-robin with a classical time control. Arjun Erigaisi heads the field, which also includes the likes of Levon Aronian, Vidit Gujrathi and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 10.30 CET (4.30 ET, 15.00 IST)

11/11/2024 – The latest version of the standard chess study program has received a major update. It now allows you to evaluate your opponents, study their repertoire, their strengths and weaknesses, all at a click of the mouse. It draws its conclusions by replaying all their games – it has access to many billions of online games. Head programmer Matthias Wuellenweber has written about the new program in the latest issue of ChessBase Magazine. Check out the details and decide whether you can afford not to have the program.