12/23/2024 – In this episode, Svitlana shows us a game between Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. Interesting games either have a spectacular opening, some sweet tactics, or a fabulous endgame. In this game, it is the middlegame, in which Magnus sacrifices a piece, to gain a never-ending control of the whole game. Even the engines were impressed!

12/10/2024 – After Ding Liren won against Gukesh in game 12 of the World Championship, chess players are talking about the Chinese comeback mentality. But the Indian GM also has some comeback abilities. Svitlana is showing us two examples by the two extraordinary players from a couple of years ago.

12/8/2024 – Svitlana invites us to discover invisible moves! Those moves are extraordinary, and hidden from our chess-pattern-trained eyes. Nonetheless, it is important to always lookout for a creative way to win a piece, save your queen, or even dodge a checkmate. Creativity is a strong factor to finding invisible moves.

11/23/2024 – The World Chess Championship 2024 is finally upon us. Svitlana had an in-depth look at the last game, that Gukesh had against Ding Liren in 2024. Then, it was the World Champion who had the upper end. Although the Indian super star is the clear favourite to become the new World Champion, Svitlana and Arne hope for interesting games, and a tough fight!

11/15/2024 – We have been waiting for a while, but she is finally back! WIM Svitlana Demchenko had to work and study, but returns with a fun, attacking lesson! Well-known chess author, Joe Gallagher, wrote the book "101 Attacking Ideas In Chess". Svitlana took some examples of this book, and it covers plenty of rules for the attacking player.

9/17/2024 – Heading into the rest day of the Women's Chess Olympiad, India emerged as the sole leaders after a 2.5-1.5 victory over Armenia in round 6. Divya Deshmukh (pictured) secured the win in the only decisive game of the match, helping India maintain their perfect score. Close behind, Georgia and Poland are tied for second place, just one match point behind India. Both teams won their respective matches by the narrowest of margins, with Salome Melia leading Georgia to victory and Oliwia Kiolbasa delivering the key win for Poland. | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

9/6/2024 – Vladimir Tukmakov faced Viktor Korchnoi in the USSR Championship, 1970, and played a famously brilliant game, in the Nimzo-Indian, Bronstein variation. While the Black King tries to escape a devastating attack, Korchnoi still finds the time for counterattacks, and builds up some intense threats. Tukmakov decides to invest his attack in a new idea! Svitlana's analysis of the whole game, is in great detail, as always. The Smart Moves continue in October, after the Olympiad in Budapest.

8/9/2024 – Episode 101 has launched, and Svitlana is testing our tactical skills! She found some lovely games of the World Rapid & Blitz Team Championship Tactics 2024, including Magnus Carlsen, Richard Rapport, Ding Liren, and more. Some tactics can be solved rather easily, while others require some critical thinking. Daniil Dubov, for example, couldn't find a decisive tactic. But maybe you can?

7/25/2024 – Last week we showed you some chess puzzles of a different kind – some were quite easy, some pretty hard. They were at least most entertaining, bringing smiles to our faces. Today we show you the solutions, and video of a strong chess player solving the problems in real time.

7/23/2024 – Pictorial portraits of ten chess players from many different countries, engaged in various sections (GMT Masters Triathlon, GMT Challengers Triathlon, Masters Open, and Amateur Open) at the 57th edition of the Biel Chess Festival. An unparalleled mix of chess activities! Our author, who lives in Biel, presents both known and unknown faces from the Festival | Photos: Organiser (Simon Bohnenblust, Peter A. Steffen)

7/21/2024 – After five rounds of classical chess at the GM Triathlons, the final phase is quickly approaching. Le Quang Liem defended his lead in the Masters with a draw against Haik Martirosyan, while Praggnanandhaa kept his chances of qualifying for the final phase by beating Sam Shankland. In the Challengers, it seems clear who will progress to the final phase: Saleh Salem, Vaishali, Alexander Donchenko and Jonas Bjerre. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

7/15/2024 – In the Endgame Magic Show #275 Karsten Müller and ChessBase author and streamer Svitlana Demchenko look at three interesting endgames from Svitlana's practice. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

7/13/2024 – Unbelievable but true! Svitlana Demchenko and Arne Kaehler are celebrating their 100th episode of "Svitlana's Smart Moves". It all started in April 2021, and has now reached a magical number. In the video, Svitlana and Arne take a look at some superlatives of the past episodes: the most and least viewed, the shortest, the longest, the most and least liked, and more. Their looks have changed a little, but the format improved over time, thanks to you, dear viewers! Finally, we play a blitz game on an actual wooden chessboard.

6/25/2024 – The famous Biel International Chess Festival will take place again, from the 12.07. – 26.07.2024. It is still enough time to spontaneously plan to participate, book travel tickets + hotel, and invest a little time to brush up your openings. Whatever you enjoy the most in chess, the Biel festival has you covered: from Blitz, to Rapid, to several Classical events, up to a Simultaneous match against Abhimanyu Mishra, a 960 event, and even more formats for younger players, and Physicians only! | Photo: Pixabay

6/21/2024 – Svitlana was showcasing material imbalances in chess a couple of times already, and features plenty of interesting examples on her first Fritztrainer. But the legendary queen sacrifice which Magnus Carlsen pulled off against David Navara at the Biel Chess Festival 2018, remains one of the most beautiful imbalance games. Rook, knight, and pawn, are an interesting compensation for the queen, and the endgame skills of the Norwegian GM can never be underestimated. Also, we are so close to our 100th episode, and have a little surprise for you in the first week of July!

6/17/2024 – Our beloved WIM from Canada picked up streaming chess games online a couple of months ago, and became a Twitch partner in no time. Thousands of chess friends are watching her, playing blitz and bullet games, or solving puzzles. Svitlana gained nearly 6000 followers, who she even plays against on stream, at times.

6/12/2024 – In this very instructive, and informative game, Svitlana managed to draw against a strong, Canadian IM. But the truth is, she almost had to forfeit the game! The reason for Svitlana arriving far too late to the game, and what you can learn from the opening, middle game with hanging pawns, and endgame technique, you will see in the video.

5/22/2024 – In this Episode, Svitlana presents to us the fundamentals of openings, with an example played by Paul Keres. With a cunning sacrifice, White gains some advantage. Or not? How to actually evaluate a position best? The Canadian WIM tells us about the six rules of evaluation!

5/11/2024 – Svitlana and Arne will participate in the Biel International Chess Festival this year! Last year, the masters section had some stunning tactics on the board, and Svitlana picked some of her favourites for your delight. Le Quang Liem, who won the last two events consecutively, has played the majority of interesting tactics! But this year, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa, Javokhir Sindarov, Haik Martirosyan, and Abhimanyu Mishra will join the Triathlon masters, to give you even more interesting games to watch.

5/3/2024 – Now, all of us chess players know that the World Championship is battled out by Gukesh and Ding Liren. Both players faced each other in classical chess only twice before, in Wijk aan Zee 2023, and 2024. One of their games was fairly interesting, and Svitlana is analysing it.

5/2/2024 – In the new world rankings published by FIDE on 1st May, Gukesh D, the winner of the Candidates, has made a big leap forward: 20 extra rating points have lifted the 17-year-old Indian from 16th to 6th place. Gukesh is now one point ahead of Ding Liren, the reigning FIDE World Champion, whom he will challenge later this year. Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi have also picked up a few points in the Candidates and are now ranked second to fourth behind Magnus Carlsen.

4/18/2024 – Three games ended decisively in round 11 of the Women’s Candidates Tournament, with Tan Zhongyi beating Kateryna Lagno in a key matchup, Vaishali R taking down Aleksandra Goryachkina, and Humpy Koneru defeating Nurgyul Salimova. These results left Tan atop the standings, with a half-point advantage over Lei Tingjie. Goryachkina’s loss left her a whole two points behind Tan with only three rounds to go in Toronto. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/17/2024 – Lei Tingjie scored a fourth win in five rounds to join Tan Zhongyi in the lead of the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Toronto. Lei defeated direct contender Aleksandra Goryachkina with the black pieces. With four rounds to go, the Chinese leading duo stands a full point ahead of Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno. Meanwhile, one more game ended decisively on Monday, with Vaishali R first surviving a losing position and then managing to beat Nurgyul Salimova. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/14/2024 – Lei Tingjie scored a third consecutive win in round 8 of the Women’s Candidates Tournament. Importantly, Lei defeated former long-standing sole leader Tan Zhongyi, which resulted in three players sharing first place at the end of the round — Lei, Tan and Aleksandra Goryachkina are now sharing the lead with 5 points each. One more game ended decisively on Saturday, as Humpy Koneru got the better of Vaishali R with the white pieces. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza