6/11/2025 – From Wednesday onwards, London will be the capital of chess. Many top players will be competing in the FIDE Rapid and Blitz World Championships, where they will also face ambitious amateurs. Rapid chess will be played from Wednesday to Friday, followed by the blitz tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Live coverage will be available daily from 15:00 CET.

6/11/2025 – On the Thursday before the Whitsun weekend, Bremen's market square was once again transformed into a large open-air chess tournament hall. 1,300 schoolchildren competed to show what they had learned as part of the Bremen school chess project "Schach macht schlau!" (Chess makes smart). At the end of the day, the cup winners were drawn from the winning team. This time, the trophy featuring the Bremen Town Musicians went to Burgdamm School with classes 1c and 2c. | Photos: Nils Rhode

6/11/2025 – The Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, one of the strongest women’s tournaments of the year, began with a promising start: all five games in the first round ended decisively. There were also a few minor surprises. Alice Lee (pictured), the youngest participant at just 15 years old and number 10 seed, scored a convincing victory against Nino Batsiashvili. Meanwhile, top seed and 2024 Cairns Cup winner Tan Zhongyi suffered a setback, losing with the white pieces to Alina Kashlinskaya after landing in a difficult position as early as move 21. | Photo: Tournament page

6/11/2025 – Among ChessBase products the Big DataBase stands in its own right. Unlike the MegaBase it has no annotations. This paves the way for independent study and preparation, and helps the player to hone skills on his own. The present edition offers 11 million games from 1475 to November 2024. In this vast collection there are games from world championships, famous tournaments, past and present, not to mention little-known events that deserve greater recognition. There are magnificent battles, brilliancies and unknown gems all waiting to be discovered. Our columnist here introduces a few rare gems.

6/10/2025 – The ChessBase Premium Account is a powerful all-in-one chess improvement tool that provides extensive online resources, training, playing opportunities, and cloud services to help players of all levels enhance their game effectively. And the service runs on anything: Windows, Macs, notebooks, tablets, your mobile phone. Watch this video by Sagar Shah explaining the services you get and how to best use it. And best of all: it will only cost you €4.99 per month!

6/10/2025 – "Enjoy the best game. Ever." That’s the slogan of the "New in Chess Magazine" – and the current issue lives up to that promise. It explores the question of whether Boris Spassky would have preferred to be buried next to Bobby Fischer, features in-depth interviews with Hikaru Nakamura and Aravindh Chithambaram, and includes the magazine’s regular columns offering training advice and entertaining insights from the world of chess. Informative and engaging.

6/10/2025 – In the diagram position it is Black to move. She has a strong passed pawn on the e-file, but her back rank is weak. Is there a way to secure an advantage for Black?

6/10/2025 – Blending culture, history and chess, the "Clash of Generations" match in Pietrasanta, Italy, formed the centrepiece of the Chess Roads Festival. Held at the historic La Versiliana venue and featuring a ceremonial opening with rare chessboards, traditional carriages and the presence of Andrea Bocelli (pictured, during the simultaneous exhibition), the event celebrated the game's artistic and cultural legacy. On the board, five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand defeated 11-year-old Faustino Oro 2–0 in a match marked by professionalism and mutual respect.

6/9/2025 – The Cairns Cup returns to Saint Louis for its fifth edition, featuring ten of the world's leading female players in a nine-round classical tournament. With a record prize fund of $250,000 and a playoff in place to decide any tie for first, the event continues to highlight elite women's chess. Top seeds include Tan Zhongyi, Humpy Koneru, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Nana Dzagnidze. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/9/2025 – Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram claimed victory at the 2025 Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Jermuk, Armenia, edging out Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu on tiebreaks after both scored 6½/9 points. The tournament, a 10-player round-robin held from 29 May to 6 June, marked a key milestone in Aravindh's career as he entered the world top 10 for the first time. His result also moved him to second place in the 2025 FIDE Circuit standings. | Photo: Chess Academy of Armenia

6/8/2025 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer, and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In episode 233 of his "Understanding before Moving" show, Herman continues his exploration of brilliant moments from chess history. | Photo: Pascal Simon

6/8/2025 – After all the analysis tips from the past few weeks, this time it’s simply about aesthetics! But that’s not unimportant — after all, you spend a lot of time with ChessBase 18, so the look should be appealing and match your personal taste. Discover how to customize “your board” exactly the way you like it.