Denis Lazavik wins Abu Dhabi Masters

8/26/2025 – The Abu Dhabi Masters, the flagship event of the 31st Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, concluded with a five-way tie at the top of the standings. After nine rounds, Denis Lazavik, Arkadij Naiditsch, Zeng Chongsheng, Aleksey Grebnev and Maksim Tsaruk all finished on 7/9. Lazavik was declared the winner on tiebreaks. The open attracted over 200 participants, including 25 rated above 2500, and once again demonstrated the competitiveness of large international tournaments. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy / ChessBase India

Sinquefield Cup - Live!

8/26/2025 – The Sinquefield Cup, the only event to feature in every Grand Chess Tour since 2015, returns to Saint Louis from 18 to 27 August. As the concluding leg before the revived Finals in São Paulo, it will play a decisive role in determining the four qualifiers, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave currently leading the standings and strong challengers close behind. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 19.00 CEST (13.00 ET, 22.30 IST)
More...
 8

FIDE World Cup 2025 heads to Goa, India

8/26/2025 – The FIDE World Cup 2025 is coming to Goa! From October 30 to November 27, 2025, the world’s top players will gather on India’s west coast for one of the most exciting chess events. This knockout spectacle brings together 206 players fighting for a share of USD 2,000,000 and three coveted places in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Every round is win-or-go-home, making the World Cup one of the most dramatic tournaments on the calendar.

The king invasion

8/26/2025 – Endings with opposite coloured bishops are often a draw. To create winning chances it is often helpful to create dangerous passed pawns. How can White do so in the diagram position?

Sinquefield Cup: Pragg beats Firouzja, joins Caruana in the lead

8/26/2025 – Round seven of the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis brought three decisive games, the most in a single day so far. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated Alireza Firouzja with black in a Rossolimo Sicilian, his first classical win against the French grandmaster, and joined Fabiano Caruana in the lead on 4½ points. Wesley So overcame world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, while Jan-Krzysztof Duda beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Caruana v. Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave v. Sevian ended drawn. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 3

Maurizzi and Iglesias are the 2025 French chess champions

8/26/2025 – The French Chess Championships concluded in Vichy, with Marc'Andria Maurizzi and Yosha Iglesias crowned as the new national champions. Maurizzi defeated Laurent Fressinet in rapid tiebreaks, while Etienne Bacrot claimed third place ahead of Sebastien Maze. In the women's final, Iglesias overcame Mitra Hejazipour, with Anastasia Savina securing bronze after a tiebreak win against Deimante Daulyte-Cornette. The event closed a ten-day festival featuring players of all levels. | Photos: Nathalie Daubry / French Chess Federation
More...
 1

"Will a woman ever become World Chess Champion?" - An interview with Judit Polgar

8/25/2025 – Can a woman ever become the best chess player in the world? To find out, chess streamers Emily Higgins and Dina Belenkaya asked the woman who has come closest to winning the world title: Judit Polgar. The only woman to have made it into the world's top ten, she was the undisputed number one in women's chess from 1989 until her retirement from tournament chess in 2014. In an interview with Higgins and Belenkaya, Polgar talks about her career, discrimination in chess, training, sibling rivalry, and her role as a mother. | Photo: Screenshot aus dem Video
More...
 4

Endgame Magic #308: Karsten Müller und Arne Kähler share endgame highlights and stories from Dortmund

8/25/2025 – In the Endgame Magic Show #308, Karsten Müller and Arne Kähler look back to the tournament in Dortmund. They present endgame highlights and share stories from the tournament. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

Summer Special: ChessBase 18 & Opening Encyclopedia 2025

8/25/2025 – This week, from 25 to 31 August, there is another special offer in our Summer Special: ChessBase 18 and the Opening Encyclopedia 2025 for only 249.90€ – instead of 299.90€! Be well prepared for every tournament and the new season!
More...
 1

The complicated life of Emil Diemer

8/25/2025 – Emil Joseph Diemer was a notable German chess player and author, best remembered for his fervent advocacy of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3. Today the gambit is not common in elite play, but is well worth trying in inconsequential games. Today's article tells about the turmoils in the life of the initiator of the gambit.
More...
 5

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: New discoveries in an old line of the French

8/25/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris takes a look at a game by the new French Champion, Marc’Andria Maurizzi, who defeated Christian Bauer in a topical line of the French. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Sinquefield Cup: Abdusattorov and Gukesh escape with draws

8/25/2025 – In Saint Louis, the sixth round of the Sinquefield Cup produced another full set of draws, though the results concealed the drama on several boards. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave once more failed to convert a winning position, this time against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Alireza Firouzja also missed chances to defeat world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who defended tenaciously. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 2

Yakubboev wins Rubinstein Memorial, Wojtaszek climbs to sole second place

8/25/2025 – The Rubinstein Memorial in Polanica-Zdrój, a spa town located in south-western Poland, ended with Nodirbek Yakubboev securing first place after a final-round draw against Igor Kovalenko, who finished with the unusual record of nine draws. Radoslaw Wojtaszek overtook David Navara on the last day to claim second place, while European champion Matthias Bluebaum took third. | Photos: Official website
More...
 2

ChessBase 18 – Tips for beginners, part 28: Creating Effective Training Material (Part 2)

8/24/2025 – Use ChessBase 18 for training purposes: with smart use of the database functions and the training tool, you can quickly put together excellent training material. There’s no need anymore to pore over books, copy diagrams, or scan pages. In this second part of the tutorial, you’ll learn how easy it is to prepare your material in a didactic way and turn it into exercises. This saves you valuable time that you can use for your own training or for your students.
More...
 3

The journey of Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali through their mother's eyes

8/23/2025 – On 8 August, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu gave a simultaneous exhibition at the IMC office in Mumbai. His mother, Nagalakshmi, was also present. Amruta Mokal seized the moment to speak with her, and what followed was a special interview where Nagalakshmi opened up about the journey of raising India's golden siblings of chess, Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali. She revealed the amount of planning and support that goes into nurturing world-class talents. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
More...
 7

Svitlana's Smart Moves - Deep Blue vs. Kasparov: The Alapin

8/23/2025 – Svitlana's newest course is here: Silence the Sicilian – Win with the Alapin Variation (2.c3)! The Canadian WIM offers a first look at what you can expect from her lessons. In addition, she takes us through the famous 1996 clash between Deep Blue and Garry Kasparov, where the computer claimed victory with the very same Alapin Variation.
More...
 1

Sinquefield Cup: Five draws, Caruana remains sole leader

8/23/2025 – The fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup ended with all five games drawn, though several encounters carried plenty of tension. Fabiano Caruana maintained his lead after a balanced game with Wesley So, reaching the halfway point on 3½ points. Jan-Krzysztof Duda came closest to victory, missing a brilliant tactic that would have likely given him the win against world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. The players now get a rest day before the action continues with round six on Sunday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
More...
 5

Pinning festival

8/23/2025 – Yes, 19.Bxd5! in the diagram position wins for White. But it's anything but trivial - let's see if you can provide the necessary 'trappings'. In any case, have fun!

ChessBase – A Look Back at the Early Days

8/23/2025 – In the late 1980s, a company was founded in Hamburg that created a revolutionary product for the chess world: a chess database program for personal computers, destined to change the game forever. As one of the very early ChessBase users, I would like to share the story of its development from my own perspective.
12345...Next