5/12/2026 – The power of the pair: The bishops are often stronger than bishop and knight: White to move and win.

5/12/2026 – Frederik Svane won the Sardinia World Chess Festival outright with 7½/9 points, defeating Karthikeyan Murali in the final round after both had entered the day tied for first place. The event in Orosei also saw 12-year-old Faustino Oro secure his third grandmaster norm, completing the title requirements and becoming the second-youngest grandmaster in chess history. | Photo: Sardinia World Chess Festival / KNZO Photography

5/11/2026 – With a superb performance, a 15-year-old prodigy dominated the international Baku Open: Sina Movahed (pictured left in the title photo) won seven games and drew twice. The young Iranian GM thus won the strong tournament with 8/9, finishing a point and a half ahead of the rest of the field. The best tiebreak scores among the players tied for second place were achieved by IM Santhosh Parvathareddy Ajay — the Indian is also still an U16 player — and Khazar Babazadar (AZE), ahead of five other players on the same score. | Photos: Organizers / Azerbaijan Chess Federation

5/11/2026 – The main line of the French Winawer Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5) usually leads to very deep theoretical lines and complex positions with which Black is generally well acquainted. In the latest issue of ChessBase Magazine #231, Petra Papp presents the alternative 4.Nge2. After 4.e5 and the Delayed Exchange Variation 4.exd5, this continuation is already the third most common (over 9,000 games in the Mega Database 2026), so it is by no means a secret weapon anymore. In this week’s CBM preview, you can explore Petra Papp’s repertoire recommendation with all the analyses – discover “many wonderful, tricky variations” after 4.Nge2!

5/11/2026 – In this ChessBase training course, Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of colour-reversed Benoni, Benko, and Blumenfeld structures, showing how Black’s active piece play and dynamic counterplay can fully compensate for White’s extra tempo. The course focuses heavily on understanding pawn structures, long-term middlegame plans, open files, and queenside pressure, giving players practical strategic guidance rather than pure memorization. It is especially suited for advanced players who want a deeper understanding of one of chess’s most aggressive and strategically rich opening families.

5/10/2026 – Following Javokhir Sindarov's victory at the Candidates Tournament, GM Jon Speelman examines the emergence of a new generation of World Championship contenders ahead of his expected title match against Gukesh Dommaraju. Particular attention is given to Sindarov's defensive draw against Fabiano Caruana, a game presented as a key moment of the tournament and an illustration of his preparation, resilience and practical decision-making under pressure. | Photo: ChessBase / Nils Rohde

5/10/2026 – 2026 Super Chess Classic Romania brings elite classical chess to Bucharest, Romania, from May 12 to May 24. The tournament takes place at the National Bank of Romania Museum in the historic Lipscani district. The event is the first classical tournament of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour season. It features a 10-player round robin, with the likes of Caruana, Keymer, Firouzja, Giri, So, Pragg and Sindarov participating. It will be an exciting week.

5/10/2026 – Today we have a special guest on Svitlana’s Smart Moves: Leon Mendonca. Since we all got to know each other well during the Biel Chess Festival 2024, we decided it was finally time to record a show together. In this episode, Svitlana Demchenko introduces the tricky Cowboy Attack in the Sicilian, and surprisingly, Leon turns out to be a genuine fan of the opening as well, making this an opening variation that is definitely worth a closer look.

5/10/2026 – When you are on the move, it is particularly important that your computer does not consume too much power when analysing. With ChessBase´26, you can conserve your battery and connect to top-quality hardware via a remote engine whenever you need it. This means that the engine installed on your computer can remain off and the computing power is provided by an Internet server. But there are advantages at home too: the wide selection is sure to include engines that are more powerful than the one on your own computer, and the fan stays quiet. In this tutorial series, you will learn how convenient and resource-efficient you can analyse with your engine of choice.

5/9/2026 – Fabiano Caruana scored 7/9 points on the final day of blitz action at the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland tournament. In the end, he fell half a point short of catching Hans Niemann in the overall standings. Alireza Firouzja made a strong start in the blitz tournament on Friday, but his gap to Niemann in first place only grew on the final day of the blitz event. With this tournament victory, against world stars such as Fabiano Caruana, reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Candidates' winner Javokhir Sindarov, Niemann has reached a new milestone in his chess career. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/9/2026 – Winning against the reigning world champion is always difficult. The first German player to achieve this feat after the Second World War was Wolfgang Unzicker, for many years the number one player in the Federal Republic of Germany. At the 1961 European Team Championship, he outplayed the then world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. Wolfgang Uhlmann, for many years the number one player in the GDR, was not to be outdone. In 1962, at the Chess Olympiad in Varna, he defeated Botvinnik - though not quite as convincingly as Unzicker had done a year earlier. | Image: Wolfgang Uhlmann in 1970 | Photo: Rob Mieremet, Anefo

5/9/2026 – Kicking off the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first of three speed chess events, which is taking place on 5-9 May in Warsaw. Ahead of the final day of action, Hans Niemann is the sole leader, with Wesley So standing close behind, at a mere half-point distance. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 12.00 CEST (6.00 ET, 15.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes