The 2023 European Club Cup will be held at a resort in Durrës, Albania, from 30 September to 7 October. Magnus Carlsen will play for Norwegian club Offerspill, while Superchess from Romania have the highest rating average, with Vishy Anand and Richard Rapport playing on top boards. Over 80 teams have registered to participate in […]
Monthly Archives: September 2023
During a visit to the ChessBase office to record his latest Fritztrainer, Grandmaster Nick Pert was interviewed. In a conversation with Arne Kaehler, Nick delved into his background, sharing stories of his upbringing, his introduction to chess, and the competitive dynamic with his twin brother. He also discussed his decision to follow a chess career […]
MegaBase 2023 is Chess History in action. Regularly updated every month, the Main Database currently offers 10 million games, many of them annotated. Our columnist offers a review with focus on modern master play. There is a lot more to discover in this treasure trove: grand battles, opening novelties and exemplary endgames.
150 years ago, from 21 June to 29 August 1873, the “First International Vienna Chess Congress” was held in Vienna. Some of the best players in the world accepted the invitation and played mini-matches against each other. In the end, Wilhelm Steinitz and Joseph Blackburne tied for first place. A play-off match decided the tournament’s […]
The FIDE World Cup was a complete success, as top players fought for spots in the Candidates, both in the open and in the women’s section. Magnus Carlsen and Aleksandra Goryachkina were the winners. As ever, GM Karsten Müller compiled the most interesting positions from the tournaments. Find here five more instructive endgames from the […]
If the title of British Champion is to go by, England’s most naturally talented player ever may happen to be an amateur. Henry Ernest Atkins was a school teacher by profession, yet won the British Championships in nine out of eleven participations. On the recent 151st anniversary of his birth, it is worth remembering this […]
Fred Lucas is a Dutch photographer who specializes in chess photography. He has been doing it for well over 20 years and documented the most important tournaments – the World Chess Championship, Candidates, and Olympiads. He shot most of his pictures with a Nikon and 200mm lens, meticulously capturing the action, the mood and the […]
The final of the World Women’s Team Championship saw Georgia beating the young Kazakhstani squad by two sets to zero, with Lela Javakhishvili scoring back-to-back wins for the eventual champions. In the match for third place, France got the better of the United States. | Photo: Michal Walusza
Chess is a game of imbalances, and depending on the circumstances a piece is sometimes strong and sometimes weak. Jan Markos explains how to take advantage of these imbalances, focusing on the battle of a rook against two minor pieces. | Photo: Alan Light, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This horrific 2001 terror attack took place far away, but oddly close by for us. The World Trade Center, which was destroyed, had been the site of the 1995 World Chess Championship between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. The two faced each other on the 107th floor, 400 meters above the streets of New York […]