We wish all chess friends and readers a merry and peaceful Christmas. For a musical accompaniment, Grandmaster Jonathan Levitt provides a special Christmas song. | Photo: Buffy
Monthly Archives: December 2025
One of the world’s most famous chess cafés is Simpson’s-in-the-Strand in London, which is also among the city’s best-known restaurants. It was here that the “Immortal Game” was played. After several years of closure, the historic venue has now reopened — and chess will once again be played there on a regular basis.
The 12th Sunway Sitges Chess Festival concluded with a closely contested open tournament in the Catalonian seaside town. After ten rounds, first place was shared before a blitz play-off decided the title, while an additional knockout determined third place. Iranian GM Mahdi Gholami Orimi emerged as overall winner, ahead of Spanish GM Josep Manuel López, […]
This video is a valuable chess lesson by IM Mkrtchian. Watch Lilit walk through a full “real tournament” prep routine in ChessBase 26. Find out how she scouts an opponent in the Mega Database, predict their openings, and steer the game into a line she specifically prepared. The payoff: a sharp Rossolimo move-order trap explained […]
The Global Chess League came to an end in Mumbai with Alpine SG Pipers, led by Fabiano Caruana, claiming overall victory after beating the two-time champions Triveni Continental Kings, captained by Alireza Firouzja. The Continental Kings failed to win the final after a dominant round-robin showing. Third place was claimed by PBG Alaskan Knights, under […]
David Antón Guijarro and Marta García Martín claimed the Absolute and Women’s titles at the Spanish Chess Championship 2025 in Marbella. Played as a nine-round Swiss with a 100-player field, the event saw Antón decide the open standings early with a strong start, while the women’s title went down to the final round and was […]
Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Champion was far ahead of his time. A new ChessBase Master Class explores Wilhelm Steinitz as a theoretician, practitioner, and driving force of ideas – and shows why his concepts continue to resonate today. Harry Schaack, Editor-in-Chief of the German chess magazine “Karl”, has taken a close look at the […]
FIDE World Cup 2025: Analyses by Adams, Bluebaum, Donchenko, Grandelius, Shankland, Wei Yi, Wojtaszek and many more – Marshal Attack: just develop: Robert Ris praises the modern 11…Bb7!? – “Giri’s Gems”: The world-class player looks back at eight games from top tournaments of 2025 – “Hello e-file!”: Oliver Reeh poses numerous training questions on 33 […]
The round-robin phase of the Global Chess League concluded with the finalists confirmed after a closely contested final day. Triveni Continental Kings finished well clear at the top, while Alpine SG Pipers claimed the second finals place on tiebreaks despite losing their last match. Narrow margins elsewhere shaped the final standings, with the Ganges Grandmasters […]
Fellow students, whether composers or solvers, have appreciated it for years, but it is far less known to the wider chess community: since 1991, there has been a giant database of chess. It is the result of the tireless work of Harold van der Heijden, a Dutch collector of endgames and studies, editor, chess organizer, […]