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• Liang scores 6-4 victory over Nakamura in training match

  Hikaru Nakamura was defeated 6–4 by Awonder Liang in a three-day training match in Saint Louis held as preparation for the Candidates Tournament. After two drawn classical games, all eight encounters in the rapid and blitz sessions ended decisively, with Liang ultimately prevailing. The match provided Nakamura with competitive practice ahead of a demanding event, for which several of his future rivals have recently been active. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

• "A Karpovian move"

  In the current ChessBase Magazine #230, Nico Zwirs analyses the game between his compatriots Jorden Van Foreest and Anish Giri from the Tata Steel Masters 2026 in the video. The focus is on the opening, as Van Foreest had clearly prepared something special against the Najdorf Variation – known to be one of Giri's specialities. After 11...Qc7, he continued with 12.a3 – ‘A Karpovian move!’. White's idea is to move the b3 knight via c1 and a2 to b4 and from there to target the light squares d5 (and c6). Van Foreest thus invested four moves in improving his knight and securing his king's position. A new concept that paid off in full in this game! Take a look at this week's CBM reading sample!

• Can you handle pawns?

  Were you able to solve the challenge positions we gave you last week? Were you able find the way to promote the pawns to win? Today we bring you all solutions, with very instructive video explanations by Jared Modica, a chess content creator from Austin, Texas. He shows us how to solve tatical lines of play, and how to handle pawns in endgames.

• Late surge gives Ulviyya Fataliyeva outright victory at strong women's round-robin in Uzbekistan

  Ulviyya Fataliyeva claimed clear first place at the IV International Women's Chess Championship in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, finishing strongly to score 6½/9 and a 2590 performance rating. The Azerbaijani representative secured the title with three consecutive wins in the closing rounds, overtaking Nana Dzagnidze, who remained unbeaten and finished second on 6 points. Harika Dronavalli took sole third place with 5½/9 in a compact, high-level round-robin event. | Photo: OSF via Women's Chess Coverage on X

• Nakamura v. Liang - Live!

  Hikaru Nakamura is playing a training match against Awonder Liang in Saint Louis as he fine-tunes his form ahead of the Candidates Tournament, which begins in two weeks' time. The three-day encounter, running from 13 to 15 March, combines classical, rapid and blitz games. Liang, ranked 25th in the world, provides strong opposition in a match broadcast live on Nakamura's Kick channel. | Follow the games live starting at 18.00 CET (13.00 ET, 22.30 IST)

• Sweden's biggest chess event ever

  Two million Swedes play chess online, but only a few thousand are involved in traditional chess activities. This new category of players wants to have fun, be entertained and experience chess in a different way than in a quiet playing hall where competition and results are the focus. On 17-18 April 2026, Swedish chess history will be made when Chessparty Stockholm kicks off at Avicii Arena - a two-day festival that will be the country's biggest chess event ever.

• Svitlana's Smart Moves - The Candidates: Who will win? (I)

  In this episode, Svitlana and Arne kick off a Candidates-themed tactics series by exploring beautiful combinations from the careers of several contenders, including Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Matthias Blübaum, and Wei Yi. Each player is represented by an easier and a harder puzzle, and the lesson highlights recurring tactical themes such as queen deflections, mating nets, forcing moves, and precise attacking calculation. Along the way, they also discuss their Candidates favourites, with Arne backing Matthias Blübaum as a dark horse, while Svitlana expects a fiercely contested tournament full of surprises.

• ChessBase´26 – Tips for Beginners, Part 7: Organising databases!

  Do you know the feeling? Over time, more and more databases accumulate in ChessBase: How do you keep track of them all? It's best to get organised right from the start – but how? In this tutorial, we'll show you how to organise and systematically save your own material so that you can always find everything quickly. It's not that complicated and it's actually fun!

• A century on: Rudolf Spielmann's surprise victory at Semmering

  One hundred years ago, a major chess tournament was held at the Semmering mountain pass, a meeting place of Vienna's high society. It was not the top favourite and future world champion Alexander Alekhine who came out on top, but the great tactician Rudolf Spielmann. The players left behind a wealth of games that are now regarded as classics.

• Chess Olympiad: Cloud power for your national squad

  Success in world-class chess is built long before the game begins. With the "Federation Package", developed specifically for national federations, players and coaches gain access to the complete professional ChessBase software, the world's largest chess database, and powerful cloud analysis – at a price that provides up to five times more computing power than individual solutions! A long-term investment that will measurably enhance the performance of the entire team.