ChessBase

• Carlsen beats Firouzja, claims fifth Speed Chess Championship title

  The Speed Chess Championship concluded in London, with live matches deciding both the title and third place. Magnus Carlsen defeated Alireza Firouzja 15–12 to claim a third consecutive crown, while Denis Lazavik edged Hikaru Nakamura in the consolation match. The event introduced the Daniel Naroditsky Cup, with past and future champions' names to be engraved on the trophy. | Photo: chess.com / Luc Bouchon

• Queens' Online Chess Festival returns in March 2026

  The Queens' Online Chess Festival returns in March 2026 for its sixth edition, offering a free, month-long celebration of women's chess around International Women’s Day. Organised by the FIDE Commission for Women's Chess, the event features a global Women's Open with continental qualifiers and a separate Princesses' tournament for unrated girls. Blitz competitions, titles, training prizes and fair-play safeguards form part of a programme open to players of all ages and levels worldwide.

• ChessBase´26: A Players Guide (5)

  "Many players use ChessBase, it is the most popular chess software by far, writes GM Iniyan Pa. "Yet, not many people are fully aware of all of its features, and fail to utilise most of them. In this guide I have tried to show the features that I think are vital and important so that the user may gain the most out of the ChessBase. I hope it helps them in their development." We are deeply indebted to Iniyan for his remarkable five-part training review.

• The Chess World in 2026

  The chess world has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. From a game on the fringes of public interest, it has become part of the media mainstream. This year will see several major events and developments that promise to have a profound impact on the future of chess. Milan Dinić, editor of The British Chess Magazine, has described the main driving factors and what we can expect in 2026.

• Megabase 2026: Living legends and rising stars

  MegaBase 2026 is Chess History in action. Regularly updated every month, the Main Database currently offers 11.8 million games, many of them annotated. Here our columnist offers a review with focus on chess in the 21st Century.

• ChessBase´26: A Players Guide (4)

  What is the secret of becoming really good at chess? How can you best improve your understanding, your results and your rating? Well, use the cutting edge study and training software. But also spend some time discovering all the advantages it offers! GM Iniyan Pa has uncovered all the secrets of ChessBase 26, and presents his findings in his training/review reports.

• Tata Steel Chess - Live!

  The 88th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament is taking place from 17 January to 1 February and once again features the traditional structure of parallel Masters and Challengers tournaments, each consisting of 14 players competing in a single round-robin. Nodirbek Abdusattorov enters the final round as the sole leader in the Masters, while Andy Woodward and Aydin Suleymanli are tied for first place in the Challengers. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 12.00 CET (6.00 ET, 16.30 IST)

• Review: A powerful 1.e4 repertoire

  Young FIDE Master Bahne Fuhrmann of the Hamburger SK has taken a close look at Harshit Raja’s new video course. In his review, he examines the Indian grandmaster’s 1.e4 course and explains why viewers who study the course can confidently open with 1.e4.

• CBM 229: The battle for the FIDE World Cup in Goa

  ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Nagesh Havanur takes a look at the current issue, CBM 229. All games from the FIDE World Cup, 27 annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Sam Shankland, Wei Yi, Nodirbek Yakubboev and Gabriel Sargissian among others. The icing on the cake is the Special feature "Giri's Gems", offering the Dutch star's eight best games from the year 2025.

• Christmas Puzzles 7 – long and short

  Take a look at this relatively simple position. Can you figure out how White can win? And how many moves it will require to overcome Black's most resolute defence? You won't believe it. To relax we bring you the arguably easiest chess study ever composed, and other entertaining puzzles, many from the out-of-the-box legend Karl Fabel.