ChessBase

• 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. After two rounds, Arjun Erigaisi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hans Niemann are sharing the lead with 1½ points each. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 14.00 CET (7.00 ET, 20.30 IST)

• Tata Steel Chess: Abdusattorov beats Pragg, Fedoseev takes down Keymer

  Round two of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament produced two decisive games in the Masters, with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (pictured) and Vladimir Fedoseev both scoring with the white peices. Abdusattorov now shares the lead on 1½ points with Hans Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi. In the Challengers, Lu Miaoyi emerged as the sole leader on 2/2, while Faustino Oro added a notable win against a 2600-rated GM. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

• Review: All new releases in December!

  ChessBase 26 is certainly the highlight among the November releases, but the other databases also offer a wealth of study material. There are many new options to explore, as well as in Harald Schneider-Zinner’s checkmate course, which combines a book with an online course. Finally, there are also new installments of Karsten Müller’s Endgame Academy and Ivan Sokolov’s middlegame strategy series. | All photos: ChessBase

• 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.

• Christmas Puzzles 6 – cover the board!

  In August 2019 I spent a week in France, at the training camp I had organized (together with ChessBase India) for young Indian super talents. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik did the chess training, while I pestered the kids with logic puzzles. Most did not involve chess, but some did. Here are a couple for you.

• Christmas Puzzles 5 – Rotary problems

  In rotary problems the board is rotated by 180° for a second position with a different solution. It is usually pawns that make a different when you turn the board around. Or the king/queen positions, or castling is involved. Can one devise problems where these factors do not play a role? Yes one can, as our expert for out-of-the-box problems, Werner Keym, proves.

• Christmas Puzzles 4 – Retractors

  These days it is not easy to challenge anyone with problems or studies. Loading the PGN and clicking Start will usually get you the solution in seconds. So we are trying to provide you with "computer resistant" puzzles in this year's Christmas Puzzle Week. Today the subject is taking back a move in a given position and looking for a move to fulfil the condition. As in this 100-year-old problem by Thomas Dawson: it requires you to take back one move and then mate the opponent in two. Can you think how?

• Christmas Puzzles 3 – Just some text

  There are chess puzzles which only consist of a line of text, asking you to construct a position or a game that it describes. Some can be awesomely difficult, like the puzzle we first posted 41 years ago. Two world champions were not able to solve it. We tell you about that, and present a new ones, not quite as tough, for you to solve.

• Christmas Puzzles 2 – Not that easy!

  Take a look at this position, in which White should mate in two. Looks very easy, and hundreds of readers of the newspaper in which it appeared submitted a solution. But it was not correct. In our Christmas Puzzle week the consummate expert of unusual chess problems, Werner Keym, asks you to look carefully at the position and find a genuine way for White to mate Black in two moves. There are two other problems to solve.

• ChessBase Christmas Puzzle Week

  Christmas day is usually celebrated with a Christmas tree – in problem chess circles occasionally with a puzzle shaped like a Christmas tree. Like this example, composed by the famous Thomas Rayner Dawson, 101 years ago. It illustrates the universal principle of symmetry, and how it can be broken in a chess problem. Mathematics professor Christian Hesse delves into the very profound thinking behind the problem. But you are invited to solve it first.