ChessBase

• ChessBase tips for beginners - Annotations

  This episode explains how to add annotation symbols and evaluation marks to your analysed games in ChessBase using the Insert tab, quick-access menus, keyboard shortcuts, and the notation pane. It also shows how to insert, edit, or delete text comments before or after moves, helping you personalize your analysis and clearly express your ideas.

• Remembering Jonathan Hawkins (1983-2025): Adult improver, two-time British champion

  Jonathan Hawkins followed an uncommon route to the top of English chess. From a club player rated around 1800 in his late teens, he became a grandmaster, two-time British champion and author of "Amateur to IM", a book widely read among players seeking insight into long-term improvement. He later devoted much of his time to coaching, working with emerging talents such as Bodhana Sivanandan. Diagnosed with neuroendocrine carcinoma, he died on 22 December 2025 at 42, only months after his diagnosis. | Photo: English Chess Federation / John Upham

• Brandon Jacobson finishes clear first at Antel Cup in Montevideo

  Montevideo hosted the 9th Ciudad de Montevideo Open, the Antel Cup, as part of its annual chess festival, attracting 79 players and 27 titled participants. Second seed Brandon Jacobson (pictured, right) claimed clear first place with 7½/9, remaining undefeated throughout the nine rounds. A key round-six win over top seed Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (pictured, left) proved decisive. Christiansen and 22-time Uruguayan champion Bernardo Roselli completed the podium. | Photo: Antel Cup

• Review: ChessBase´26 – The beginning of a new era

  With ChessBase '26, ChessBase presents a new version of its long-standing database software, which is less about minor improvements and more about a strategic further development of the entire system. For decades, ChessBase has been the benchmark for professional chess databases, opening preparation, opponent analysis, and game management at the highest level. In this review, Lukas Köpl focuses on the new features of the current version and examines them from the perspective of a player and trainer.

• The touch-move controversy between Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov

  Netflix launched a new documentary on the life of Judit Polgar, "The Queen of Chess". The documentary is extremely well-made and is definitely worth a watch if you are a chess fan. It brought back to life an incident that had happened 32 years ago in 1994, when an 18-year-old Judit took on the world number-one Garry Kasparov for the first time. It involved a famous touch-move incident. | Photo: Judit Polgar Chess Foundation

• Lilit Mkrtchian’s Best Games of 2025 - Learning positional pressure

  In this “Best Games of 2025” episode, Lilit Mkrtchian takes us through a deeply instructive win from the Tegernsee tournament, showing her full ChessBase-style preparation workflow and how she chose an offbeat setup to get her opponent out of comfort early. The lesson then turns into a masterclass on positional pressure: exploiting the weakened d5-square, improving pieces step by step, and using concrete calculation to avoid tempting but incorrect tactics. The game finishes with clean technique—converting a queenside advantage and a dangerous passed a-pawn—while the big takeaway is clear: smart prep + strong squares + not spoiling a better position wins games.

• Most attractive chess players

  Who is your favourite chess player – of all time, from the history of chess? Whose games do you enjoy the most? Is it one of the greats from the 19th century, the world champion legends of the twentieth? Or is it a player who is still active? Tell us your choices – and we will compare them with what a chess AI chooses, after evaluating millions of games.

• 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.

• 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.