Markus Ragger News Today

Today’s column is about sacrifices and the exchange in particular. If you’re shown a chess position cold, then the first thing you do normally is to count the pieces just to check that the material is fairly balanced. But the relative activity is at least as important. The “joy of innumeracy” might turn out to be a valuable (in)ability in many chess positions! | Pictured: Lu Miaoyi at the 2023 Rapid and Blitz World Championships. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

With over 10 million games the Mega Database 2024 is the indispensable chess database for every chess player, for preparation or chess training in all conceivable facets - now available in the updated 2024 edition, also as Big Database without annotated games and update service. Also new: the Corr Database 2024 Correspondence Chess Database with 80,000 tournaments and 2.3 million correspondence games - for players who want to know even more.

Don't miss it! Today we are offering you a 25% price reduction on everything. That includes software, services, video courses, the ChessBase Account – everything, (except vouchers and ducats)!. There are some very interesting new products: like the brand new World Champion program Fritz 19, Mega Database 2024, new ChessBase Packages! And so many other products that will improve your understanding of chess, your skill in the game – not to forget the rating points they will earn you. This ...

The tenth edition of the much-anticipated FIDE World Cup kicked off on Sunday in Baku. The 50 top seeds in the open and the 25 top seeds in the women’s section received byes and will join the fray on Wednesday. The remaining 234 contenders (156 in the open and 78 in the women’s) played their first classical encounters, though. There was no lack of surprises on the first day of action, with 14-year-old Ediz Gurel from Turkey (the youngest participant in the open) stunning Velimir Ivic in bril...

Don't miss it! Today we are offering you a 25% price reduction on everything. That includes software, training DVDs, services, the ChessBase Account. There are some very interesting new products: like the brand new Opening Encyclopaedia 2023, which is a huge fund of ideas and high-quality analysis! And so many other products that will improve your understanding of chess, your skill in the game – not to forget the rating points they will earn you.

Anyone who seriously deals with openings cannot avoid the opening encyclopaedia. Whether beginner or grandmaster. The Opening Encyclopaedia is by far the most comprehensive chess theory work: over 1,396 (!) theory articles offer a huge fund of ideas and high-quality analyses! In the 2023 edition, 66 new major articles and 384 new or updated opening overviews have been added. In addition: 70 top-class videos with 29 hours of playing time! For beginners, there is a tutorial for each opening area i...

Most of all grandmasters were born under the sign of Aquarius. Among them romped the legends Taimanov, Eliskases and Sveshnikov. There is also a world champion - Boris Spassky. With Abhimanyu Mishra, we have not only the youngest grandmaster, but we also had Yuri Averbakh, the oldest, who died at the age of one hundred.| Photo: Pixabay

The 2022-23 edition of the German Bundesliga kicked off on October 22 last year and is set to finish on April 30. All 16 teams have played at least four rounds, but 10 of them have brought forward their round-7 matches. Three squads won all their confrontations: SG Solingen, OSG Baden-Baden and SC Viernheim. The next three rounds are scheduled for February 2-4.

Our second Discount Day of the year begins on Tuesday, November 22, at 4:00 p.m. CET (midnight in Tokyo) and ends on Thursday, November 24, at 10.00 a.m. CET (midnight in California). We are offering you a 25% discount on everything. That includes software, training DVDs, services, the ChessBase Account. And there are some very interesting new products: the brand new ChessBase 17, Mega Database 2023, new Fritztrainers by Mihail Marin and Sipke Ernst. Don't miss this great opportunity to shop...

The European Club Cup is taking place on October 3-9 in Mayrhofen, Austria. Open and women’s tournaments take place concurrently. A number of elite players are participating, including Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. The venue of the tournament is the Europahaus. | Follow the games live starting at 14.00 CEST (8.00 ET, 17.30 IST)