Chess Base

• 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.

• 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. Going into the final three rounds of the Masters, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the sole leader, while Javokhir Sindarov, Jorden van Foreest and Matthias Bluebaum stand a half point behind. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 14.00 CET (7.00 ET, 20.30 IST)

• How strong is he really? Matthias Blübaum breaks the 2700 barrier

  Matthias Blübaum is currently stunning the chess world with his performance at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. After ten rounds, he shares second to fourth place and is half a point behind leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov. In the last two rounds, Blübaum defeated Gukesh and Anish Giri, which helped him break the 2700 rating barrier for the first time in his career. | Photo: Lennart Ootes