MegaBase 2024 is Chess History in action. Regularly updated every month, the Main Database currently offers 10.6 million games, many of them annotated. In the first part of his review he dealt with the treatment of chess in the 21st Century <a href="https://en.chessbase.com/post/megabase-2024-review-nagesh-havanur">in the MegaBase</a>. Here he offers a rare discovery from a world championship match that fell into oblivion.
Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 166th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and talks about Mikhail Tal and the phenomenon of the "Angstgegner". | Photo: Pascal Simon
On 15 January 1930 one of the strongest chess tournaments of the time began in the Italian resort of San Remo. 16 players took part, including the reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine and chess legends such as Aron Nimzowitsch, Akiba Rubinstein and Efim Bogoljubow. Alekhine won comfortably with 14 points from 15 games, achieving one of the greatest successes of his career. His third wife, Nadasha Vasilyev, probably played a major role in this and other Alekhine successes. | Photo: Alekhine and Nadascha in San Remo 1930 | Photo: https://audiovis.nac.gov.pl/
Chess is a game that represents war on a board, where pieces are eliminated in a metaphor of combat and death based on their hierarchy. That's why it's ironic that a game played in 1918 literally saved a man's life. His name was Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein, and he had to win to prove his identity, u
Vincent Hubbard played chess in prison as an escape. Now he plays $20 games on the streets of South L.A. and competes in tournaments to find a new path forward.