• Topics
• Explore the 2025 Chess Calendar and what the thrilling Bundesliga season will bring.
• Did you know the German league is now the second-largest stage for elite games, just after the Chess Olympiad?
• Uncover the toughest Fischer Random and Freestyle Chess positions and how to master them.
• Meet photographer Stev Bonhage, who’s showing chess in a whole new light.
• Dive into the rise of chess in young adult novels and enjoy historical insights, like Michael Ehn’s study of Viennese chess after the Nazi era.

Articles

• Vienna 1945 Michael Ehn

  Vienna, with its coffee houses, wealthy patrons and masters from all over, used to a centre of chess life. In 1945 there was little left of it, and despite the efforts of the Soviet and American occupiers, it never returned.

• A club of gentlemen Atle Grønn

  How Norway was able to produce Magnus Carlsen is easier to understand if you know the Oslo Chess Society in the 1980s. Reprint of a chapter from an unusual biography about Carlsen's mentor and former professional footballer Simen Agdestein.

• Forgotten Talent: Serafino Dubois Javier Cordero

  In his search for clues about the almost forgotten Roman master player, Javier Cordero delves deep into Italian chess history and debunks many a myth in the process. Reading sample from Forgotten Talents.

• No Match within 500 Miles Javier Cordero

  Abe Janofsky grew up in the depths of the Canadian province and nevertheless made it into the extended world class at the end of the 1940s. He recorded how he achieved this in his unusual book Chess the Hard Way.

• Critical Positions in Fischer Random Santiago Beltrán

  Some of the 960 possible starting positions are particularly favourable for White. Which these are, why and how best to treat them is the most important theoretical knowledge for fans of the variation also known as freestyle.

• The Bigger Picture with Stev Bonhage

  Some of the 960 possible starting positions are particularly favourable for White. Which these are, why and how best to treat them is the most important theoretical knowledge for fans of the variation also known as freestyle.

• Heartache and Magical Powers Stefan Liebig

  Novels for young adults are booming on the book market. Chess is featuring more and more often.

• Are You the World Champion or am I? Anatol Vitouch

  The Mahavishnu didn't expect this secret weapon. Not even his bug-proof tent can help him.

• The secret of the third wave Peter Doggers

  At the beginning of the pandemic and again when Netflix showed the cult series The Queen's Gambit, registrations in online chess shot through the roof. There was a third, much larger and less understood wave.

• Doctor Podz and Mister Blitz Thorsten Cmiel

  Karl-Heinz Podzielny Junior was one of the greatest talents in German chess, a gifted blitz player and great sportsman. But when he got drunk and squandered everything, he showed a different face and turned into an impostor.

History

The Schachkalender began its journey in 1983 in Berlin, founded by Arno Nickel. After forty successful editions in German (and one in English for 2009), he entrusted the publication to us. We are proud to present Pocket Chess 2025, bringing this unique blend of writing, birthday and anniversary listings, and puzzles to the international chess community.