Now that we have examined all the individual trees in this game between Viktor Kortschnoj and Anatoly Karpov from 1978, what is our view of the forest? Move after move, Kortschnoj made optimal choices, never lessening the tension. Most decisive endings are won after a gross blunder, but it took...
The opening stage of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals in South Africa consisted of a single round-robin tournament with a 10+5 time control. Although no players were eliminated, the results were of clear importance: they decide the quarterfinal pairings. Javokhir Sindarov, fresh from his...
In recent days, an unusual face has been circulating on sports pages and social media: Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha, a boy from the Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh, India, has been registered as a FIDE-rated chess player at just three years, seven months and 13 days old — making him the youngest...
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam South Africa serves as the concluding event of this year's Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. It brings together the qualifying players for a four-day programme that follows a structured format, beginning with a round-robin stage and culminating in placement matches...
Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco highlights how ChessBase 26’s Opening Report quickly reveals statistical trends and practical insights for specific opening lines, demonstrating it with a rare surprise weapon for Black in the French Advance, with the moves f6 and also f5, and showing that Black’s...
After four rounds of the President Cup in Tashkent, three players share the lead on 3/4: Nihal Sarin, Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Mukhiddin Madaminov. Their identical paths, combined with a striking trend of all decisive games favouring white, have given the event a notably symmetrical start. With...
FIDE has announced the passing of Casto Abundo, Executive Director of the Asian Chess Federation, whose five decades of service left a lasting mark on the global chess community. A respected arbiter and organiser, he played key roles in major international events and helped strengthen the...
Fabiano Caruana is unavailable to play for Baden-Baden due to his commitment at the Freestyle Chess Finals in South Africa, and the same applies to Germany's number one, Vincent Keymer. Baden-Baden thus left Caruana's board vacant and still managed to beat Deggendorf – even though Rustam...
All five games in the final round of the London Chess Classic ended drawn, leaving the standings unchanged following Nodirbek Abdusattorov's clear tournament victory with a round to spare. The Uzbek grandmaster finished with an outstanding 7½/9 and a 2932 performance rating, while Alireza...
On the rest day of the FIDE World Cup, on 20 November, I decided to interview GM Alojzije Jankovic. Every time I have met him, I have always been amazed by his warmth and infectious enthusiasm. A man who has worn many hats in the chess world, Jankovic carries the rare combination of passion,...
Next Monday, the final of the Freestyle Grand Slam 2025 will begin in Grootenbosch (South Africa). To mark the opening, a diving chess competition was organised in Cape Town, which was won by Hans Niemann. Some participants of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam showed off their skills in a...
Nodirbek Abdusattorov secured the London Chess Classic title with a round to spare after drawing his eighth-round game against Alireza Firouzja. Entering the day with a two-point lead built on six consecutive wins, the Uzbek grandmaster navigated a sharp position more accurately before choosing...
The fourth President Cup opened in Tashkent with a round marked by five decisive results, all in favour of the white pieces. With Uzbekistan's top grandmasters absent, the spotlight fell on emerging local talents and a strong group of international participants. The first day saw a couple of...
FIDE’s Commission for Women's Chess has announced the inaugural Pia Cramling Cup, a new rapid tournament for girls and women to be held during the Rilton Cup in Stockholm on 2 January 2026. Created in collaboration with Pia Cramling and the Stockholm Chess Federation, the event celebrates the...
The main attraction of the XTX Markets London Chess Classic is the elite tournament, but the FIDE Open was also very strong, featuring numerous titled players. After nine rounds, three players finished on 7 points and shared first place: GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu of India (pictured), GM...
Arjun Erigaisi claimed the Jerusalem Masters title after a tightly contested knockout stage that featured four seasoned competitors emerging from the round-robin phase. The tournament winner edged Viswanathan Anand in a blitz tiebreak after their rapid games ended level, while Peter Svidler...
The public release of "War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko" marks the first opportunity for general audiences to view the award-winning animated short outside festival and academy screenings. The film, created by Dave Mullins and Sean Ono Lennon, blends an anti-war message with a...
Tomorrow (4 December) marks the official start of the Freestyle Finals in South Africa. The opening press conference at The Silo Hotel in Cape Town will be followed by a diving chess competition. From 8 December, the Grand Slam Finals will begin at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, featuring...
At the second Jerusalem Chess Festival, Arseniy Nesterov and Evgeny Alekseev qualified for the Masters as the best players in the Open and faced ten invited participants there. Svidler, Anand, Nepomniachtchi and Erigaisi advanced from the round-robin tournament of the Masters to the knockout...
Ed Schröder, pioneer of chess engine programming, has in his retirement turned his attention to a new and very exciting project: to extract games from a database collection that are especially aggressive – that are short and have daring sacrifices and king attacks. He shows us the kinds of result...
Nodirbek Abdusattorov secured at least a share of first place at the London Chess Classic by earning his sixth straight win in round seven, defeating Luke McShane in a hard-fought Ruy Lopez. With a two-point lead over Alireza Firouzja and only two rounds remaining, the Uzbek grandmaster is close...
In the 100th edition of the "Campeonato Argentino Superior" in Buenos Aires, seven-time national champion Diego Flores, 12-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro and 2021 champion Federico Pérez Ponsa are locked in a battle for first place. Flores is leading the standings, with Oro and Pérez a half point...
A six-game classical match in Monte Carlo will see Maxime Vachier-Lagrave face 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from 3 to 8 December, in an event organised by the Monaco Chess Federation with support from Evren Ucok. The encounter brings together an established top-20 grandmaster and Türkiye's...
145 years ago, on 1 December 1880, Akiba Rubinstein was born, perhaps the strongest player of his time who never had the chance to play a World Championship match. For more than 20 years, Rubinstein was one of the leading players in the world, but his life took a tragic turn.
Ed Schröder is a pioneer in chess programming. In the 1990s his program Rebel won a number of World Championships in computer chess, and always had a special place in the community, due to its playing style. In 2003 he retired from competitive computer chess, only releasing freeware versions of...