3/10/2022 – Garry Kasparov has long been an avowed opponent of Vladimir Putin, and in 2015 he issued a strong warning about Putin and his political aims in his book "Winter is Coming". In an interview with the American TV programme "Amanpour and Company", Kasparov now talks about the war in Ukraine, Putin's political rise, the failure of the West to oppose Putin and possible sanctions against Russia. Passionate, informed and eloquent.
9/18/2018 – Reflecting on the Champions Showdown in St. Louis, Macauley Peterson pulls a few highlight videos from the commentary webcast and breaks down what appeals to fans of the Chess960 variant, for a look at how the next event like this from the Saint Louis Chess Club could be improved. Chess960 may have its problems gaining traction, but as Peter Svidler notes, there's plenty of space on the chess schedule to try new ideas. | ChessBase via Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube
4/6/2022 – In an interview for the Norwegian newspaper VG, Magnus Carlsen talked about the recent developments involving Sergey Karjakin. The world champion clearly stated that he disagrees with his colleague’s stance, but also noted that he is not sure whether banning him from official tournaments was the right decision. | Photo: Albert Silver
3/21/2022 – In reaction to public statements made by Sergey Karjakin about the war in Ukraine, the FIDE and Ethics and Disciplinary Commission banned Karjakin for six months "from participating as a player in any FIDE rated chess competition, taking effect from the date of this decision, 21 March 2022." Therefore, Karjakin will not be able to play in the Candidates Tournament that is scheduled to take place from 16 June to 7 July in Madrid, Spain. Grandmaster Sergei Shipov, who regularly works as a commentator, was not banned by FIDE for his statements about the war because "in comparison with Sergey Karjakin, Sergei Shipov is considerably less known and has, therefore, a less powerful platform." | Picture: Sergey Karjakin, Sergei Shipov | Picture: FIDE
2/28/2018 – Two weeks ago there was a World Championship — in Chess960, a variant that symmetrically shuffles the position of the pieces behind the row of pawns. The game has gained some popularity since it eliminates the staggering amount of preparation that is required in regular chess. But Chess960 has a few problems that probably prevent it from really taking off. We discuss some possible solutions to these problems.
12/31/2016 – After the World Championship match between Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen Yasser Seirawan proposed a "Radical Solution" to change the format of the World Championship match. It triggered an enormous discussion. Readers sent in hundreds of comments, Emil Sutovsky and Maurice Ashley published different proposals. Now Seirawan sums up his final thoughts on the World Championship format.
10/20/2022 – The news broke out minutes ago. Hans Niemann posted on his Twitter the official complaint against Magnus Carlsen, the Play Magnus Group, Chess.com, Daniel Rensch, and Hikaru Nakamura. The complaint states that he is seeking "damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but no less than One Hundred Million Dollars ($100,000,000)". The text of the complaint does not mince words.
9/26/2022 – A day after getting a convincing victory at the Generation Cup, as he anticipated, Magnus Carlsen has shared a public statement regarding the polemic surrounding his withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup and his quick resignation against Hans Niemann. The world champion wrote: “I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted”. | Photo: Amruta Mokal
11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros
11/30/2016 – For many chess fans the short draw in game 12 of the Carlsen vs Karjakin World Championship Match was a shock. Now, rapid and maybe even blitz games will decide the match that started with 12 games in classical time-control. Our author Yasser Seirawan finds this "extremely undesirable" and offers a radical solution.
2/2/2017 – In a curious case at Gibraltar Masters, women's world champion Hou Yifan resigned in a mere 5 moves, breaking the record previously held by Viswanathan Anand for the quickest loss by a grandmaster. The 'scandal' occurred during the final round of the Masters tournament, known to be the best Open in the world.
12/6/2016 – Yasser Seirawan does not like the current format of the World Championship and proposed a number of hotly debated changes. Now, Emil Sutovsky, President of the Association of Chess Professionals, counters. He offers an out-of-the box proposal and invites readers to make their opinion heard.
1/23/2022 – An eventful seventh round in Wijk aan Zee saw Daniil Dubov forfeiting his game against Anish Giri after declining to wear a mask during the game as requested by the organizers — someone in the Russian’s inner circle had tested positive for Covid-19. Later on, wins by Magnus Carlsen, Jorden van Foreest and Fabiano Caruana left the world champion in the sole lead. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit
12/6/2017 – Imagine this: you tell a computer system how the pieces move — nothing more. Then you tell it to learn to play the game. And a day later — yes, just 24 hours — it has figured it out to the level that beats the strongest programs in the world convincingly! DeepMind, the company that recently created the strongest Go program in the world, turned its attention to chess, and came up with this spectacular result.
12/3/2016 – During the World Chess Championship match, Yasser Seirawan's article "A Radical Solution" was causing reactions from all sides. In a second article, the grandmaster is addressing his audience for a second time and specifies his criticism - regarding the format of the match. "A Radical Solution - Redux"...
7/21/2022 – Ending months of speculation, Magnus Carlsen has officially announced he will not be defending his title in a rematch against Ian Nepomniachtchi come the end of 2022. As a result, the second-place winner of the 2022 Candidates Tournament, Ding Liren, will face the Russian to determine the new World Champion. (Photo: Albert Silver)
9/19/2018 – The match for the highest title in chess is always very exciting. But it is somewhat spoiled if the result is a tie. In previous times it meant that the reigning champion kept his title; later a tiebreak was installed, with rapid chess games, blitz and then Armageddon. Not a satisfactory solution, with the championship not decided by classical games. Werner Keym, a chess problem composer, has an alternate solution, one that like most of his problems is out of the box. Tell us what you think.
9/8/2022 – In the last few days the chess world has been in enormous upheaval after the World Champion Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in protest after three rounds, with an unspoken accusation of cheating of the player who had defeated him, US rising star Hans Niemann. Lines were drawn, accusations made and defenses stated. Here is a full overview of both sides of this explosive controversy.