6/27/2022 – The PlusCity Rapid Open took place in the Austrian municipality of Pasching with a prize fund of 15,000 euros. Czech grandmaster Vojtech Plat won with a 7½/9 score. Plat had the same score as his grandmaster colleagues Anton Demchenko, Milos Jirovsky, Daniel Fridman and Andreas Heimann, but took home the first prize thanks to his tiebreak score. | Photos: Peter Kranzl

1/21/2022 – Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. are the drivers of the legendary Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One. Lewis Hamilton is not the only self-confessed chess fan among Formula One racing drivers. The two Ferrari drivers also love the royal game and even engaged in a rapid chess challenge.

12/9/2021 – The adventures we have had with Fritz! A unique experience was a match our program played in the Gulf state of Bahrain, back in 2002. The eight-game struggle ended in a hard-fought 4-4 draw. In a large pictorial article Frederic Friedel describes the intense battle against the reigning World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, and the three weeks spent by the ChessBase/Fritz team in a luxury hotel in Bahrain.

5/11/2020 – He was one of the more interesting personalities in and around chess – but not just there. "Iepe the Joker" was a Dutch artist, entrepreneur, innovator and storyteller. For us his most relevant enterprises was chess boxing, which he initiated and popularized in a way nobody foresaw. On Sunday he was found dead in his bed – how and why we do not yet know. Frederic Friedel has written a obituary with description of his interactions with a dear friend.

10/5/2019 – The Chess Classic tournaments in Frankfurt and Mainz are legendary. Organiser and driving force behind these tournaments was Hans-Walter Schmitt (pictured in 2004 with supermodel Carmen Kass), a tireless chess promoter. But after 25 years of organising chess events he now invites to a last spectacular event: a double simul with Vishy Anand and Vincent Keymer who both play on 40 boards. | Photos: Hartmut Metz

3/10/2018 – And so it begins. The eight candidates were presented on the ground floor of the Berlin "Kuehlhaus" last night to a crowd of assembled guests including the keynote speaker, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Highlights from the opening press conference and party, along with live games of round one starting at 15:00 CET (9:00 EST). | Photo and drawings by World Chess

9/21/2016 – When the playchess.com server went online 15 years ago it changed the way chess was played, trained, and enjoyed. In part two of his memories of 15 years of playchess.com, ChessBase editor André Schulz reflects about the advantages, the pleasure and the fun online chess offers, and shares memories of the many prominent players who visited the ChessBase studio in Hamburg or at international tournaments.

1/3/2014 – As previously announced mid-December, the BBC Radio program “Across the Board” has started, featuring Dominic Lawson, the Sunday Times and Daily Mail columnist, and also club player, who interviews five personalities whom chess has touched in its own way. The first three episodes are up with interviews of John Healy, Rachel Reeves, and Lennox Lewis. Well worth listening too.

6/20/2013 – David Bitton is a Canadian independent filmmaker who for the past three years has been working on the first feature length documentary about chessboxing, telling the story of three visionaries who are struggling to transform the sport from underground cult curiosity into a respected and recognized mainstream phenomenon. Bitton is is currently crowd-funding the project on kickstarter.

8/27/2012 – The event is being staged in the WOW Hotel and Convention Center, just minutes away from the airport, where many of the top teams and all the dignitaries are staying. On Monday the technical meeting was held, and then the spectacular opening ceremony, with a rich and colourful cultural program, including the often extremely vigorous traditional Turkish dances. Impressions of the opening day.

8/26/2012 – The biggest chess event of the year is just two days away, with teams arriving and preparing for round one on Tuesday. The top seeds are Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, China, USA. One of these teams has won four consecutive Golds in the past – can you guess which? Learn more about the leading teams in the Yorkshire Chess Association's excellent Olympiad preview.

8/26/2012 – The Russians dominated the last Olympiad with a perfect score, followed by China four points behind. This time, with the two highest rated players on boards one and two, the Chinese women are going to mount a serious challenge. But we mustn't forget Georgia, which monopolised the Women’s World Championship for 30 consecutive years. Olympiad preview by Yorkshire Chess.

8/25/2012 – The chess Olympiad starts on Monday, the teams will be swarming into Istanbul from their various training camps. One of the players had a somewhat unusual session: Vladimir Kramnik spent some days in Austria with his old friend and WBA Heavyweight Boxing Champion Vitali Klitschko, who himself was preparing for a tough match. We bring you a photo report of the unusual training session.

3/31/2012 – The events that have clouded the European Chess Championship in Plovdiv – after Shakhriyar Mamedyarov another Azeri GM, Eltaj Safarli, has abandoned the event after defaulting in round nine – have generated a great deal of discussion: is "zero tolerance" really necessary, how should one regulate draw offers, and should arbiters be measuring skirt lengths? Reader feedback.

10/20/2011 – This is becoming one of the most amazing results of all time. Chinese GM Zhao Xue is three and a half points ahead of the field, and stands to gain 46 rating points from a single tournament. She is playing short games, often being the first to finish. But they are not draws but lovely wins. Xue's plus nine results dwarfs that of second-placed player, Ju Wenjun, on plus two. Friday is the final round.

8/5/2011 – We must repeat our headline. The remarkable 17-year-old women's world champion Hou Yifan has struck again, with a third win in succession. But the other ladies showed similar fighting spirit: five of six games were decisive, and we speculate that there may soon be plans to prevent too many wins in women's chess. Anyway, exciting chess, as we demonstrate in our big round three report.

6/2/2010 – With spectator numbers and gate receipts that would turn any chess organiser green with envy, with centers in Los Angeles, London, Berlin and Siberia, chess boxing is becoming a real success story. Recently in London a super-fit boxer managed to knock out his opponent just when he was about to be mated. You'll never guess whom director Iepe Rubingh has been trying to recruit.

4/5/2010 – Cementing its status as the epicentre of the chessboxing universe, London’s historic Boston Dome hosted three action-packed fights. Followed by a sell-out 500-strong crowd. It was the first of five UK chessboxing events planned for London in 2010, ably promoted by Tim Woolgar of the GBCBO, in partnership with the WCBO. Pictures by James Bartosik, report by Rajko Vujatovic.

2/27/2010 – Top of the bill is a thrilling heavyweight encounter between Sergio “The Phoenix” Leveque from Italy and Dutchman, Hubert Van Melick. Chessboxing entails alternating sessions of four minutes at the chessboard and two in the boxing ring. You can win by checkmate or knockout. In two weeks the new season begins, with the first fights in London. Press release and videos.

11/19/2008 – This hybrid sport, with four-minute sessions of chess interspersed with three minutes of boxing, is the brainchild of Dutch event artist Iepe Rubingh. The match ends in checkmate or knockout. Chessboxing is fast becoming a world-wide phenomenon, overtaking chess in the number of spectators it can attract. The latest match took place in London. Pictorial report.

9/12/2008 – The UK’s first chessboxing extravaganza kicked off on a sultry summer’s night on 15 August in the East End of London. Famous for Jack the Ripper, Pearly Kings and Queens, and 1960’s gangsters, the area is now the hub of a vibrant night scene. Rajko Vujatovic gives his inside account as chess arbiter on the night, whilst Tim Woolgar offers a unique first hand report of his debut chessboxing bout.

7/12/2007 – After winning the Dortmund Super-GM Vladimir Kramnik travelled to Hamburg to produce his first DVD in the ChessBase Media System, recording over six hours of video material that traces his path to the top of the chess world. After finishing he rushed to Cologne to support his chess playing friend Vladimir Klitschko, who was defending his world championship title in boxing. Pictorial report.

3/12/2007 – Vladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian IBF heavyweight world boxing champion with a PhD in sports science and an avid interest in chess. On Saturday he fought American challenger Ray Austin and dropped him with a flurry of left hooks 87 seconds into the second round. Next people hope to see a unification fight against WBC champion Nikolai Valuev. Watch Saturday's fight.

4/24/2006 – Vladimir Klitschko, the younger of the world champion heavyweight boxing brothers, took the new International Boxing Federation title on Friday night, defeating Chris Byrd of the US by technical knockout in the seventh round. The Klitschkos are great chess fans and promised their friend Vladimir Kramnik, who was present at the fight, to attend his matches.