8/7/2017 – Test your tactical ability with these positions grouped in rough order of difficulty. The games come from various recent events, not least the opening Grand Chess Tour events in Paris and Leuven. Don’t forget that whilst sometimes the key move will force mate or the win of material, other times it will just win a pawn. Take your time analysing the positions, on our news page, assisted by a built-in chess engine.

7/19/2017 – This year’s World Senior Team Championship was held in late April on the island of Crete. In the over-50s section Short, Nunn, Speelman, Arkell and Chapman played in the England One team and finished third. Our columnist Jonathan Speelman scored 5.5/7 points, winning two very nice games in the end. Jon uses these two games to demonstrate how you can play for a win in a rook and knight endgame, even when things are looking fairly drawn. Don't miss this practical GM endgame lesson from CHESS Magazine.

7/12/2017 – "Do you find yourself spending too much time on social media?" asks the columnist in the July issue of CHESS Magazine. "Me too." John describes how he keeps compulsively checking his Facebook and Twitter accounts. It uses up a lot of time, but there are plus points: you find a lot of chess puzzles, many of them quite irresistible. He shows us two examples which you can try to solve on our interactive javascript chess board. Have fun.

6/20/2017 – "I had the pleasure of first meeting Nihal in Stockholm at the end of last year," writes John-Paul Wallace. "He looked even younger than his tender age of 12, but it was immediately clear that he was a powerful chess player. A few days after this event I conducted a Skype interview with Nihal. As I think you will see, he is a very humble young man and undoubtedly he has a fantastic future ahead of him. I wish him all the best!" Interview in the June issue of CHESS Magazine.

5/18/2017 – In 1979 the East Devon Congress was won, with a 4½/5 score, by a young student with long curly hair and a brown corduroy jacket. 38 years later it was won, again with a 4½/5 score, by the same player, now sporting shorter grey hair. We bring you an interesting report from the British chess magazine CHESS, which also contains a piece on a new variant of the game that is gaining popularity: Duck Chess.

4/3/2017 – It was an April Fools' prank, as most of our readers quickly recognized. Pein, a harsh critic of the current FIDE leadership, had no role in the power struggle that is taking place in Athens. And no intention of running for FIDE President, as was claimed in the wholly invented interview we published on April 1st. Although: the idea is not completely out of hand. With his connections and organisational skill... But that is just a dream.

4/1/2017 – FIDE is in turmoil, the officers in Athens have apparently staged a coup attempt to oust the current President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. But what happens if they succeed: who will the new president be? In the middle of the current power struggle we bring you breaking news: Malcolm Pein, the organiser of the London Chess Classic, head of the program Chess in Schools, chess correspondent of the Telegraph, will be running for the highest office in chess. We asked him for details.

3/9/2017 – He is the oldest player in the world's top 100, and last December he won the British Knockout Championship, to the surprise of some. In the quaterfinals he was dragged into a tie-break by the lowest-rated player in the event, but he then went on to beat Luke McShane and David Howell to take the title. "I am very happy with my status as celebrity oldie – I suppose now that Viktor has gone, someone had to step up," says Nigel in this interview with Junior Tay.

1/4/2017 – When Bob Jones undertook a trip to buy a collection of chess books he found some treasures, including a letter by the wife of Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964), one of the most prolific writers on chess. Only later did Bob realize that he had purchased the chess library of Bruce Hayden, himself an extraordinary personality in chess: chess correspondent for The Times and a great raconteur of chess tales. Here's a story that looks at one of the most prolific writers on chess.

11/1/2016 – The World Problem conference is not just about solving. The chess composers present at the event are not idle but take part in one or more of the wide range of composing tourneys that these events always include. This year, for the first time, the Azerbaijanis ran a study composing tourney. First prize was won by Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen. Problem expert Brian Stephenson explains the study and gives you another study to solve.

10/16/2016 – "I have always been hooked on the game’s history," writes IM Craig Pritchett, a leading Steinitz authority, in the British magazine CHESS. In part one he took our readers through the history of the game’s so-called ‘Romantic Age’. In this second part Craig expands on Steinitz’s more nuanced, strategically based chess understanding and primacy, and the ways in which his greatest games and writings substantively helped move chess forward towards a radically new and long-lasting, early ‘modernity’.

10/5/2016 – "I have always been hooked on the game’s history," writes IM Craig Pritchett, a leading Steinitz authority, in the British magazine CHESS. "As I struggle to keep my FIDE rating afloat into my chess-playing seniority, I have taken to writing books on great players, their styles, times and significance. I have never had the slightest doubt that striving to understand the contribution to the game’s development made by Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) and others is not just intrinsically of interest, but that it also positively benefits our own chess.

9/1/2016 – Consider this scenario. You are all geared up to play a chess game against a strong opponent and you are well prepared in the various opening variations he or she uses. As you await the seemingly inevitable 1 e4 or 1 d4, he flicks in ever so slightly, 1 a3 or 1 h3. Chances are, you will be miffed at the disrespect shown to you, to say the least. In CHESS Magazine Junior Tay shows us games (one by Carlsen!) where this strategy worked.

8/9/2016 – The author writes: "The Englund Gambit, 1.d4 e5, is in my opinion the second worst opening in the whole of chess (top position belongs to 1.e4 f5, the glorious Fred). This is not something that is likely to crop up in too many standard play games, although it is a common enough customer in blitz chess – its awfulness is mediated by a the presence of a few funny ideas (and one big trap) that White may struggle to get to grips with in the course of a few minutes." In CHESS Magazine Matthew provides extensive analysis that will serve you well.

5/6/2013 – Nette Robinson is an artist and jazz singer who fell in love with chess three years ago. "Since then it has become an obsession and huge source of pleasure," she says. "As an artist, I find it entirely natural to express that joy and enthusiasm for chess through creating art." Nette will have an exhibition in The Muse Gallery, London, in May. CHESS article.

3/8/2011 – It is remarkable how quickly international competition was re-established after the Second World War. Alexander Alekhine was still very much alive, though understandably none too popular as a suspected Nazi collaborator. There was a first "Match of the Century" and the code-crackers chess masters were honoured. Yes, and can you guess when the electronic chessboard was invented?