8/27/2019 – He was a world-class grandmaster, twice World Champion candidate, friend of Bobby Fischer (whose participation in the 1972 World Championship match he directly enabled), inventor of the eponymous Benko Gambit and the 1.g3 Benko Opening (which he used to beat Fischer and Tal). He is also known as the composer of some of the finest endgame studies and chess problems we have ever seen. Pál was also a loyal friend who provided us with countless articles over the last decade. He will be deeply missed. | Photo Diana Mihajlova.

7/28/2019 – 41 years ago Wolfram Runkel, (1937-2019) wrote a piece in the prestegious Hamburg weekly "Die Zeit". It was the first major article on computer chess in a German broadsheet. A young science journalist, Frederic Friedel, read it and, with Runkel's help, produced two science documentaries on the subject. And he went on to co-found the chess software company ChessBase. Today, with kind permission of Die Zeit, we bring you the historic article that set everything off.

7/24/2019 – Wolfram Runkel (1937-2019) was a journalist and writer of the prestigious Hamburg weekly "Die Zeit". In this role he was the founder of the tradition of chess reporting in a mainstream outlet. He was also a pioneer in bringing the subject of computer chess to the attention of the German public and, notably, of a young journalist who went on to co-found a large chess software company. Runkel died last Friday after a long illness. Read Frederic Friedel's personal eulogy. | Photo: Hans Walter Schmitt

5/27/2017 – The unforgettable Viktor Kupreichik passed away a few days ago at the age of 68, and with him one of the greatest creative minds in chess passed away as well. Alex Yermolinsky readily admits he was one of his fans from an early age, and later had the chance to face him over the board. Instead of trying to neutralize Kupreichik's wild play, he invited it, leading to a game he explains "is so insane I can't even annotate it properly." Have fun!

7/12/2016 – He was arguably the strongest player never to become world champion. Viktor Korchnoi died just under a month ago, and a lot has been written about this super-grandmaster who had played against six generations of chess players. Jonathan Speelman, who faced him 18 times, has written an insightful eulogy in CHESS magazine, which includes a number of little-known pictures.

6/14/2016 – He was a highly talented home-bred US player, New York High School Champion at 14, National Master at 17, Scottish Champion at 26. He was also a computer science professor at Brooklyn College, with a PhD in Machine Intelligence. In the chess world he is best known for the "Bratko-Kopec" test used to evaluate the positional understanding of chess programs. We bring you a video eulogy with analysis of his games.

6/11/2016 – All over the world, obituaries, eulogies, tributes and testimonies have been written on behalf of a legend whose longevity and passion were an inspiration even for world champions. Here are some of the words that have been said by players such as Anand, Short, and Nakamura, as well as special tributes sent by Judit Polgar, Kavalek, Speelman, Benko, and more...

6/8/2016 – At age 85, and seriously enfeebled as any could see even in photos or videos, one would think Viktor Korchnoi's death would be no great shock, and yet it was. The reason is that he had long seemed living proof age was only a number, not a reality. In print and online everywhere, players are writing tributes and testimonies. Here is Garry Kasparov's, one of his biggest admirers.

6/6/2016 – He was one of the truly great chess players, a legend. He played in three matches that produced the World Champion, but in each case lost to Anatoly Karpov. It made him the strongest player never to have won the title. In 1976 he defected from the Soviet Union and took up residence in Switzerland, where he continued to be active into his eighties in spite of a stroke. Now he has gone and leaves a grieving chess community.

1/13/2016 – He was one of the brightest talents in the world of chess, with an impressive rating of 2658. On 12th of January 2016, at the age of just twenty years and eight months, Ivan Bukavshin died from a stroke, leaving the entire chess world in a state of shock. The 2015 Russian Cup winner is no longer with us. What a player he was, what a beautiful chess career it would have been. A heartfelt eulogy.