5/15/2026 – I have a look at the game Caruana-Firouzja from Superbet Rapid and Blitz in Warsaw. White chose quite an aggressive line against the Sicilian Kan by sacrificing a pawn for a dangerous initiative. Due to its lack in development and weakened dark-squares, Black is having a hard time neutralizing White's attacking aspiration. Caruana eventually transformed his attack into a winning endgame with an extra exchange but failed to convert his naterial plus. In this episode, I'll give you an update on the current theoretical state of this variation and share some illustrative examples.

5/15/2026 – Last week we saw how Magnus Carlsen lost against Jorden van Foreest, which put him at 2 out of 4 at that point. But then he managed to win his remaining three games, and 5 out of 7 was just enough to share first place with Erigaisi. Eventually, Carlsen won the blitz tiebreak with 2-1, so he did it again. Our Game of the Week is the historical last round encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, the 14-year-old that may very well be his successor one day. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/15/2026 – In 1983, 21 years after Wolfgang Uhlmann's victory over Mikhail Botvinnik at the 1962 Chess Olympiad in Varna, a German player once again managed to defeat a reigning world champion. In the first round of the International Mephisto Chess Tournament in Hanover, Wolfram Hartmann, then a 27-year-old law student from Bamberg, achieved one of the most astonishing underdog victories in German chess history against Anatoly Karpov (pictured). | Photo: V. Savostianov, Novosti Press (via Douglas Griffin)

5/15/2026 – In the diagram position Black can't yet strike, but after 34...Rh7! 35.Rh1 the time has come. The motto is forward - have fun!

5/15/2026 – All five games ended drawn in the first round of the Super Chess Classic Romania, though several players had chances to grab full points. Alireza Firouzja missed the clearest opportunity against defending champion Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (pictured), while Fabiano Caruana failed to make the most of an extra pawn against Jorden van Foreest. Wesley So v. Vincent Keymer was a double-edged, remarkable battle. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/14/2026 – Simpson's in the Strand has reopened with a nod to its origins as a chess venue, a detail explored by Harry Wallop in The Times. Wallop's article uses the London restaurant's history to examine a wider revival of over-the-board chess, from social clubs and café events to rising sales of physical chess sets, and considers why the game's face-to-face appeal has endured in a screen-heavy age. | Photo: Matt Brown via Wikimedia Commons

5/14/2026 – Wadim Rosenstein came into prominence when he organised the first edition of WR Chess in 2023. He then came up with the idea of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Teams - an event that has become a mainstay in the chess calendar. In recent times, if you follow Rosenstein on his X account, the number of activities that he is doing for chess has grown exponentially! In this interview, we ask him about these events, his vision for chess and whether he is planning to become the FIDE President. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/14/2026 – Welcome to The Initiative – a show dedicated to the relentless battle for momentum in chess! In every game, players fight to seize control, dictate the pace and keep their opponent on the back foot. But what does it really mean to have the initiative? How do the world's best players maintain pressure and transform small advantages into crushing attacks?

5/14/2026 – The ChessBase Opening Encyclopedia 2026 is one of the company’s flagship products alongside the Mega Database and the ChessBase database program - currently ChessBase'26. For years, these programs have formed part of the essential toolkit for everyday chess work. From the very beginning, the Opening Encyclopedia has played a key role by providing a fast and efficient overview of the entire spectrum of chess openings. Lukas Köpl took a closer look at the latest edition of the Opening Encyclopedia and summed up his impressions.

5/14/2026 – Four days, thousands of rapid and blitz chess games, international and national participants such as Maghsoodloo, Pranav and Blohberger - the 2026 Grand Prix at PlusCity in the Austrian town of Pasching is once again set to become one of Europe's biggest chess festivals. Anyone who wants not only to think chess, but to experience it, should be there in person and enjoy the chess atmosphere at the Austrian National Championships. | Photos: Official website

5/13/2026 – If a game could have been legally drawn dozens of moves earlier, why was it played on? Why were obvious draw claims never made, even when repetitions were plainly visible? Why did both players repeatedly adjourn a position whose theoretical outcome was already beyond doubt? Was it artificially extended to get it recognition by Guinness? Estonian chess expert and trainer Valery Golubenko tells us about the struggle to regulate very long theoretical endings.

5/13/2026 – Jose Martinez won the opening stage of the 2026 Romania Grand Prix in Bucharest after drawing (with black) an Armageddon decider against Aydin Suleymanli. The rapid tournament, held at the Palace of Parliament on 9-10 May, attracted 581 players from 27 countries. Five players tied for first place on 8½/10, with Martinez and Suleymanli advancing to the playoff thanks to superior Buchholz scores. | Photo: Romanian Chess Federation