7/19/2025 – The first games of the Women's World Cup quarterfinals saw wins for Lei Tingjie and Humpy Koneru, who now lead their respective matches. Lei defeated Nana Dzagnidze in a game which saw the Georgian GM losing on time after a scoresheet miscount, while Humpy overcame Song Yuxin with the white pieces. Divya Deshmukh drew against Harika Dronavalli, while Vaishali Rameshbabu missed a chance to press against Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

7/19/2025 – The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam continues in Las Vegas from 16 to 20 July with a 16-player invitational event featuring a round-robin followed by a double-elimination knockout stage. Top players including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana are taking part. All games will be broadcast live with commentary, and eliminated players will contribute to coverage. | Follow the games live starting at 20.00 CEST (14.00 ET, 23.30 IST)

7/19/2025 – Hans Niemann and Levon Aronian advanced to the Grand Final of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas after winning their semifinal matches on Friday. Niemann defeated Fabiano Caruana in tiebreaks, while Aronian overcame Arjun Erigaisi in two classical games. In the lower bracket, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Wesley So and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu stayed in contention for third place. The final weekend will decide the tournament's champion and remaining podium positions. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/19/2025 – The 58th Biel Chess Festival, running from 12 to 25 July, offers a global celebration of chess with 16 tournaments spanning classical, rapid and blitz formats. The main events are the Triathlons, with a Masters and a Challengers section, each including six ambitious top competitors. | Follow the games live starting at 14.00 CEST (8.00 ET, 17.30 IST)

7/19/2025 – Aravindh Chithambaram has reclaimed the lead in the Biel GMT-Masters Triathlon following his draw with Radoslaw Wojtaszek, aided by Vladimir Fedoseev's defeat to Salem Saleh. The Emirati grandmaster, now in third place, secured his second classical win with a convincing performance. In the GMT-Challengers, all games ended in draws, a result that benefits Nikolas Theodorou and Aram Hakobyan, whose progression to next week's final phase now looks increasingly likely. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

7/19/2025 – All four round-four tiebreak matches at the Women's World Cup were won by Indian players, completing the lineup for the quarterfinals. Humpy Koneru and Divya Deshmukh advanced with wins in the 15+10 games, while Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali Rameshbabu needed additional rounds to progress. The quarterfinals will feature four Indian players alongside Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, Nana Dzagnidze and Song Yuxin. | Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE

7/19/2025 – The French Defence is a powerful, combative opening that can bring you both enjoyment and success if you study it properly. But it’s not so easy to find the "right" course among the many ChessBase courses on the French. Jochen Schwarz, a player from northern Germany and a coach in the south, has been playing the French for many years and has gained extensive experience with the FritzTrainer courses on this opening. He wants to help you find the French Defence video course (or courses) that best suit your needs.

7/19/2025 – From the diagram position, White won material by force, with the black queen a6 playing no insignificant role. Let's get to work!

7/18/2025 – Day 2 of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas saw long and dramatic knockout matches in both brackets, with several encounters going all the way to blitz and Armageddon. Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Hans Niemann and Arjun Erigaisi advanced to the upper bracket semifinals, while Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Vincent Keymer and Leinier Dominguez stayed alive in the lower bracket. Four players were eliminated and finished in shared 13th place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/18/2025 – ChessBase Magazine Extra is the ideal supplement to ChessBase Magazine. In the new Extra #226: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database. You can now read CBM Extra also in your webbrowser on your iPad, tablet or Mac in the "ChessBase Book" format!

7/18/2025 – How should a positional player begin with White - 1.d4 or 1.Nf3? In his Fritztrainer course, Sipke Ernst presents a practical 1.d4 repertoire. And in his Grandmaster course on 1.Nf3, Felix Blohberger also focuses on teaching ideas rather than memorizing lines. It's a tough choice! Stay flexible and take a look at both courses — this week (July 14–20), they’re available at a Summer Special price.

7/18/2025 – With a victory over Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Vladimir Fedoseev took the lead in the overall standings of the Biel Masters Triathlon. Aravindh is tied for second place after a draw against Volodar Murzin. Frederik Svane suffered his second defeat in a row against Saleh Salem. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival