10/21/2026 – FIDE President Timur Turlov met Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia to discuss the country's growing chess infrastructure and future cooperation with FIDE. Cyprus has hosted several major international events in recent years while also expanding domestic tournaments, youth training and permanent facilities. The meeting highlighted the island's development as an emerging European chess centre and its potential as a model for combining elite events with long-term national growth. | Photo: FIDE

10/20/2026 – The US Championships are taking place on 9-21 October at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Each tournament is a 12-player single round-robin with a classical time control. Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Levon Aronian are the highest-rated players in the open, while Carissa Yip, Alice Lee and Irina Krush head the women's field. | Follow the action live starting at 19.00 CEST (13.00 ET, 22.30 IST) | Pictured: Anna Zatonskih | Photo: Crystal Fuller

10/20/2026 – The European Club Cup is taking place on 17-23 October in Budva, Montenegro, bringing together 108 teams in the open section and 22 teams in the women's competition. The seven-round event features a number of elite players, including Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wei Yi, Alexandra Goryachkina and Humpy Koneru. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 14.00 CEST (8.00 ET, 17.30 IST) | Pictured: Vasyl Ivanchuk | Photo: Gerd Densing

10/20/2026 – Wesley So maintained his full-point lead at the US Championship after drawing his direct encounter against defending champion Fabiano Caruana in round nine. Grigoriy Oparin defeated Sam Shankland to join Caruana in second place. In the women's tournament, 16-year-old Rachael Li took the sole lead on 7/9 after beating Nazi Paikidze. Irina Krush defeated Alice Lee, leaving both players a full point behind Li with two rounds remaining. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

10/20/2026 – White's knightmare: Rook and knight can be a strong attacking duo: Black to move and win.

10/20/2026 – Eleven teams remain tied for first place in the open section of the European Club Cup after three rounds, with tenth seeds Beer Sheva the only top-twelve team to have dropped a match point. The fourth round will see SuperChess facing Bayegan Pendik, with a potential battle between Anish Giri and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (pictured) on the top board. In the women's competition, Monte-Carlo and Gambit Bonnevoie are the only teams with perfect scores and will meet on Tuesday. | Photo: Gerd Densing

10/19/2026 – GM Arturs Neiksans looks back on his remarkable chess journey, from growing up in the small Latvian town of Valka and discovering chess at age nine to representing Latvia and eventually becoming a Grandmaster. He explains why he stepped away from competitive chess, how a career detour ultimately brought him back to the game, and how coaching, streaming and commentary became increasingly important parts of his life.

10/19/2026 – Bodhana and Karsten show 3 highlights. One from Bodhana and 2 for Samarkand. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

10/19/2026 – A total of 108 teams are competing in the European Club Cup in Budva in the open section, with 22 in the women's competition. On paper, the favourites in the open are Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club from Turkey, with an average Elo rating of 2715. Bayegan are also the only team with an average rating of 2700 or higher, although four other teams - Alkaloid, SuperChess Romania, Novy Bor and Tuxena - have averages of at least 2600. These five teams are also among the 25 in Budva that have won both their matches in the first two rounds. | Pictured: Alkaloid's Wei Yi | Photo: Gerd Densing

10/19/2026 – Total Chess has proposed a new rating system that combines players' classical, rapid and blitz ratings into a single figure. Developed by researcher Mehmet Mars Seven in collaboration with Norway Chess, the formula uses existing FIDE ratings to assess overall playing strength across the three formats. Magnus Carlsen (pictured) tops the inaugural ranking, followed by Hikaru Nakamura and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The system will undergo testing and public consultation before potential revisions. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase

10/18/2026 – Wesley So defeated Andy Woodward in round eight of the US Championship to extend his lead to a full point over Fabiano Caruana, who drew against Sam Sevian. The two will meet in Monday's ninth round. In the women's tournament, Alice Lee and Rachael Li remain tied for first place on 6/8, while Thalia Cervantes moved within half a point of the leaders by defeating four-time national champion Carissa Yip. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

10/18/2026 – The World Championship match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov is approaching. The contest gets underway on 24 November in Cologny, near Geneva. Who will be helping the two contenders this time? Sindarov will be able to count on the assistance of his compatriot Abdusattorov, among others, as Abdusattorov himself recently revealed. | Photo: UzChess / Yoav Nis