7/7/2020 – Paul Keres' tournament victory was already certain before the final round. Nevertheless, the Estonian once again played uncompromisingly to win. This was not the only decisive game of the day, which ended with a wonderful closing ceremony. At which a budgie also changed hands. | Photo: SC Bamberg

7/6/2020 – Initially, Ennio Morricone wanted to become a chess professional. But then he realized that his musical talent was much greater than his talent for chess and he became a composer, whose music added a special touch to many famous films. But Morricone was always passionate about chess. On July 6, 2020, he died in Rome at the age of 91. | Photo: Comune Turin

7/6/2020 – Merijn van Delft has been giving chess training for many years, and has a regular show at ChessBase. He now published an interesting book on "Positional Sacrifice". In an interview he talks about the book, his work and his passion for positional sacrifices.

7/3/2020 – At the Bamberg jubilee tournament, the arrival of Boris Ivkov's wife Olga Kesic (pictured), Miss Mar del Plata 1955, and a bank robbery in nearby Nürnberg provided opportunities for conversation. The bank robbers in Nürnberg were soon caught but Ivkov lost his game. Lothar Schmid fared better.

7/2/2020 – Sasa Martinovic is the new Croatian national champion. He won the championship - the first national championship since the coronavirus lockdown to be held as a "real" chess tournament - with 7.0/11, ahead of Zdenko Kozul, Robert Zelcic, Hrvoje Stevic and Ante Brkic who all finished on 6.5/11. | Photo: Tournament Website

6/30/2020 – Round 8 of the Jubilee Tournament in Bamberg saw bitter fights and eight of the nine games ended with a decision. Paul Keres won the top encounter against Borislav Ivkov and with 6½/8 he is now sole leader. The best German players are Wolfgang Unzicker and Lothar Schmid with 5.0/8 each. | Photo: Marketplace in Bamberg

6/29/2020 – The seventh round of the jubilee tournament in Bamberg saw a lot of decisive games. Borislav Ivkov, Rudolf Teschner, Wolfgang Unzicker, Helmut Pfleger and Heikki Westerinen all won though the top encounter between Paul Keres and World Champion Tigran Petrosian ended in a peaceful draw. This allowed Ivkov to catch up to Keres and with 5.5/7 each the two now shared the lead. | Photo: Borislav Ivkov (Dutch National Archive)

6/24/2020 – The second round of the Jubilee Tournament in Bamberg was a round of missed opportunities. Unzicker had good chances against World Champion Petrosian but then was content with a draw. Keres was lucky to draw against Bobotsov, and Kestler missed a win against Teufel. The only winner of the round was Szabo who defeated Dückstein. | Photo: Michelsberg

6/23/2020 – World Champion Tigran Petrosian and Paul Keres, since more than thirty years one of the world's best players, are favourites to win in Bamberg. Both started well: in round one Petrosian won with Black against Laszlo Szabo while Keres won with White against Lothar Schmid, for many a secret favourite to win the event. | Photo: The town hall of Bamberg (Pixabay)

6/22/2020 – On the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the SC Bamberg, founded in 1868, has organized a large international chess tournament. The best German players meet top players from all over the world, among them Paul Keres and World Champion Tigran Petrosian. Transmission of the games start at 18.00 local time (14:00 UTC, 10:00 EDT).

6/17/2020 – It is not difficult to guess who invented the Swiss system. Yes, indeed, you guessed right: the Swiss did. To be more precise: the inventor is Dr. Julius Müller, a teacher by profession. The official birth date of the still popular and successful system is June 15, 1895, its birthplace is Zurich.

6/10/2020 – José Raúl Capablanca was the only winner of the 8th round of the AVRO Tournament, which was played in Utrecht. World Champion Alexander Alekhine had a lost endgame against Samuel Reshevsky, but escaped into a draw. Paul Keres and Max Euwe also drew, just as Mikhail Botvinnik and Reuben Fine. After eight rounds Fine leads with 6.0/8, followed by Keres with 5½/8 and Botvinnik and Capablanca with 4½/8 each.

6/9/2020 – In the first six rounds of the AVRO Tournament Reuben Fine was the dominating player and scored a whopping 5½/6. But in round 7 he lost against Paul Keres who now has 5.0/7 and is only half a point behind Fine. The other games of the round were also interesting and they all ended decisively: Mikhail Botvinnik won against Alexander Alekhine, Samuel Reshevsky defeated Salo Flohr and José Raúl Capablanca beat Max Euwe. | Photo: Amsterdam

6/4/2020 – Reuben Fine started well into the AVRO tournament. After his win against Mikhail Botvinnik in round 1 Fine also defeated his old rival Samuel Reshevsky in round 2. Max Euwe outplayed Salo Flohr and scored the second win of the round. José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine drew as did Paul Keres and Botvinnik. With 2.0/2 Fine is now sole leader. | Photo: Tartakower, Keres, Fine and Euwe analyse at the beach with a pocket chess set.

6/3/2020 – The first round of the AVRO Tournament 1938 brought the first surprise: Reuben Fine outplayed and defeated Mikhail Botvinnik. The games Euwe vs Keres, Flohr vs Capablanca and Alekhine vs Reshevsky were all drawn but Euwe and Alekhine missed good chances. | Photo: The first official move of the tournament

6/2/2020 – Today, the AVRO Tournament starts in Amsterdam. The eight best players in the world play a double-round-robin tournament in ten different Dutch cities. With Alexander Alekhine, José Raúl Capablanca and Max Euwe no less than three world champions start but maybe there's also a future world champion in the field. After all, Salo Flohr, Paul Keres, Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, and last but not least, Mikhail Botvinnik are all outstandings talents and potential world champions. | Photo: Salo Flohr, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe

5/30/2020 – The famous French musician, pianist and composer Jason Kouchak is an avid chess fan. During the time of the Corona lockdown he spends his time playing chess or watching online tournaments. But actually he wanted to be at the Holland Park Chess event, to give a live chess performance with his friend, actress Helena Bonham Carter, as white queen.

5/27/2020 – Yesterday, the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown began. The top four players in the US play an online blitz tournament in knockout mode. But some games in their matches are "clutch games" – they are especially important because they count more than the other games. This scoring system allowed Hikaru Nakamura to take the lead in an even match against Wesley So while Fabiano Caruana dominated Leinier Dominguez at will.