4/1/2020 – The new monthly list of the FIDE is a bit weird. Only a few players had the opportunity to play before tournaments came to a halt. Magnus Carlsen is still number one and Fabiano Caruana is still the world's number two, but there are a few small changes in the current rankings.

4/1/2020 – The ten best players of the Soviet Union play against the ten best players from the "Rest of the World". Will Bent Larsen recover from his devastating defeat against Boris Spassky in round two and will Tigran Petrosian find a way to fight back against Fischer? Live transmission of the games starts at 17.00 pm CEST (11.00 EDT, 15.00 UTC). IM Merijn van Delft commentates.

3/30/2020 – In our third tutorial, focusing on our playchess.com virtual rooms, we see how to have an online training session with you as a chess coach. In our tutorial series, we already took a look at how to create a virtual room for your chess club. Furthermore, we had another tutorial about online tournaments in your virtual room. These offers are an excellent option to keep up with your chess activities.

3/27/2020 – The new issue of "New in Chess" is out and offers a wide and entertaining mix of reports, reviews, training and chess trivia but focuses on Fabiano Caruana's success at the Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee 2020 in which Caruana scored seven wins, equalling the record scores of Carlsen and Kasparov. In an extensive interview with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam Caruana shares thoughts about his play in Wijk, about the Candidates and about other topics. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

3/26/2020 – Alexander Grischuk, currently number four in the world, was one of the Candidates in Yekaterinburg but he nevertheless vehemently criticized the decision to go forward with the tournament in the times of Corona. During the tournament he more than once was in favour of cancelling the event. And he also had a number of memorable moments in the press conferences after the game. | Photo: Screenshot of the live-transmission from Yekaterinburg

3/26/2020 – The Candidates Tournament is postponed! In a statement from March 26, 8:42, the FIDE announced that the "FIDE President decided to stop the tournament. It will be continued later, with the exact dates to be announced as soon. ... The results of the 7 rounds played remain valid, and the tournament will be resumed in the same composition starting with the games of the 8th round."

3/25/2020 – Ian Nepomniachtchi went into the second rest day of the Candidates Tournament leading by a full point. The tournament has been suspended. The only other player with a plus score was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In round seven the two played each other, and Vachier-Lagrave, who had the white pieces, outplayed the Russian and caught up with him in the standings table, a full point ahead of the field. The remaining three games ended drawn. | Live games and commentary from 11:00 UTC (12:00 CET / 7:00 EDT). | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/25/2020 – Originally, the 44. Chess Olympiad was scheduled to take place from 5-17 August 2020 in Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk. But yesterday, 24 March, the FIDE declared in a statement that it decided to postpone the Olympiad "to the summer of 2021 at the same locations".

3/25/2020 – Chess fans follow the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg closely: they enjoy live-commentary of the games by top grandmasters, they read the daily reports, they check the analyses of the games and they want to know which novelties were played. However, as almost all big sport events in the world have been cancelled due to the coronavirus other media also report about the Candidates. Here's a short selection of articles.

3/24/2020 – The first six rounds of the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg brought a number of opening duels and saw a number of interesting novelties. On her new YouTube channel Elisabeth Pähtz takes a closer look at these novelties and their theoretical value.

3/22/2020 – Here's a brief tutorial on how to get the most out of ChessBase's live broadcast game viewer. Learn about all the powerful features and buttons that make ChessBase's live tournament watching experience one of the best around. Did you know it's all embeddable on your own web site too!?

3/20/2020 – In baseball trainers used a live video feed to decipher the signs of opposing catchers, and then banged on a trash can to signal the next pitch to the batter. Smartphones, buzzers, even yogurt — chess has nearly seen it all in both live and online tournaments. And just as in baseball, technology only makes it harder to root out. | Image: New York Times

3/19/2020 – All sports events in the world have been cancelled to contain the spread of COVID-19. The only big event that currently takes place is the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg. Ivan Ljubicic (@theljubicic), the coach of tennis star Roger Federer, wants to follow Caruana & Co. and recommends: "Stay home everyone. Chess keeps us sane." | Photo: Ivan Ljubicic

3/18/2020 – Covid-19 keeps the world grounded. Uncomfortable as that may be it is a chance to play some chess. To help you cope with the "stay-at-home-challenge" we organised a number of tournaments on Playchess! You can win membership-days on the server. Download the Windows Client, which is included in programs such as Fritz, Komodo or Houdini and ChessBase ! Then check the tournament schedule!

3/18/2020 – COVID-19 is cancelling or postponing tournaments left and right. The most recent casualty is the U.S. Championship which the Saint Louis Chess Club would be postponed indefinitely on Tuesday. The 2017 U.S. Women's Champion Sabina Foisor was recently profiled along with her fiancée GM Elshan Moradiabadi on their city's local TV news. In the face of adversity, a heart-warming story.

3/18/2020 – The first round of the Candidates Tournament was very exciting: the audience saw four complex games and two of them ended with a win – for Black. Malcolm Pein took a close look. | Photo: FIDE

3/14/2020 – Chess is all about striking blows but usually only in the cerebral sense. It's different with chess boxing. This discipline was actually once a gag by the artist Enki Bilal, but it morphed into a popular and active community. On Saturday evening, Chessboxing London will stream the fight for the World Middleweight Championship live online. Chess for boxing fans! Coronavirus be damned!

3/14/2020 – After the flood of cancellations in the sports and chess world due to the Corona crisis, it is no longer a surprise: The GRENKE Chess Open 2020 is canceled. We have attached the statement by the tournament director, Sven Noppes. The organisiers are still trying to save the elite round-robin tournament that started in Baden-Baden in 2014, but it remains an open question whether it can be held. | Photo: Eric van Reem