4/18/2024 – It came as something of a surprise that Toronto was chosen by FIDE as host of both Candidates Tournaments, but Canada has a rich chess history and has produced some great players over the years. Here's a brief outline:

4/17/2024 – Defending champions Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova won the 55th edition of the Italian Team Championship, but had to work hard to do so. They only won the final against ASD Pedone Isolano in the second tie-break. However, ASD Pedone Isolano won the women's title (photo). | Photos: Matteo Zoldan

4/11/2024 – The Palazzo d'Avalos in Vasto (Chieti) is the venue for the Italian Team Championships, which began on Monday 8th April. The tournament favourites are Obiettivo Risarcimento, but they lost to current leaders Lazio Scacchi Master in round 4. The women's championships are being played at the same venue and started on Wednesday. | Photo: Italian Chess Federation

4/9/2024 – Sunday saw the end of the excellently organized Open Tournament in Menorca. In the final spurt, Arjun Erigaisi secured tournament victory thanks to his superior tiebreak score. With this triumph, Arjun climbed to number seven in the live ratings list. Kirill Alekseenko and Maksim Chigaev grabbed second and third place, respectively. | Photos: ChessBase India, Menorca Open

3/16/2024 – With more than 500 participants, the Capelle-la-Grande Open is the largest open tournament in France. First held in 1985, it celebrated its 40th edition this year. Indian grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik won the 9-round Swiss open. Italian grandmaster Lorenzo Lodici collected as many points as the tournament winner, but had a worse tiebreak score. | Photos: Official website

3/15/2024 – This year's Reykjavik Open kicks off in Reykjavik on Friday. With over 400 players, the field is particularly strong. Along with Daniel-Bogdan Deac, veteran Vasyl Ivanchuk is one of the Elo favourites. There are also a number of strong female pros in the field. | Photos: Organiser Reykjavik Open

3/13/2024 – The Modern Gentlemen is the name of the joint project by musicians Matt Goss and Jason Kouchak. It revolves around the art of being a true gentleman in the modern world. For the two music lovers, chess is an essential part of this. | Photos: Julian Paix

3/9/2024 – Bu Xiangzhi, Yu Yangyi and Arjun Erigaisi finished the fifth edition of the Shenzhen Masters tied for first place with 4½/7 points each. The first tiebreak criterion was the number of points collected in their direct encounters, and it was Bu who had the best score, as he had defeated Arjun in the second round. Thus, Bu got the first prize, Yu finished second and Arjun finished third. | Photos: Liang Ziming / Chinese Chess Federation

3/8/2024 – FIDE has announced that all outstanding visa applications for the entry of the Candidates and their companions as well as organising staff have been approved by the Canadian authorities and the Candidates Tournaments will take place in Toronto starting from April 3, as was originally planned.

3/4/2024 – After four rounds of the Shenzhen Masters, a trio of players - Bu, Yu and Erigaisi - are leading the table. Bu defeated Anish Giri with the white pieces. After a good start, things are not going well for the Dutchman. | Photos: Liang Ziming (Organiser)

3/4/2024 – Four weeks before the start of the Candidates Tournament in Toronto, almost all the participants and their travelling companions are still waiting for the visas they applied for months ago to be issued. FIDE has now sent an "urgent visa appeal to the Canadian government" and is even considering moving the "most prestigious tournament in the chess world" to another country. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/2/2024 – The Freestyle Chess Tournament in Weissenhaus generated a great deal of interest in the chess world. Perhaps we got to see the chess of the future. Given the success of the event, Jan Henric Buettner announced that he plans to continue supporting the royal game. The entrepreneur is now planning a Freestyle Chess Grand Slam. And he wants to sponsor Vincent Keymer and other talented players on their way to the top. | Photos: Freestyle Chess / Weissenhaus Resort

3/1/2024 – Yesterday's winners, Anish Giri and Arjun Erigaisi, were defeated in the second round by Daniil Dubov (photo) and Bu Xianghzi respectively. Yu Yangyi - against Xu Xiangyu - and Vladislav Artiemiev - against Ma Qun - also won. | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

3/1/2024 – With the top players mainly playing online and freestyle, there has been little change at the top of the rankings. Magnus Carlsen, the current World Champion in Rapid and Blitz, is still the world number one, as he has been since July 2011. Fabiano Caruana follows in second place and is the only other player besides Carlsen with a rating of 2800+.

2/29/2024 – A top grandmaster tournament, the 5th Shenzhen Chess Masters, began today in Longgang, a district of the Chinese metropolis with a population of 17 million. Eight players are taking part, including five players with an Elo rating of over 2700. Anish Giri and Erigaisi started with victories.| Photos: Shenzhen News Network

2/28/2024 – The SV Werder Bremen - internationally best-known for its many successes in football - is celebrating its 125th anniversary and the chub's chess department is celebrating its 75th birthday. To mark the anniversary, the chess players have organised a strong tournament with a very mixed field of participants. The tournament will start next Saturday (2 March).

2/27/2024 – The sixth edition of the Prague Chess Festival kicked off at the Don Giovanni Hotel in the Czech capital. In the Masters, Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Parham Maghsoodloo started with wins to become the tournament’s early co-leaders. Pragg’s victory, over Vincent Keymer, was remarkable, as the Indian star sacrificed a piece early on and managed to convert his attack into a full point while facing a tough defensive effort by his opponent. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

2/27/2024 – Michael Adams was the rating favourite at the second edition of the Cambridge International Open. However, the reigning World Senior 50+ Champion struggled to beat his lower-rated opponents at first, as he was only in the upper middle of the field halfway through. Thanks to a strong final spurt, though, the former World Championship candidate went on to win yet another tournament. | Photos: Shohreh Bayat and Reza Islam / Cambridge Chess Open