9/3/2026 – I have been generally investigating AI's ability to appreciate humour. Do AI clients catch the point in jokes and cartoons, and do they interpret them correctly? Do they consider the jokes funny, or do they merely know what humans find funny? After doing some general research on these questions, I turned to chess. I showed these cartoons to AI. Here the reactions. My experiments were not conclusive, but at least a lot of fun. You should try it our yourself.

8/29/2026 – Chess players, mark your calendars. The Icelandic Chess Federation, Goðinn Chess Club, and Reykjavík Chess Club are joining forces to present "Town and Country" – two spectacular tournaments that together offer 15 rounds of high-level chess in just 11 days, set against two of Iceland’s most contrasting backdrops. It all begins on Thursday, 19 November at 19:00. On Tuesday, 24 November, the Friðrik Ólafsson Memorial Tournament opens – honouring Iceland’s first grandmaster.

8/28/2026 – In a 15-minute video, Demis Hassabis, one of the central scientists working on artificial intelligence, tells us why he worries about AI going rogue. Hassabis, head of Google AI research, is a very strong chess player who created Alpha zero, the first neural network program on which all modern chess engines are based. It is his vivid description of how AI handled chess that will be of particular interest to the readers of our news page.

8/24/2026 – In 1997, World Champion Garry Kasparov was defeated 3½–2½ by Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer in New York. The loss in their second encounter marked the first time a machine beat a world champion in a standard tournament play. It was an historic moment that reshaped global perceptions of artificial intelligence. Almost three decades later, Kasparov has described his perception of AI and what he thinks about its future, in a Washington Post interview. Here are some excerpts.

8/20/2026 – Warning: this is a long read. Two weeks ago I wrote a piece on the increase of computer power in the last 50 years. A number of readers wrote me letters discussing my findings and commenting on what I had said. Then I asked myself: what does AI, what do ChatGPT and its colleagues think about the subject? Here's what I found out.

8/19/2026 – As you have noticed, this form of chess is becoming increasingly popular. Everyone seems to like it, sponsors are lining up to stage high-prize tournaments, even World Championships. In this series we look back at the origin of Fischer-Random, Chess960 or Freestyle, as it is now called, and discuss the reasons for its popularity. In the end we will propose some modifications to the rules and how the game should be played. Stay tuned.

8/13/2026 – A few weeks ago this great chess organiser and sponsor passed away at the age of 57. For many years he invited us to his "Zurich Chess Challenge", which saw some of the world's top players competing. During that time we had interesting, personal interaction with him. For us news of his passing came out of the blue, and it left us deeply saddened.

7/29/2026 – A year ago problem composer Werner Keym issued a challenge: compose a study in which White is winning – but one that can be shifted and mirrored vertically and horizontally, with all vertically shifted and mirrored positions drawing, and all horizontally shifted and mirrored positions losing. Here is the elegant solution, which reminds us of the famous Babson task.

7/28/2026 – And eleven-year-old British chess player has become the youngest girl to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600, breaking a 38-year-old record previously held by Hungarian all-time great Judit Polgar. Bodhana Sivanandan defeated a French grandmaster rated 2628, and the international news media went wild over this extraordinary feat. Bodhana is a special member of the ChessBase family and will most likely play in the Hamburg Bundesliga team.

7/27/2026 – Last Thursday the current FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has abandoned his candidacy for reelection, after been sanctioned by the European Union. We were informed by ther Chess Federation of Russia that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who had served as FIDE president for 23 years, received their full support as a candidate. And just as we were about to report this story we learn that he is not among the three candidates the FIDE Office received before the deadline. Turbulent times.

7/27/2026 – In the early 1980s, as a fledgling TV journalist, I did a report on the fastest computer in the world. The Cray-1 cost eight million dollars and could do 130 million floating point operations per second. That was enough to calculate the weather, but also to win two consecutive world computer chess championships. How much faster are today's supercomputers? Take a guess – you are definitely not going to get it right.

6/22/2026 – Were you able to solve the problems we gave you last Sunday? Find the absurd-looking key 1.Kh3 to solve the position shown here? We brought you four tricky mating positions, with the diagrams defending – refuting any bad moves you played. Today we bring you all the solutions, with full video explanations. And a full replayer which allows you to go through all the lines. Learn and enjoy.

6/14/2026 – Take a look at this position. The black king is completely trapped and will soon be mated, but can White do it in just three moves? Try and work it out in your mind. Spoiler: it begins with an absurd-looking move. Test your skills on this and on three more tricky mating positions. In each case the diagrams will defend and refute any bad moves you play. Solutions to the problems, with full video explanations, will come in a week. Learn and enjoy.

5/5/2026 – So many top chess tournaments taking place, all at the same time. How can you keep abreast? We will tell you how ChessBase provides you with all the live games. Take for example this exciting FIDE event, with former World Championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi, marking a rare appearance in an open. To follow this or many other tournaments, you just need to go to the ChessBase Live Broadcast page. Try it out.

4/27/2026 – He is one of the most remarkable figures in the world of chess. Born in a rural village in British India, and receiving only rudimentary schooling, Sultan Khan became very adept at the game. When he moved to England he won numerous prestigeous tournaments, and beat the likes of U.S. Champion Marshall and World Champion Capablanca. A new book by his oldest son and his granddaughter is due for release in July. We had a preview. | All pictures shown courtesy of chesshistory.com.

4/22/2026 – Thirty-three years ago an unknown player took part in the World Open in Philadelphia. He called himself John von Neumann, beat a FIDE master, and drew grandmaster Helgi Ólafsson from Iceland. His opponents became suspicious when they heard something in his pocket buzzing. The player fled the tournament after the tournament director asked to test him. His identity was never revealed – until it has now been uncovered by Wired Magazine.

4/20/2026 – As we reported, 14-year-old Yağız Kaan Erdoğmuş has just become the the youngest player in history to surpass the 2700 rating mark. By beating former world champion Veselin Topalov 5-1 he reached a live Elo rating of 2709.4 and is clearly on his way to join the group of the top-ten players in the world. But will he be the youngest to do so? We checked.

4/3/2026 – That is an endgame that is most often seen in chess. And if you can handle it well, you can score well against opponents who falter. So today we provide you with four positions that will test your skills - and perhaps teach you how to better handle the endgame. In two positions you are asked to win against a defending diagram, in two you are all on your own. Full video solutions will be provided in a week.