7/4/2025 – On 28 June, over 330 girls gathered for a remarkable chess event at Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp, marking a powerful moment of in-person connection through the FIDE Girls Club. Usually held online, the club offers weekly training and support to girls in the camp as part of FIDE's Chess for Protection project. The day featured motivational talks, friendly matches and generous donations, highlighting chess as a tool for resilience, inclusion and empowerment.

7/4/2025 – This week only, get your hands on the ultimate chess bundle! ChessBase 18 and Fritz 20, normally priced at €269.90, are available for just €209.90 in our exclusive Summer Special. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, this powerful combination will elevate your game with advanced tools like playing style analysis, opponent simulations, and world-class training features. Don't miss out on this limited-time offer – shop now and take your chess skills to the next level!

7/4/2025 – The 38th edition of the Leon Masters will be held from 4 to 6 July at the City of Leon Auditorium, following its traditional four-player knockout format with rapid time controls. As one of Spain's most prestigious chess events, it continues to attract top international talent. This year's lineup features former World Champion Vishy Anand, Vietnam's Le Quang Liem, local grandmaster Jaime Santos and the young Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro.

7/3/2025 – The winner of the last three editions of the Masters tournament in the Biel Chess Festival, Le Quang Liem (photo), withdrew from the event for personal reasons. He will be replaced by Vladimir Fedoseev. Another tournament has been presented at the Chess Festival, a blitz event for players aged 20 years old or younger - with a new format.

7/3/2025 – The SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia tournament kicked off in Zagreb with three rounds of rapid chess played on the opening day. Magnus Carlsen, a three-time winner of the event, began steadily with two draws and a win to share the lead with Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Wesley So (pictured) and Gukesh Dommaraju. The tournament features seven from the world's top ten players. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/2/2025 – FIDE's Ethics and Disciplinary Commission has confirmed that the one-year suspension imposed by the United States Chess Federation on GM Christopher Yoo will now apply globally. The sanction, effective from 15 November 2024 to 14 November 2025, follows an incident at the US Chess Championship involving physical assault. GM Yoo is barred from all FIDE-rated events during this period and will remain under a five-year probation through 2030. | Photo: Niklesh Jain / ChessBase India

7/2/2025 – The strategic advantage of a good bishop vs. an inferior knight is determined by the pawn structure. Specifically, the bishop is superior to the knight when no pawns exist in the centre, but there are pawns on both flanks. International trainer GM Efstratios Grivas shows us how this kind of ending can best be handled, and does it with a game recently played in a top-level tournament.

7/1/2025 – The Elo ratings were introduced by the World Chess Federation as the official system to rank players on 1 July 1971. Robert "Bobby" Fischer led the rankings by a huge margin a year before his memorable World Championship match. The rating formula was developed by mathematician and chess enthusiast Arpad Elo.

7/1/2025 – Alexey Sarana triumphed in the 2025 Aktobe Open, held from June 22 to 30 in Kazakhstan, securing the title with 7 points. The tournament, named in memory of Vladimir Dvorkovich, saw a strong international field compete for a guaranteed prize fund of 78,000 USD. Sarana's consistent performance, including key victories in endgames, earned him the top spot, while five players tied for second place. | Foto: FIDE

7/1/2025 – Classic fortresses are an intriguing area in endgames. Even with a clear material imbalance, such as rook and pawn against queen and pawn, there are positions in which the defender can build an impregnable defence. The key is that you only need to know a few things and a few rules to build a fortress. This makes it surprisingly easy in the end. Dorian Rogozenco has devoted a trilogy to fortresses with rook and pawn against queen and pawn in ChessBase Magazine, and in the current issue #226, he concludes it with another attractive example. Take a look at this week's CBM free sample with an introductory video and five interactive videos where you can test your skills in a playful way!

7/1/2025 – In the Endgame Magic Show #302, Karsten Müller shows a selection of endgames from the Cairns Cup. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

7/1/2025 – Last week we gave you four pawn endings to solve – on the diagrams, without engine support. Like the one on our thumbnail. White has six legal moves, all with his king. What should you play? Did you find the astonishing and subtle 1.Kf5!, the only move that ensures the win. Today we bring you the solutions to all four endgames, lucidly explained in YouTube Shorts by Volclus. Watch, listen and learn.