5/18/2024 – Two years ago Eftratios Grival, grandmaster and international chess trainer, published a large volume (520 pages, Thinkers Publishing), called ‘The Grivas Anti-Sicilian Bible’ – a necessary companion to ‘The Modernized Grivas Sicilian' (512 pages). In the 7th Sharjah Masters-Challengers Grivas had an opportunity to test his Sicilian – against a 15-year-old from India. A highly instructive battle ensued, one you'd do well to study.

5/18/2024 – The 2024 edition of Morocco Chess Week started in Casablanca with the official opening ceremony at the Casablanca Stock Exchange. The main attraction is the Casablanca Chess Tournament, featuring Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Viswanathan Anand, and Amin Bassem. They will try out the novel “Casablanca chess variant”, designed to celebrate the history of chess. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/18/2024 – 19...Ra6?? in the diagram position attacks the white knight... and loses the game on the spot! Can you prove why this move deserves two question marks?

5/18/2024 – Draws on boards 1-4 in Friday’s fourth round at the Sharjah Masters allowed Hans Niemann, Aravindh Chithambaram and Saleh Salem to remain as co-leaders atop the standings. Twelve players now stand a half point behind, including Arjun Erigaisi, Alexey Sarana and Vladimir Fedoseev, who all won in round 4. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5/17/2024 – It is a great way to study chess: follow the notes of a world-class coach, analysing an exciting game from a running event, click on the notation to get a special replayer, where you can start an engine that will assist you in your own analysis, and study the strategy that brought about the final result. Here's an example by GM Efstratios Grivas analysing a stunning upset that occurred in the 7th Sharjah Masters, after a top seed player misjudged his opponent’s attack.

5/17/2024 – The Straits Times, the largest daily newspaper in Singapore, reported that the Singapore Chess Federation is interested in organising the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Dommaraju Gukesh. According to SCF executive director Kevin Goh, it is hoped that this will create a boom for chess in the country. However, the cost of organising the event is high.

5/17/2024 – In Germany, the name FC St. Pauli has a special ring to it. Located near Hamburg's famous red light district, the club has a reputation for having a strong social culture and is one of Germany's most famous football clubs. Last season, St. Pauli's footballers and chess players enjoyed great success: both teams qualified for the top division, the Bundesliga. Now chess fans in St. Pauli, Hamburg and Germany have even more reason to be happy: with the help of Freestyle chess sponsor Jan Henric Buettner, Magnus Carlsen has been persuaded to play for St. Pauli. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/17/2024 – Hans Niemann, Aravindh Chithambaram and Saleh Salem have perfect scores after three rounds at the 88-player Sharjah Masters. In Thursday’s round 3, Niemann got the better of Nikolas Theodorou (who came from upsetting Arjun Erigaisi), Aravindh beat Marcin Krzyzanowski, and Salem defeated ninth seed Vlamidir Fedoseev from the black side of what turned out to be a fierce tactical struggle. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5/16/2024 – The World Chess Federation FIDE, which stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, was founded on 20 July 1924 in Paris, France, and is celebrating its centenary this year - with many interesting events. One of them is the "International Chess Day Art Competition". It takes place on FIDE's birthday, 20 July.

5/16/2024 – England won no less than three gold medals at the European Senior Team Championships: in the 50+ and 65+ events and in the 50+ women's competition. The gold medal in the 65+ women's competition went to Germany. | Photos: Lukas Rilej (ECU)

5/16/2024 – Alireza Firouzja beat Magnus Carlsen to claim overall victory in the second event of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour, the Chess.com Classic. Since Firouzja reached the deciding match from the lower bracket, beating Carlsen in the 4-game Grand Final only forced a Reset — which the youngster went on to win as well. Firouzja won both matches in Armageddon.

5/16/2024 – Nikolas Theodorou scored the biggest upset of the second round at the Sharjah Masters, as he defeated top seed Arjun Erigaisi with ease after the latter misjudged his opponent’s attack. Theodorou is one of eight players tied for first place with 2/2 points. Also in the leading group is Hans Niemann, who obtained an eye-catching, attacking victory over Jakhongir Vakhidov. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy