7/20/2024 – Let us take a little journey through time. It was 1989 when the supermarket chain 'SPAR' organised a magnificent chess tournament in the Sartory halls in Cologne. Robert Hübner, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi and the Polgar sisters were invited as the big stars. Television was still in its infancy, but it was already broadcasting moving images. | Photo: Sartory-Säle (via satory.de)

7/20/2024 – The diagram position shows a typical picture from the 6.Bg5-Najdorf: White has pinned the black king in the center, sacrificed a piece and after 14...h5 finishes brilliantly. Have fun!

7/20/2024 – Today, on July 20, 2024, FIDE has scheduled a celebration in Paris to mark 100 years since it was officially formed in the French capital. FIDE is marking its centenary with many different programs aimed at existing and new chess fans around the globe – be they schoolchildren, refugees, people in prisons, charities, club players, or newcomers to the game! The highlights: an Olympic-style torch relay and a Guinness Book record attempt.

7/19/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft analyses a very interesting encounter played at the Canadian Open in Laval. Jorden van Foreest beat Viktor Mikhalevski after prevailing in a dynamic, tense struggle. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/19/2024 – In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike, because nothing is more annoying than missing a winning combination in the decisive situation, thus giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game. So it is vital to train tactics properly - and Master Class Tactics offers you the perfect tool for this purpose!

7/19/2024 – The strongest junior and senior chess players in the United States have returned to Saint Louis. On July 16-26, the top 10 players across three divisions - juniors, girls, and seniors - are competing for more than $135,000 in prizes. Find here all games, standings and the daily recap produced by the Saint Louis Chess Club. | Pictured: Jasmine Su, the sole leader in the Girls' Championship | Photo: Crystal Fuller

7/19/2024 – Day 2 of the CrunchLab Masters saw players fighting to enter the double-elimination knockouts in the Division Placement stage. At the end of the day, five well-known names qualified to the Division I knockout, where they will join Magnus Carlsen and co. as they battle for a spot in this year's end-of-season Tour Finals. A few elite GMs were unable to make it to the top division, though, including online-chess expert Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz

7/19/2024 – All three games finished drawn in round 3 of the Masters Triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival, which means Abhimanyu Mishra remains as the sole leader in the 6-player event. In the Challengers section, the lowest-rated participant, Vaishali R, continues to perform flawlessly, as she won her third classical game in a row. Vaishali thus grabbed the sole lead in the tournament. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

7/18/2024 – Ziaur Rahman, the second grandmaster of Bangladesh and the player to have reached the highest rating in his country (2570), passed away on 5 July while playing a game of chess at the Bangladeshi National Championships. He suffered a heart attack and collapsed to the ground. Ziaur was just 50 years old. In this article, we look back at his life and remember what a gem of a person he was both on and off the board, and we also share heartfelt messages from some of the top Indian GMs. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

7/18/2024 – The strongest junior and senior chess players in the United States have returned to Saint Louis. On July 16-26, the top 10 players across three divisions - juniors, girls, and seniors - are competing for more than $135,000 in prizes. Find here all games, standings and the daily recap produced by the Saint Louis Chess Club. | Pictured: Jesse Kraai | Photos: Lennart Ootes

7/18/2024 – The first stage of the CrunchLab Masters, the Play-In, took place on Wednesday. Ian Nepomniachtchi, Mikhail Antipov and Hikaru Nakamura were the top scorers in the 9-round Swiss open featuring 118 players. The aforementioned GMs were 3 of the 11 participants who qualified to the Division I Placement stage. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik was among the 11 qualified participants. | Photo: FIDE

7/17/2024 – Abhimanyu Mishra took the lead at the Masters Triathlon in Biel. Thanks to his victory over Sam Shankland, the youngest GM in history climbed to the top of the standings. He also benefited from the fact that the other games ended in draws, in particular from the fact that Haik Martirosyan was unable to capitalise on a promising position against Vincent Keymer. An underdog is also in impressive form in the Challengers: Vaishali obtained a second victory in a row on Wednesday, as did Saleh Salem, who thus took the lead in this section. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival