10/5/2025 – When is it useful to invest a lot of time in thinking about a position, and when is it not? This is a question that players ask themselves time and time again. Our reviewer is familiar with this topic from his own experience. Hannes Langrock is an editor at a fiction publishing house and an International Master. He lives in Leipzig and plays for ESV Nickelhütte-Aue. He studied the course intensively and shares his thoughts on it. | Photos: ChessBase

10/5/2025 – Arlington welcomes the unprecedented event "Checkmate: USA v. India", an evening of chess presented as a live arena spectacle. Esports Stadium Arlington sees Hikaru Nakamura take on world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Fabiano Caruana face Arjun Erigaisi, and further clashes featuring women stars, prodigies and leading chess streamers. | Follow the action live starting at 2.00 CEST (20.00 ET, 5.30 IST)

10/4/2025 – The 2025 European Team Chess Championship takes place from 4 to 15 October in Batumi, Georgia, featuring 40 national teams in the open and 36 teams in the women's section. The German team leads the starting list ahead of the Netherlands and Hungary in the open, while host nation Georgia tops the women's field. Notably, Hungary will include both Richard Rapport and Peter Leko in their lineup. | Image: European Chess Union

10/4/2025 – Fabiano Caruana won the 2025 Grand Chess Tour Finals in São Paulo after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a tense match that was decided in the blitz phase. After losing the opening rapid game, Caruana responded with three straight wins in blitz to secure the title, holding a draw in a dramatic final game to clinch overall victory. Levon Aronian beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 20–8 in the third-place match, earning a place in next year's Grand Chess Tour. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/4/2025 – Matthias Bluebaum is the man of the hour in international chess. With his second place at the Grand Swiss in Samarkand, the grandmaster from Lemgo has achieved something that no German has managed in around 35 years: to be a World Championship candidate. Following the European Team Championship, where Bluebaum will represent Germany, he will play at the World Cup, where Vincent Keymer still has a chance to jump on the World Championship bandwagon. Holger Hank spoke to Bluebaum for Deutsche Welle in what turned out to be an in-depth interview. | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

10/3/2025 – The Grand Chess Tour Finals return in 2025, taking place at the World Trade Center in São Paulo from 28 September to 3 October. The event features Maxime Vachier-LaGrave, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian facing off in a knockout tournament. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 20.00 CEST (14.00 ET, 23.30 IST)

10/3/2025 – Over the past year, the Kasparov Chess Academy has provided training to over 500 students from across the globe, making it a unique educational platform in the world of chess. The Academy proudly celebrates its second year of activity, marking remarkable achievements and setting ambitious goals for the future – the third season of the training program for 2026.

10/3/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris looks into the Rossolimo with 3...e6, showcasing Nguyen’s model Bundesliga win that highlights Black’s central dominance and precise calculation. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

10/3/2025 – The second classical games of the championship match and the third-place playoff both ended drawn in São Paulo, keeping both duels level at six points each. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave pressed Fabiano Caruana in a Sicilian that led to a rook endgame, but Caruana defended accurately. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, meanwhile, tested Levon Aronian in a queenless position, though Black's well-placed minor pieces ensured the balance. The event now moves to rapid and blitz. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/3/2025 – On 4 October, Arlington becomes the setting for "Checkmate: USA v. India", an evening of chess presented as a live arena spectacle. Esports Stadium Arlington will see Hikaru Nakamura take on world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Fabiano Caruana face Arjun Erigaisi, and further clashes featuring women stars, prodigies and leading chess streamers. With fast-paced games, unusual rules and a sports-style atmosphere, the event seeks to redefine how elite chess is staged and experienced.

10/2/2025 – The German Bundesliga season has started last weekend and as usual many world class players take part. These days there are several teams with incredibly strong line-ups, but Baden-Baden has had one for decades. For instance, Vincent Keymer is currently number 10 in the world and number 7 at Baden-Baden. Our Game of the Week is the instructive positional win by Richard Rapport with White against German top grandmaster Niclas Huschenbeth. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

10/2/2025 – Grandmasters Wang Hao and Hou Yifan triumphed in the Open and Women's sections of the chess competition at the 15th National Games of China, held in Shenzhen from 23 to 28 September. Featuring leading players such as Ding Liren, Wei Yi, Yu Yangyi, Ju Wenjun, Lei Tingjie and Zhu Jiner, the event saw Jiangsu win the team title ahead of Shandong and Hebei. The competition combined round-robin preliminaries with knockout finals, producing tense matches and surprise results. | Photos: Chinese Chess Association