8/12/2024 – The match between the two highest-rated German women players, Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner (pictured), started on Sunday, as part of the Dortmund Chess Festival. Wagner got the white pieces in a game that ended drawn after 78 moves. In the A-Open, 26 players have obtained wins in their first two games, including top seeds Anton Korobov, Frederik Svane and Christopher Yoo. | Photos: Official website

8/12/2024 – The 5-day match featuring Hans Niemann and Anish Giri came to an end on Sunday. The final day of action saw the players trading wins (3 per side) in the rapid section of the confrontation, which meant Niemann kept the 6-point lead he had obtained in the blitz and classical sections - Niemann won the match by a 24-18 score. The US grandmaster is set to face Nikita Vitiugov (in London) and Etienne Bacrot (in Paris) in similar matches later this month. | Photo: De Pion

8/11/2024 – The last two events of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour will take place in Saint Louis on 12-29 August. First, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will be played on 12-16 August, with the three frontrunners in the race to win the yearly series participating: Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja and R Praggnanandhaa. Joining them will be four tour 'regulars' and three wildcards: Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/11/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 188th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to look at the career of Jan Timman, world class player, study composer, renowned author and bohemian. | Photo: Pascal Simon

8/11/2024 – After 12 blitz and 6 classical games, Hans Niemann leads 18-12 in his match against Anigh Giri - wins in classical games count 3 points. After Niemann won the blitz section 7½-4½, the 6 classical games ended with a 3½-2½ score (or 10½-7½). The final section, featuring 6 rapid games (with 2 points for a win), starts at 11.00 local time on Sunday. | Photo: Hans Niemann, Tata 2024 | Photo: De Pion

8/11/2024 – The Taimanov Sicilian offers Black a flexible and reliable system against 1.e4, allowing for realistic winning chances without unnecessary risks. This comprehensive video course provides a complete repertoire, covering both the main lines and Anti-Sicilian variations, with more than 16 hours of instruction, interactive training, and over 400 model games. Ideal for players looking to solidify their understanding and confidently face any challenge in the Sicilian Defence.

8/7/2024 – This is really taking thing too far. At the Dagestan Chess Championship one participant tried to poison a specific opponent by smearing mercury on her board. The substance was noticed and the arbiter called the police. The placing of the poison was caught on surveillance video, and the perpetrator has admitted to the deed. She said she had acted to get revenge on the player, whom she has known since childhood, bur who had "seriously offended her."

8/7/2024 – IM Oliver Reeh continues to inspire with the third edition of his Master Class Tactics. Once again he has selected some real gems to put your brain to the test.

8/7/2024 – Alireza Firouzja obtained a clear 14½-8½ victory over Fabiano Caruana to reach the semifinals of the Speed Chess Championship, set to take place in Paris next month. In a lopsided match, Firouzja prevailed in all three segments (5+1, 3+1 and 1+1). The youngster will face the winner of the match between Hikaru Nakamura and Ian Nepomniachtchi in the semifinals.

8/6/2024 – Chris Ward gathered not one, not two, but three beautiful Dragon examples for us. The key features in this episode are the d5 break, the Rook on the c-file, and the explosive c4 square! In typical fashion, Chris explains his thoughts, plans, ideas and more about the most recent Sicilian games. | Photo: John Upham

8/6/2024 – During the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Astana, a player from the all-Chinese team, Decade China, made headlines: Pang Bo! The 26-year-old dominated the amateur board, winning every single Rapid game and excelling in the Blitz section. His official FIDE rating is 1400, but he has yet to play an international tournament and is virtually unrated. However, he has successfully played strong tournaments and opponents in China and is much stronger than players with a real rating of 1400. No wonder, his pawn-pushing style gave his opponents in Astana a hard time. Robert Ris shows an interesting example of how Pang Bo tackles the London System!

8/6/2024 – On Saturday, the traditional Riga Tech University Chess Festival, organised to mark FIDE's 100 year anniversary, began in the Latvian capital Riga with a blitz tournament. Indian Grandmaster Iniyan Pa won with 10.0/11, half a point ahead of German IM Jakob Pajeken. The main tournament began on Monday with almost 300 players.