6/19/2023 – Richard Rapport emerged victorious in the Armageddon Championship Series, dominating the world’s top players and winning the Europe & Africa qualifier. This victory secured his spot in the Grand Finale in September, where he will be joined by the tournament’s runner-up, GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, alongside a formidable lineup of finalists including Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Gukesh D, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Bibisara Assaubayeva, and Humpy Koneru. | Photos: World Chess

6/18/2023 – When a strong player looks at a position (in a real game of chess, not a problem) he or she will automatically see it not as a random collection of pieces but as a series of chunks — patterns that are recognisable and have known features. And the patterns will also generate ideas of moves which may be profitable. Curiously, sometimes apparently insignificant changes can be crucial, and today I’m focussing on an instance of this phenomenon. | Pictured: Mikhail Tal

6/18/2023 – The European Pair Blitz Championships will take place on 19 June 2023 in the Opera House of Krákow, Poland. The competition is an accompanying event to the 2023 European Games. The championships will feature top male and female chess players from eight European federations: Poland, Azerbaijan, Israel, Romania, Spain, Armenia and the Netherlands. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Oliwia Kiolbasa will represent the host country. | Pictured: Łukasz Turlej and Shohreh Bayat

6/18/2023 – Day 7 of the Armageddon Series in Berlin will decide the winner of the week-long extravaganza. Richard Rapport defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda to reach the Grand Final from the upper bracket. Duda, however, will get a second chance, as he faces Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final match of the lower bracket. The winner will face Rapport, who would need to lose twice to finish the tournament in second place. | Start: 19.00 CEST. Follow the games live with commentary by Simon Williams and Jovanka Houska.

6/18/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 129th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to talk about the attacking and defending skills of Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official World Champion. | Photo: Pascal Simon

6/18/2023 – ‘Chess4refugees’ was the motto of the Emanuel Lasker Society Chess Culture Day, which took place a week ago in Hamburg. The event kicked off with a simultaneous exhibition given by Dr. Richard Lutz and Dr. Helmut Pfleger (final result: 20-5). In the evening, the chairman of the Emanuel Lasker Society, Thomas Weischede, handed over a symbolic cheque for €5,000 to the UN Refugee Aid and a lively panel discussion about 40 years of chess history followed with Frederic Friedel, Prof. Christian Hesse and Dr. Helmut Pfleger. | Photos: Nadja Wittmann (ChessBase)

6/17/2023 – Ahead of the inaugural edition of the Global Chess League (GCL), the league has announced the tournament’s schedule and the scoring system. Remarkably, a game won with the black pieces will result in 4 Game Points (GP) for the winning player; a victory for a player with the white pieces will see them win 3 GP. The tournament will take place from June 21 to July 2 in Dubai.

6/17/2023 – Alice Lee, aged 13, is considered one of the biggest talents in the United States. In March, she finished second in the highly competitive American Cup after narrowly losing to Irina Krush in a playoff. The youngster has now earned her third and final IM norm at the Canadian Transnational Open in Montreal. Alice Lee is in illustrious company, as the only women players that had previously earned the IM title by age 13 are Judit Polgar and Kateryna Lagno. | Photo: Bryan Adams / Saint Louis Chess Club

6/17/2023 – Although White is a whole piece up in the diagram position, he is dead lost - he simply has castled to the wrong side. How would you hunt down White's king on c1?

6/17/2023 – With five wins in as many games, Frederik Svane had a brilliant start at the traditional open event in Teplice, Czech Republic. It was only in round 6 that the 19-year-old GM, who plays for the Hamburg Chess Club in the Bundesliga, conceded his first draw, against his brother Rasmus. A win over then co-leader Evgeny Romanov left him in the sole lead with two round to go. Three players, including Rasmus, stand a half point behind. | Photo: German Chess Federation

6/17/2023 – The ASEAN Age Group Championships is an extremely important event for young kids living in the ASEAN countries. They include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar. Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timur Leste. However, if you look at the name carefully, it says ASEAN+ and the + indicates that more countries are welcome at the championships — China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. It will be held in 14 age groups from the 17th to the 27th of June 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand. Along with this tournament, there is also an ACC-ECU symposium which will witness the presence of Artur Yusupov, Zurab Azmaiparashvili and many other famous names.

6/16/2023 – In a new article published on Forbes India, former world champion Vishy Anand reflects on how India has come to be recognised as a global chess powerhouse. Anand writes: “So, when I started the academy with Westbridge Capital, the idea wasn’t just to get Indians to play chess, but to see how we can get Indians to the very top”. | Photo: Amruta Mokal