8/10/2023 – Six players have already reached the round-of-16 in the open section of the FIDE World Cup, including Fabiano Caruana, who beat Ray Robson, and Alexey Sarana, who knocked out sixth seed Wesley So. The remaining ten spots will be decided in Friday’s tiebreaks, with Magnus Carlsen reaching that stage after bouncing back in his match against Vincent Keymer. In the women’s section, three players secured their spots in quarterfinals: Aleksandra Goryachkina, Tan Zhongyi and Polina Shuvalova. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

8/10/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #580, Merijn Van Delft continues the tradition of presenting his losses and shows an interesting and highly tactical game he lost against GM Liam Vrolijk at the Bad Vlissingen tournament. A real slugfest. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/10/2023 – One of the most exciting events in the chess calendar, the FIDE World Cup, is taking place in Baku. Players try to show their best as they fight for spots in the next edition of the Candidates Tournaments, both in the open and in the women’s section. Robert Ris, a successful coach and a fantastic analyst, has been publishing videos with highlights from the much-anticipated tournament. Not to be missed!

8/10/2023 – Vincent Keymer beat Magnus Carlsen for the first time in his career and now only needs a draw on Thursday to knock the world number one out of the World Cup. The other big upset of the day saw Alexey Sarana brilliantly defeating Wesley So with the black pieces. In the women’s section, 7 out of 8 games finished drawn. Bella Khotenashvili scored the one win of the day, as she beat third seed Humpy Koneru. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

8/9/2023 – The 2023 U.S. Open ran from July 29 to August 6 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It offered nine-day, six-day, and four-day schedules, which merged in round 7. The U.S. Open Champion is GM Andrew Tang. WIM Alexey Root attended meetings, visited the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, and interviewed the U.S. Open Champion (and the champ’s father). | Photo: Daniel Day / U.S. Chess Federation

8/8/2023 – There are chess positions, puzzles, which are not just clever. They can be very entertaining. An expert in such positions is Gauri Shankar, a chess trainer from Chicago, who has a great talent for finding such positions, and for explaining the results in instructive style. Today we how you three positions, which you can try to solve, and let Gauri show you how, if you fail to work out how.

8/5/2023 – Top grandmasters continue to be left out of contention at the FIDE World Cup in Baku. In the open, Alexander Grischuk and David Anton were knocked out by Bardiya Daneshvar and Abdulla Gadimbayli in Friday’s tiebreaks. Among the women, Mary Ann Gomes defeated Kateryna Lagno, while Klaudia Kulon got the better of Nana Dzagnidze. | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage

8/4/2023 – The inaugural KCF European Trainers Conference brought together around 150 trainers from more than 25 countries. The distinguished speakers, including Michael Khodarkovsky, Ivan Sokolov, Adrian Mikhalchishin, and Garry Kasparov, shared their expertise, enriching the conference with valuable insights and experiences. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Anastasiya Karlovich / Kasparov Chess Foundation

8/4/2023 – In his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris looks at two fascinating games from the World Cup, in which White and Black tried new ideas in the Sicilian Sveshnikov with 7.Nd5. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/4/2023 – Shocking results were seen on the fifth day of action at the FIDE World Cup in Baku. In the open, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were knocked out by players in the 2500-2600 rating band — Vahap Sanal and Tin Jingyao (pictured) respectively — while sixth seed Wesley So barely escaped with a draw to take his match against Emre Can to tiebreaks. In the women’s section, Yan Tianqi and Maili-Jade Ouellet surprisingly won on demand to even the score against Alexandra Kosteniuk and Irina Krush. | Photo: chess.com / Maria Emelianova

8/3/2023 – Howard Staunton (April 1819 – June 22, 1874) stands as a controversial figure in chess. Not only did he establish himself as the strongest player in the 1840s, but also elevated the comprehension of the game as the most prominent analyst and author of his generation. His influence as a player and organizer contributed to the standardization of the chess pieces and to the development of international competition. Yet, he was also a complex character who made foes out of his competitors and friends alike. | Picture source: World Chess Hall of Fame.

8/3/2023 – The Bundesliga is one of the strongest team tournaments in the world. Next season, it will be even stronger: Hikaru Nakamura, popular streamer and current world number two, will try to help SC Viernheim beat perennial champion Baden-Baden and become German team champion in 2023/2024. | Photo: Stev Bonhage/FIDE