6/13/2025 – After two days of play at the World Rapid Team Championship, Team MGD1 leads with 13 points, followed closely by Hexamind and Freedom. A standout performance came from 11-year-old Faustino Oro, while teams like Germany & Friends and Uzbekistan remain in close contention as the event heads into its final stages. | Photo: Dmitry Kollars and Dinara Wagner from Germany & Friends show team spirit | Photos: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE

6/13/2025 – Carissa Yip, US Women's Champion in 2021, 2023 and 2024, had a disappointing start to the Cairns Cup, losing one game and drawing another. However, in round three, she secured her first victory against Nino Batsiashvili, albeit with a touch of luck. The other four games in the round ended in draws, leaving Alice Lee as the sole leader with 2.5/3. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/12/2025 – 15-year-old Alice Lee is the youngest participant in the highly competitive Cairns Cup in Saint Louis and ranked 10th in the seedings, but she nevertheless got off to a flying start with two convincing victories. In round 2, she demonstrated her tactical skills and won with black against former world champion Mariya Muzychuk. The second victory of the round went to Nana Dzagnidze, who beat Bibisara Assaubayeva. The three remaining games ended in draws. This means that Alice Lee has taken the sole lead after two rounds with 2 out of 2. | Photo: Screenshot from a promotional video for the Cairns Cup

6/12/2025 – The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in London bring together the world's best players, ambitious young talent, officials and chess enthusiasts. MGD1, a team consisting mainly of Indian players, were the only team to win all four matches on the first day of the Team Rapid World Championship. It was a day full of action and interesting games, with a number of upsets and surprises. | Photos: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE

6/12/2025 – In our previous article on historical chess statistics we showed you the number of rated players there were in 1993, their ages, ratings, and where they came from. Today we compare them with the current FIDE statistics, showing how things have developed in the three decades that have passed. Our report also contains a little puzzle for you to mull over – why does the chess superpower China have so few rated players?

6/11/2025 – On the Thursday before the Whitsun weekend, Bremen's market square was once again transformed into a large open-air chess tournament hall. 1,300 schoolchildren competed to show what they had learned as part of the Bremen school chess project "Schach macht schlau!" (Chess makes smart). At the end of the day, the cup winners were drawn from the winning team. This time, the trophy featuring the Bremen Town Musicians went to Burgdamm School with classes 1c and 2c. | Photos: Nils Rhode

6/11/2025 – The Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, one of the strongest women’s tournaments of the year, began with a promising start: all five games in the first round ended decisively. There were also a few minor surprises. Alice Lee (pictured), the youngest participant at just 15 years old and number 10 seed, scored a convincing victory against Nino Batsiashvili. Meanwhile, top seed and 2024 Cairns Cup winner Tan Zhongyi suffered a setback, losing with the white pieces to Alina Kashlinskaya after landing in a difficult position as early as move 21. | Photo: Tournament page

6/11/2025 – Among ChessBase products the Big DataBase stands in its own right. Unlike the MegaBase it has no annotations. This paves the way for independent study and preparation, and helps the player to hone skills on his own. The present edition offers 11 million games from 1475 to November 2024. In this vast collection there are games from world championships, famous tournaments, past and present, not to mention little-known events that deserve greater recognition. There are magnificent battles, brilliancies and unknown gems all waiting to be discovered. Our columnist here introduces a few rare gems.

6/10/2025 – The ChessBase Premium Account is a powerful all-in-one chess improvement tool that provides extensive online resources, training, playing opportunities, and cloud services to help players of all levels enhance their game effectively. And the service runs on anything: Windows, Macs, notebooks, tablets, your mobile phone. Watch this video by Sagar Shah explaining the services you get and how to best use it. And best of all: it will only cost you €4.99 per month!

6/10/2025 – "Enjoy the best game. Ever." That’s the slogan of the "New in Chess Magazine" – and the current issue lives up to that promise. It explores the question of whether Boris Spassky would have preferred to be buried next to Bobby Fischer, features in-depth interviews with Hikaru Nakamura and Aravindh Chithambaram, and includes the magazine’s regular columns offering training advice and entertaining insights from the world of chess. Informative and engaging.

6/10/2025 – In the diagram position it is Black to move. She has a strong passed pawn on the e-file, but her back rank is weak. Is there a way to secure an advantage for Black?

6/10/2025 – Blending culture, history and chess, the "Clash of Generations" match in Pietrasanta, Italy, formed the centrepiece of the Chess Roads Festival. Held at the historic La Versiliana venue and featuring a ceremonial opening with rare chessboards, traditional carriages and the presence of Andrea Bocelli (pictured, during the simultaneous exhibition), the event celebrated the game's artistic and cultural legacy. On the board, five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand defeated 11-year-old Faustino Oro 2–0 in a match marked by professionalism and mutual respect.