7/27/2021 – In the open section of the World Cup, 2 players secured a spot in the quarterfinals on Monday, as Sam Shankland (pictured) and Vidit Gujrathi knocked out Peter Svidler and Vasif Durarbayli. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Tan Zhongyi and Alexandra Kosteniuk made it to the semifinals. | Photo: Eric Rosen

7/26/2021 – Sabrina Vega is the best woman player in the history of Spanish chess. She won the national women's championship six times and represented her country in five Chess Olympiads. In an interview with Tatiana Flores, Sabrina Vega talks about her chess career and how chess can help you to grow and to enrich your personality.

7/26/2021 – Two national champions were crowned on Sunday, 25 July, as both GM Hans Niemann (pictured) and IM Annie Wang clinched victories in the 2021 U.S. Junior Championships, both winning $10,000 scholarships in addition to the first place prize. Meanwhile, GM Larry Christiansen won a critical last round game in the U.S. Senior, forcing a playoff tiebreak on Monday against GM Gregory Kaidanov. With their victories, Hans and Annie qualified for the 2022 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship. | Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller

7/26/2021 – The main event at this year’s edition of the Biel Chess Festival is the Grandmaster Triathlon, in which eight participants play a mix of classical, rapid and blitz chess. The rapid section was played on Sunday, and saw Gata Kamsky getting clear first place with a 5½/7 performance. Nihal Sarin and Maxime Lagarde finished second and third respectively. | Photos: Official site

7/26/2021 – Day 1 of the fifth round at the World Cups in Sochi saw Haik Martirosyan and Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) getting off to winning starts in their matches, as they beat Amin Tabatabaei and Valentina Gunina respectively. The remaining 7 matches in the open section and 3 matches in the women’s category finished drawn. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

7/25/2021 – Many of the ChessBase products have been around for more than 30 years, and we now have ChessBase 16, Fritz 17, over 200 ChessBase magazines, as well as more than 500 training programmes from chess masters. With so much choice, it is easy to lose the overview, and sometimes you ask yourself: what is which software good for, what can I do with it, and what are the main functions? With the newly made shopping assistant, we have created a guide for you in a short description + videos.

7/22/2021 – In Dortmund Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik tried a new variant of chess: they played a four-game match, in which castling was not allowed. After four interesting games Anand won the match 2.5-1.5, and both players, the organizers in Dortmund and the public agreed that the experiment was a success.

7/22/2021 – 20 July was International Chess Day and it was celebrated all over the world. With "Chess Unlimited" Kineke Mulder (pictured, on the left) celebrates chess in Vienna throughout the year and brings the game to the streets and to the people. During the lockdown this was impossible, and Mulder was happy to share her chess enthusiasm on International Chess Day - with a lot of amateurs and German Grandmaster Sebastian Siebrecht (pictured, on the right). | Photos: Sebastian Siebrecht/ Kineke Mulder/ Erste Bank

7/21/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft takes a look a close look at a stunning game with a brutal rook sacrifice from the World Cup: Michal Krasenkow's fine attacking win against Kirill Alekseenko. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/21/2021 – 50 years ago, on 20 July 1971, Bobby Fischer (pictured) and Bent Larsen played the sixth and final game of their semi-final match of the Candidates. Fischer had won the first five games and he also won the sixth. It was Fischer's 19th win in a row against some of the world's best players, a sensational and unrivalled winning streak. In his new book "The Unstoppable American: Bobby Fischer's Road to Reykjavik" Dutch Grandmaster Jan Timman takes a close look at this winning streak and Fischer's dominance in the years 1970 to 1971. Confident, entertaining, and with new insights about Fischer's strengths and weaknesses.

7/21/2021 – An inexpensive chess set can sell for $20, but a handcrafted wooden set certified for the World Chess Championship costs $500. Much of the set's value lies in just one piece: the knight. Making this one piece takes two hours, and there are fewer than ten people trained to carve knights for the championship chess sets. It is fascinating to watch the high-end pieces being made.

7/21/2021 – Upsets continue at the FIDE World Cups in Sochi, as Anish Giri and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were knocked out by Nodirbek Abdusattorov (pictured) and Haik Martirosyan in the rapid and blitz playoffs of round 3. Meanwhile, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vidit Gujrathi and Mariya Muzychuk won lengthy, exciting matches. The players will have a rest day on Wednesday. | Photo: Eric Rosen