10/22/2026 – The 2026 U.S. Championship came to a dramatic conclusion: Wesley So lost to last-placed Sam Sevian in the final round, ending his 48-game unbeaten streak at the U.S. Championships. Fabiano Caruana, meanwhile, won on demand against Awonder Liang to catch So at the top of the standings. The title will now be decided in a playoff, beginning with two rapid games at 15+10. If the scores remain level, another two rapid games will follow, then up to two two-game blitz matches at 5+2. If the players are still tied, the arbiter will decide how to proceed. | Live with commentary from 12.00 CDT / 18.00 BST / 19.00 CEST | Photo: Crystal Fuller

10/22/2026 – The latest releases offer fresh ideas for opening preparation and regular chess training. In two volumes, Michael Kotyk presents a practical repertoire for Black after 1.e4 e5, while Fabien Libiszewski introduces the dynamic Chigorin Defence against the Queen's Gambit. ChessBase Magazine 233 rounds off the selection with up-to-date opening ideas, annotated games by top players and a wide range of training material. The products combine practical recommendations for tournament play with suggestions for independent analysis. | All photos: ChessBase

10/22/2026 – The cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s Catalonia region will host the MOVE Cup, a new elite chess tournament, with Magnus Carlsen first in the line-up. Launched together with the MOVE Foundation and powered by BETBY, the tournament will bring eight of the world’s top grandmasters to Barcelona from 18 to 20 January 2027.

10/22/2026 – Wesley So had gone 48 consecutive games unbeaten at the US Championships, but his run came to an end in the final round of the 2026 edition: playing black, he lost to bottom-of-the-table Samuel Sevian, who had failed to win a single game in the previous ten rounds. As a result, the 2026 US Championship will be decided in a tiebreak, as Fabiano Caruana, who had trailed So by one point going into the round, secured a must-win victory against Awonder Liang. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

10/22/2026 – Novy Bor and SuperChess Romania remain the only teams with perfect scores in the open section of the European Club Cup after five rounds. The co-leaders will face each other in Thursday's penultimate round, with three teams following one match point behind. In the women's competition, CE Gambit Bonnevoie secured their fifth consecutive victory and now hold a two-point lead over Monte-Carlo and Odlar Yurdu with two rounds remaining. | Pictured: SuperChess' Jorden van Foreest and Nodirbek Abdusattorov | Photo: Gerd Densing

10/21/2026 – Armenian GM Emin Ohanyan won the Atyrau Masters in Kazakhstan after finishing tied for first place with Chinese IM Jiang Haochen on 7/9. The 20-year-old Ohanyan, seeded 20th, claimed the title thanks to a superior tiebreak score, while 15-year-old Jiang, seeded 30th, secured three consecutive wins to catch the leader. Baadur Jobava took third place on 6½/9. | Photo: Kazakhstan Chess Federation

10/18/2026 – Wesley So defeated Andy Woodward in round eight of the US Championship to extend his lead to a full point over Fabiano Caruana, who drew against Sam Sevian. The two will meet in Monday's ninth round. In the women's tournament, Alice Lee and Rachael Li remain tied for first place on 6/8, while Thalia Cervantes moved within half a point of the leaders by defeating four-time national champion Carissa Yip. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

10/18/2026 – The World Championship match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov is approaching. The contest gets underway on 24 November in Cologny, near Geneva. Who will be helping the two contenders this time? Sindarov will be able to count on the assistance of his compatriot Abdusattorov, among others, as Abdusattorov himself recently revealed. | Photo: UzChess / Yoav Nis

10/18/2026 – The European Club Cup began on Saturday in Budva, Montenegro, with 108 teams competing in the open section and 22 in the women's tournament. The leading clubs secured comfortable victories, although there were a couple of individual upsets. Defending champions SuperChess Romania and Monte-Carlo both started with wins, while Novy Bor's Nils Grandelius suffered a surprising defeat against Serbian CM Slobodan Filipovic. The women's competition saw seventh seeds Crvena Zvezda held to a draw. | Pictured: Alkaloid's Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Mark Livshitz / ECU

10/17/2026 – On 17th October 1956, a sensational sacrificial game played in New York City by a 13-year-old chess upstart from Brooklyn shot across the globe. It was a game that literally took the chess world by storm. It contains a stunning sacrificial onslaught and is regarded as one of the most famous games of chess that has ever been played. In the October issue of CHESS magazine John Henderson recalls the game that made 13-year-old Bobby Fischer famous. It was played seventy years ago, today.

10/17/2026 – Wesley So defeated Ray Robson in round seven of the US Championship to take the sole lead on 5/7, half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana and Andy Woodward. Awonder Liang suffered his second defeat, as he lost to Grigoriy Oparin. In the women's tournament, Alice Lee and Rachael Li share first place on 5½/7, followed closely by Irina Krush, while Thalia Cervantes suffered her first defeat of the event, against Anna Sargsyan. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

10/17/2026 – From 17 to 23 October, Budva in Montenegro will host the European Club Cup. With over 100 teams competing in the open section and 22 teams in the women's competition, it is a large-scale event. The favourites, in each of the sections, are teams from Türkiye and Monaco. The highest-rated players in the field are Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Wei Yi and Anish Giri. | Image: European Chess Union