10/11/2025 – After six rounds of play at the European Team Chess Championship in Batumi, Ukraine have strengthened their position at the top of the open standings, while Poland have taken firm control of the women's competition with a commanding victory over their closest rivals. The final three rounds of the championships in Batumi will take place from Sunday to Tuesday. | Photos: European Chess Union

10/11/2025 – The Saint Louis Chess Club will soon host the 2025 US Chess Championship and the 2025 US Women's Championship, running from 12 to 24 October in its newly expanded venue. With a prize fund exceeding $400,000, the 12-player fields feature America's elite, including Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Carissa Yip, Alice Lee and Irina Krush. Alongside the competitions, Hall of Fame inductions and cultural events promise a historic month for American chess in Saint Louis.

10/11/2025 – The Ragozin Defence is one of those opening systems that are very popular in modern tournament chess. It combines solid classical elements with dynamic ideas. For those looking for active and dynamic play against 1.d4 without taking any significant risks, Grandmaster Surya Ganguly has created a high-class Fritz trainer in "Reinventing the Ragozin". The course impresses not only with its modern repertoire against the Queen's Gambit Declined in impressive depth, but also with valuable insights into the modern opening preparation of current top players. Lukas Köpl has taken a close look at Ganguly's Fritz trainer.

10/10/2025 – Two former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov, face each other in "Clutch Chess: The Legends", a 12-game chess960 exhibition match held from 8 to 10 October at the newly expanded Saint Louis Chess Club. The event features rapid and blitz games with increasing point values and prize stakes each day. | Follow the action live starting at 19.00 CEST (13.00 ET, 10.30 IST)

10/10/2025 – Garry Kasparov increased his advantage over Viswanathan Anand to 8½–3½ after the second day of their chess960 match in Saint Louis. The 13th world champion capitalised on Anand's time forfeiture in the first game and later added another win in the blitz section. The day's results left Kasparov firmly ahead, though twelve points remain at stake in the final session of the exhibition match. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/10/2025 – The delayed September edition reviews a single slow-play game in the mainline Sicilian Dragon, Yugoslav Attack with Bc4 and 10.Bb3. Chris outlines White’s three plans: all-out h4–h5, positional a4, or the “halfway house”, and shows the typical imbalances after Bxe6 followed by fxe6 and the tactical motif Rb4. But, our viewers have to be strong, since this episode it is White who actually wins | Photo: John Upham

10/7/2025 – Team USA claimed a 5-0 victory over Team India in "Checkmate: USA v. India", a new-format exhibition held at Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The event combined top-level chess with a live sports-style presentation, featuring unconventional rules such as no resignations and active audience participation. Hikaru Nakamura sealed the clean sweep by defeating world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, capping an evening that tested how far chess can be taken as a stadium spectacle. | Photo: Ashwin Subramanian

10/6/2025 – The round-one pairings for the 2025 FIDE World Cup in Goa, India have been unveiled, setting the stage for an intense start to chess' most prestigious knockout event. From 30 October to 27 November, 206 players will compete for a $2 million prize fund and three coveted Candidates spots. With wildcards including Abhimanyu Mishra, Andy Woodward, Faustino Oro, Divya Deshmukh and world rapid champion Volodar Murzin, the opening battles promise plenty of intrigue.

10/6/2025 – The European Team Championships began in Batumi with a number of early surprises. Denmark upset top seeds Germany in the open section thanks to Mads Andersen's win over Dmitrij Kollars, while Georgia edged Hungary and Switzerland held Spain to a draw. In the women's event, Georgia and Poland started strongly, though Ukraine were held by Austria and Slovakia defeated Spain to produce the day's biggest shock. | Photos: European Chess Union

10/6/2025 – Christian and Karsten show 2 recent endgames from the FIDE Grand Swiss. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

10/6/2025 – Advanced passers, hanging rooks, back rank mate - the diagram position really has it all. Black is winning, but he played 39...Rxd1+? 40.Rxd1 b1D, after which White again had the upper hand. I hope you'll keep a clear mind!

10/6/2025 – The rule limits the rating gap used when evaluating game results. From October 1st FIDE dropped the 400 point rule for players rated above 2650. This makes it harder for top players to gain points by playing against much weaker opponents (called "farming"), and easier to lose points when not beating them. Leading chess statistician and FIDe consultant Jeff Sonas tells us why, and what the rule change implies.