11/10/2025 – The road to the World Chess Championship will lead to Cyprus in 2026, as the FIDE Candidates and Women's Candidates Tournaments take place side by side from 28 March to 16 April at the coastal Cap St. Georges Hotel & Resort near Paphos. Returning to Europe after Toronto 2024, the double event promises intense battles among the world's top players in one of the most prestigious and tradition-filled competitions.

11/10/2025 – A tense day of tiebreaks marked the end of round three at the FIDE World Cup in Goa. Eleven matches were decided through rapid and blitz play, including one that reached Armageddon, where Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finally overcame Vladislav Artemiev. Three players who were rating underdogs won their matches: Sam Shankland, Karthik Venkataraman and Alexey Sarana advanced to the round of 32 alongside the event's leading seeds. | Photo: Michal Walusza

11/10/2025 – At the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in September, the decision was made on two places in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. In a dramatic final round, Anish Giri secured the tournament victory with a win against Hans Moke Niemann. Matthias Bluebaum drew with Alireza Firouzja, finishing second in the overall standings. The two World Championship candidates comment on games from Samarkand in the current ChessBase Magazine #228. In addition, many other participants of the Grand Swiss contributed analyses, and Dorian Rogozenco looks back on the event in a detailed video (running time: over 40 minutes). In this week's CBM reading sample, you can view Matthias Bluebaum's analysis and Rogozenco's video contribution free of charge – in your web browser in the ChessBase Books format. Enjoy!

11/10/2025 – Svitlana explores the theme of “invisible moves” — creative, hard-to-spot ideas that suddenly make everything work. By looking for checks, deflections, and quiet improving moves, players can uncover the beauty of ideas that seem “invisible” at first glance.

11/9/2025 – FIDE has announced the winners of the 16th FIDE Trainer Awards, honouring outstanding achievements in global chess training for 2024. The recipients include Pavel Kotsur (Kazakhstan), Richard Rapport (Hungary, pictured) and Mikhail Kobalia (FIDE), recognised for their contributions to women's, open and junior competitions, respectively. The Book of the Year Award went to "Mastering Chess Endgame Calculation – Level 1" by Adrian Mikhalchishin and Tadej Sakelšek, published by Forward Chess. | Photo: Eng Chin An / FIDE

11/9/2025 – London is set to host the climax of the 2025 Speed Chess Championship, with the world's fastest players gathering at 180 Studios (pictured) on 7 and 8 February 2026 for the semifnals and the final match. Eight players, including Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, remain in contention in the quarterfinals. The four winners of these matches, set to take place until 4 December, will make it to the final live event in London. | Photo: MBS Group

11/6/2025 – The first major upsets of the 2025 FIDE World Cup occurred on Wednesday in Goa, as three players rated over 2700 were eliminated from the competition. Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Aravindh Chithambaram were all knocked out by lower-seeded opponents - Titas Stremavicius, Diptayan Ghosh and Karthik Venkataraman, respectively. With 37 matches already decided, the remaining 27 will be settled in Thursday’s tiebreaks, promising a tense conclusion to round two. | Photo: Michal Walusza

11/5/2025 – In international correspondence chess tournaments, the number of draws has increased significantly over the last few decades due to the tools used, and is now approaching 100%. But not all draws are the same. An alternative scoring system is now to be tested for the first time in a high-class correspondence chess tournament.

11/5/2025 – GM Dorian Rogozenco demonstrates how to filter and analyse games by rating, year, and tournament to see which openings are currently popular and successful - without needing multiple databases. Rogozenco shows practical shortcuts and explains how to use live updates and tournament selections to instantly study what top grandmasters are playing right now. The episode concludes with insights on how to dig deeper into why certain lines become fashionable, often sparked by world-class players like Magnus Carlsen, experimenting with new ideas.

11/5/2025 – The World Cup entered a new phase on Tuesday in Goa, as chess heavyweights joined the field and the competition intensified. With the arrival of the top 50 seeds, 64 games were played in round two's first day, producing 21 decisive results. Many top players began cautiously, but some struck quickly — among them Wei Yi and Andrey Esipenko, who each scored 26-move wins with sharp attacking play to make confident starts to their campaigns. | Photo: Michal Walusza

11/4/2025 – Naroditsky's tragic passing, details still unclear, though with serious allegations levelled at a now-named former top player, invites us to look beyond the parish pump of chess. FIDE itself states in connection with the case: ‘Human life and dignity are fundamental values shared by all of us. While we hold deep respect and love for the game of chess that unites our community, these values must always come first." A philosopher comments.

11/4/2025 – Ljubomir Ljubojevic turned 75 on Sunday, 2 November. At the height of his career, he was one of the world's top players, ranking third behind Karpov and Kasparov in the 1980s. Thanks to his tactical attacking style, he was able to defeat almost any opponent. He retired from tournament chess in 2010. | Photo: Dagobert Kohlmeyer