3/10/2025 – On July 13, 2004, Bobby Fischer was detained in Japan with an invalid U.S. passport. That marked the beginning of a nine-month ordeal for him in Japanese custody. Among the supporters fighting for his release was former World Champion Boris Spassky, whom Fischer had dethroned thirty years earlier. Spassky, who passed last week, even wrote a personal letter of appeal to President George Bush, asking to be locked up in the same cell as Fischer. "And give us a chess set," he said.

3/10/2025 – What is the Ultimate Underdog chess game, ever played? This is obviously a very difficult question to answer, and moreover, very subjective. Nonetheless, one game would probably be set in the top 10 list - Adams vs. Torre from 1920. In this game, which is suspiciously beautiful, Adams tries really hard to sacrifice his queen several times, against the Mexican super talent Torre. Apparently, Adams was unknown, and not that strong of a chess player after all. Even if it was simply a brilliant analysis, it remains brilliant, and worthy to appear on this show.

3/10/2025 – England’s top female chess players are turning out among a strong field to compete for the Menchik Memorial title. The 2025 tournament will take place at the London Mindsports Centre in Hammersmith from March 20 to 24. The tournament is named after Vera Francevna Menchik (1906-1944), the pioneering chess player who became the first Women's World Chess Champion in 1927 – and went on to win the title seven more times, holding it for almost two decades. | World Wide Photos

3/10/2025 – In the classic Fort Knox Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7), Black maneuvers the light-squared bishop to c6 in order to exchange it for a white knight and establish a super-solid setup. Yago Santiago discovered a new - and even safer - way of playing the Fort Knox in some of Arjun Erigaisi's games: In his opening article for the current CBM #224, Santiago presents the variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bd7!? If White now reacts with 6.Nxf6+, he must be prepared for major complications after 6...gxf6! You can read the full article with all the annotated games this week as a free sample with your web browser in the ChessBase Books format!

3/10/2025 – The Scotch Gambit is a favourite at club level, offering a rich blend of attacking and positional ideas. Whether you prefer sharp tactical battles, or a more controlled strategic approach, this video course gives you everything you need to master this dynamic opening.

3/10/2025 – IM Salome Melia will replace IM Lela Javakhishvili in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix India after the latter’s withdrawal for personal reasons. Born in Batumi, Georgia, Melia is a two-time European Under-18 Girls Champion and has won multiple medals at the Women’s European Individual Chess Championship. A two-time Georgian Women’s Champion, she has represented her country in several Chess Olympiads. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

3/7/2025 – In the new episode of their 'Two Knights Talk' show, Arne Kähler and Johannes Fischer look back at the Prague Chess Festival and recall unusual and stunning moves from chess history. And they present another puzzle to test your linguistic skills and knowledge of chess history.

3/7/2025 – From 26 February to 7 March, ten top grandmasters, including Wei Yi, Praggnanandhaa, Le Quang Liem and Vincent Keymer, will play for tournament victory and prize money in the Prague Masters. The Masters is part of the 7th Prague Chess Festival that also includes a Challengers tournament, an Open and many attractive side events. Round 6 of the Masters and the Challengers starts at 15.00 local time. Follow the games live and with commentary by Sagar Shah and Harshit Raja.

3/7/2025 – "The 2025 Champions Showdown: The Kings" is a tournament featuring six of the best American chess players, competing in a daily triathlon of blitz, rapid and semi-classical chess from 4-6 March.

3/7/2025 – In round seven of the Masters tournament at the Prague Chess Festival, Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram took the lead in the standings, and in round eight he defended it with a draw against David Navara, as the second-placed player, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, also signed a draw. The wins of the round were achieved by Anish Giri, who won with black against Sam Shankland, and Wei Yi, who benefited from a mistake by Thai Dai Van Nguyen in a rook ending. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

3/6/2025 – The second day of play at the Champions Showdown in Saint Louis saw Fabiano Caruana overtaking Wesley So in the standings after winning their rapid game, with the blitz and semi-classical encounters ending in draws. Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian also secured mini-match victories, with Nakamura defeating Ray Robson in their rapid game and Aronian beating Leinier Dominguez in the semi-classical format. Despite his loss to Nakamura, Robson remains in third place and is set to face leader Caruana on the final day. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

3/6/2025 – The Tata Steel tournament in Wijk has caused the biggest changes in the current world rankings. Among the winners is World Champion Gukesh, among the losers are Caruana, Erigaisi and also Keymer, who lost some points and places. In the country list, Germany is the best of the rest behind the four chess superpowers USA, India, China and Russia.