2/20/2025 – Chess is an international game, and players of different cultures and backgrounds may be following diverse norms. Something that is highly valued in one culture might be viewed differently in another. So here is a question: does chess need a dress code? Magnus Carlsen was fined during the 2024 World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in New York for wearing jeans, and GM Zhu Jiner for wearing white laceless winter boots. Here's International Arbiter Shohreh Bayat's take on the subject.

2/19/2025 – Four players share the lead with 1½/2 points after the second round of the Monaco Women's Grand Prix. Sara Khadem secured the only decisive result of the day, capitalising on a blunder to defeat Harika Dronavalli. Meanwhile, Aleksandra Goryachkina and Tan Zhongyi both missed opportunities to join the leaders, with Goryachkina failing to convert her initiative against Alexandra Kosteniuk and Tan allowing Batkhuyag Munguntuul to escape with a draw in a tricky endgame. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

2/19/2025 – One of the streamers covering the Freestyle Chess Tournament in Weissenhaus was Alexandra Botez. In a brief interview with Arne Kähler, she shared her excitement and exhaustion from the event, upcoming plans in Los Angeles, and a talk at MIT's Sports Analytics Conference. She reflected on her streaming career, team-building, and passion for competition, while also revealing details about her chess-inspired video game, designed to attract new players with innovative features like Battle Royale mechanics and magic spells. | Photo: Alexandra Botez at the Reykjavik Open 2023 | Photo: Gerd Densing

2/19/2025 – In their new episode of their "Two Knights Talk", Johannes Fischer and Arne Kähler talk, among other things, about the luxury at the Weissenhaus luxury resort and about the attraction of playing chess in such an environment. They consider how things are going and could go with Freestyle Chess and wonder why one should be careful with Boris Becker moments. And they pay tribute to Vincent Keymers skills in Freestyle Chess.

2/19/2025 – Magnus Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi, Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja reached the semifinals of the winners' bracket in the knockout phase of the Chessable Masters. Firouzja managed to defeat Fabiano Caruana in a contested match that went to tiebreaks. | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

2/19/2025 – The third stage of the Women's Grand Prix 2024/25 began in Monte Carlo, with three players securing victories in the opening round. Humpy Koneru and Kateryna Lagno (pictured) showcased strong endgame technique to defeat their compatriots, while Batkhuyag Munguntuul achieved a notable win over former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Series leader Bibisara Assaubayeva settled for a draw against Sara Khadem. | Photo: FIDE / Niki Riga

2/18/2025 – The Freestyle Chess tournament at Weissenhaus attracted many prominent visitors from the chess world. Among them was the well-known and popular commentator Danny Rensch, chess.com's Chief Chess Officer. In an interview with Arne Kähler Rensch talked about Freestyle, fitness programmes, why he rarely plays chess anymore, the art of relaxation and revealed why he came to one round in his bathrobe.

2/18/2025 – The Chessable Masters Play-In saw 174 players compete for eight spots in the final knockout stage, where they will join top grandmasters such as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. Wei Yi secured direct qualification by winning the Swiss event, while the remaining seven spots were decided through placement matches. Five of these were resolved in Armageddon, with Sam Sevian's victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave standing out as the biggest surprise. Alongside Wei and Sevian, Yu Yangyi, Anish Giri, Andrey Esipenko, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Vladislav Artemiev and Alexander Grischuk also advanced.

2/18/2025 – Knights often need outposts to defend against bishops. In the diagram position Black's knight has no safe outpost and this allows White to win. How?

2/17/2025 – In his Endgame Magic Show #289, Karsten Müller looks back to 2024 and presents a highly subjective selection of endgames that have impressed him in the last year. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

2/17/2025 – Did you know how to play freestyle chess with ChessBase 18? By clicking on the board, and after that on "new game", a new tab opens with some options to choose from. One is Chess 960! Have fun playing against Fritz.

2/17/2025 – Anna Cramling is one of the most popular chess streamers, and she also streamed from the Freestyle Chess Tournament in Weissenhaus. Arne Kähler took the opportunity to interview Anna, and she shared her bittersweet feelings about the end of the Freestyle Chess event, expressing how much she would miss the atmosphere and the people. She also reflected on her experience of playing against Alexandra Botez, emphasising how Freestyle Chess made her think from the very first move. Anna also discussed her journey as a chess streamer, how her content has evolved through travel and street chess, and her excitement at winning the Twitch Streamer Award. She revealed plans for extensive travel, including a secret event in Paris, and expressed hope for more women's freestyle chess tournaments in the future.