9/2/2026 – The year 1926 was a major one for chess tournaments. Among the many outstanding events was the anniversary tournament of the Hannover Chess Club, which had already enjoyed a remarkable history and was now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The battle for first place developed into a close contest between the two favourites, Aron Nimzowitsch (pictured) and Akiba Rubinstein, with Nimzowitsch ultimately prevailing. Friedrich Sämisch proved to be the decisive factor.

9/2/2026 – Spanish Anti-Berlin: "Give me the f-file!": Christian Braun likes 4.d3 Bc5 5.Be3!? – "The Fortress" with opposite-coloured bishops and two connected passed pawns: Dorian Rogozenco shows how the defender should position himself – Do you know the Barendregt Variation? Robert Ris advocates 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 c5 5.d5 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 e5!? – "Attack with Qh5!" One move, many motifs: Oliver Reeh tests you in 32 example games with plenty of training exercises – Alekhine-Chatard Attack – as dangerous as 100 years ago: Sergey Grigoriants updates 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4! – The Isolated c-Pawn: Mihail Marin demonstrates the advantages of a fragmented structure, using two games of Kasparov-Karpov! – Grischuk's Stroke of Genius in the Sicilian Kan Variation: After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Qc7 7.Be2 b6 8.0-0 Bb7, Petra Papp considers the magnificent 9.Nd5!! and much more. Download version including a comprehensive and redesigned accompanying PDF (52 pages)! Take a look – an extract from the PDF is provided below.

9/2/2026 – The second edition of Legends & Prodigies will take place in Madrid from 7 to 12 September, with Faustino Oro (pictured) returning to the event he won last year. The Argentine teenager will face David Antón, José Martínez, Ivan Sokolov, Diego Flores and José "Pepe" Cuenca in a six-player double round-robin. | Photo: Mar Melero

9/2/2026 – FIDE and World Chess have submitted an application to ICANN for .chess, a proposed top-level domain intended to provide the chess community with a dedicated and verified online space. Filed as a community application on behalf of FIDE, the project would give federations, clubs, organisers, platforms, media and players recognisable chess-specific domains if approved. Registration will open only after ICANN's review, with an early-access list already available.

9/1/2026 – The Sinquefield Cup and the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis brought about some movement at the top of the world rankings. Magnus Carlsen and Hou Yifan remain the world's top players, while Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Anastasiia Hnatyshyn are the leading junior players. Based on the average rating of its top players, the German Chess Federation is ranked fifth overall, making it now the leading European federation.

9/1/2026 – Daniel King's 'Power Play' series is one of ChessBase's most popular FritzTrainer course collections. Between 2007 and 2020, an impressive 28 volumes were published in the series, covering not only general topics such as tactics, attacking play and endgames, but also opening repertoires for both Black and White. Jochen Schwarz, a club player from Bremen, has known and valued the Power Play courses for many years and provides an overview of the individual volumes.

8/29/2026 – The Nottingham 1936 tournament, played almost exactly 90 years ago, is regarded as one of the greatest tournaments in chess history. Five world champions took part. With many young players in the field, a changing of the guard was already beginning to take shape. And for the first time since their 1927 World Championship match, Alexander Alekhine and José Raúl Capablanca faced each other again. Alongside the games and a number of photographs, film footage from the event has also survived as a valuable historical record.

8/29/2026 – Chess players, mark your calendars. The Icelandic Chess Federation, Goðinn Chess Club, and Reykjavík Chess Club are joining forces to present "Town and Country" – two spectacular tournaments that together offer 15 rounds of high-level chess in just 11 days, set against two of Iceland’s most contrasting backdrops. It all begins on Thursday, 19 November at 19:00. On Tuesday, 24 November, the Friðrik Ólafsson Memorial Tournament opens – honouring Iceland’s first grandmaster.

8/29/2026 – IM Andrew Martin presents a complete 1.e4 repertoire for White in his new two-volume course, based on the Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4). The repertoire also covers the Two Knights Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6) and all relevant deviations by Black from the second or third move onwards. Jochen Schwarz, a club player from Bremen, is himself a keen gambit player and therefore firmly part of the target audience for this course.

8/29/2026 – The Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot will take place in Budapest from 10 to 21 November, bringing together an elite field led by Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer and Wesley So. Created by Norway Chess and approved by FIDE, the event will test players across Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz formats. The Budapest pilot will serve as the first step towards a multi-city tour launching in 2027. | Photo: FIDE

8/28/2026 – In a 15-minute video, Demis Hassabis, one of the central scientists working on artificial intelligence, tells us why he worries about AI going rogue. Hassabis, head of Google AI research, is a very strong chess player who created Alpha zero, the first neural network program on which all modern chess engines are based. It is his vivid description of how AI handled chess that will be of particular interest to the readers of our news page.

8/28/2026 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu overturned a six-point deficit on the final day to defeat Fabiano Caruana 15-13 and win the 2026 Grand Chess Tour Finals. The Indian GM won both rapid games before holding his advantage through the blitz section. In the third-place match, Wesley So recovered from an early deficit against Vincent Keymer and swept all four blitz games to secure an 18-12 victory. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour