4/16/2025 – After the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai, FIDE set up a Fair Play Commission aimed at preventing cheating in chess. The commission received sweeping powers, over and above those of the arbiters or chess tournaments. Is that necessary and justified? Malcolm Pein, writer for The Daily Telegraph, takes vigorous offence at the working of the commission in the editorial of the London-based magazine CHESS.

4/16/2025 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Our columnist Nagesh Havanur takes a look at our current issue, CBM 224. 209 games from the Tata Steel Tournament, 15 annotated, 11 opening surveys, 4 opening videos, 7 demo lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa and Karsten Müller, among others. The icing on the cake is a special feature on Viktor Korchnoi, with 24 annotated games. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

4/16/2025 – The 2025 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship is taking place from April 3 to 21 in two Chinese cities: Shanghai and Chongqing. It features a highly anticipated rematch between two of China's top grandmasters: the reigning Champion, Ju Wenjun, and the Challenger, Tan Zhongyi. The title of the Women's World Chess Champion is decided in 12 games and a tiebreak, if necessary. After 7 games Ju Wenjun leads 5-2. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 9.00 CEST (3.00 ET, 12.30 IST)

4/16/2025 – Drama unfolded in the second round of the Pune Women's Grand Prix as Vaishali Rameshbabu's crucial mistake - playing her bishop one move too soon - handed Divya Deshmukh her second consecutive victory. Meanwhile, Zhu Jiner demonstrated masterful rook endgame technique to defeat Munguntuul Batkhuyag, placing both winners at the top of the leaderboard with perfect scores. | Photo: Abhilash Shinde

4/15/2025 – On 4 April, Iceland's first grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson passed away. Olafsson had celebrated his 90th birthday in January. After ending his career as a professional chess player, he became a lawyer and eventually became FIDE President. FIDE published Olafsson's last interview, in which he talks about computers, his chess career and his friendship with Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, among other things.

4/15/2025 – Tactical analysis is not just exciting, but it is very practical. With ChessBase 18, it is easy to use its findings. In this episode, learn how you can use this ChessBase function to complement your analysis and make it more effective.

4/12/2025 – Teodora Injac of Serbia won the 25th European Women's Chess Championship in Rhodes with an impressive 9½/11, finishing 1½ points clear of the field. Despite losing her first-round game to 16-year-old Anastasia Kirtadze - having missed a mate-in-two - Injac rebounded with nine straight wins, including victories over key contenders. Irina Bulmaga, Mai Narva and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya tied for second place with 8 points each. | Photos: European Chess Union / Mark Livshitz

4/12/2025 – Welcome to The Initiative – a show dedicated to the relentless battle for momentum in chess! In every game, players fight to seize control, dictate the pace, and keep their opponent on the back foot. But what does it really mean to have the initiative? How do the world’s best players maintain pressure and transform small advantages into crushing attacks?

4/12/2025 – Simplified position, equal material, everything on one wing, and yet from the diagram White wins in the blink of an eye - with the right burst of activity on your part!

4/11/2025 – The 2024 European Chess Championship in Romania drew nearly 400 players and concluded with Matthias Bluebaum claiming the title for a second time. Across eleven rounds, the tournament offered no shortage of drama and complexity. In this article, two games from the event are examined - both notable for their sharp conclusions and instructive endgame moments. Light annotations in the openings are followed by deeper analysis of the critical late-stage play. | Pictured: Mahammad Muradli from Azerbaijan (FIDE)

4/11/2025 – On Sunday, April 13 at 6 PM CET, the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy will host an exclusive lecture by Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko, a renowned Ukrainian chess grandmaster and esteemed coach who has guided national teams such as Ukraine, Egypt, and the Netherlands.

4/11/2025 – Svitlana presents to us an insightful analysis of the first two decisive games in the Women's World Chess Championship match between Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi, focusing particularly on their endgames. Both games, though seemingly equal in rook endgames, were decided by subtle inaccuracies and the strategic importance of king activity and piece placement. Svitlana emphasizes how small endgame advantages—such as a more active king or minor positional tweaks—can determine the outcome even in positions that look like simple draws.