1/21/2025 – Freestyle Chess is an alternative to standard chess involving a number of top players. As the best tournament of its kind, the Freestyle Grand Slam has the status of a world championship, but FIDE reserves the right to this brand name, as it emphasised in a statement today. At the end of the year there were already some differences between the parties involved on this issue.

1/21/2025 – Judit Polgar, the strongest female chess player of all time, wishes our readers a "Happy 2025, which will hopefully be filled with exciting challenges and successes – both on and off the chessboard!" To kick off the year she has prepared something special for us: you can get Judit's books, personally signed by her, at discounted prices in her Webshop. This exclusive offer is valid until January 31, 2025.

1/21/2025 – Pure opposite colored bishop endings have a large drawish tendency. In the diagram position Black is a pawn down but can draw. How?

1/21/2025 – Young talents are making waves in Wijk aan Zee across both the Masters and Challengers sections. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Nodirbek Abdusattorov lead the Masters after securing their second consecutive wins, with Pragg beating Arjun Erigaisi in positional style and Abdusattorov getting the better of Max Warmerdam. Meanwhile, the Challengers saw an extraordinary all-decisive round, with all games favouring the player with the white pieces. Remarkably, 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi joined the leaders after another impressive victory. Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro, aged 11, also made headlines with his first-ever win at the tournament. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/20/2025 – The Black Knights’ Tango, also known as the Mexican Defence, is a bold and unconventional opening that puts White on edge from the very first moves. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?, Black takes the initiative, luring White into overextending their central pawns, only to dismantle them with precise counterplay.

1/20/2025 – After the Moscow 1925 tournament, World Champion José Raúl Capablanca wrote an account of the event, together with proposals for a new form of chess. "Capablanca Chess" was to be played on a 10×8 board with two new pieces: the "archbishop," combining the powers of a bishop and a knight, and the "chancellor," combining the powers of a rook and a knight.

1/17/2025 – Vincent Keymer had an eventful year. He rose to the top of the world rankings and helped Dommaraju Gukesh win the World Championship at the end of the year. For Deutsche Welle, Holger Hank spoke to the German number one about various aspects of top-level chess. Here's the second part of the two-part interview. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess

1/17/2025 – In the latest ChessBase Magazine #223 Spyridon Kapnisis examines a wing gambit that can be used against two openings at once! The move orders are 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b4!? cxb4 4.d4 d5 5.e5 (Sicilian) and 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4!? cxb4 5.d4 (French). In his “All in One” article, the GM from Greece summarizes everything you need to know about the variation in a fully annotated game! You can view the complete article as a free sample - directly as a ChessBase Book on your iPad, tablet, smartphone, etc. Take a look and try out the gambit on the server right away!

1/17/2025 – 13-year-old Tymoteusz Kalata from Poland has been fighting Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) since he was six months old. Despite the struggles this condition brings, his love for chess has remained unaffected. However, due to the high costs of his medical treatment, Tymek’s family is reaching out for support from the chess community. A chess tournament will be held in Warsaw, Poland to raise funds for his treatment. Read the article to learn more about how you can join the tournament or donate to support Tymek’s fight. Photo: Dominik Kosiorek

1/16/2025 – To mark the 100th anniversary of FIDE, study composer Gady Costeff has put together a collection of 100 endgame studies, one study for each year and each study by a different author - a really nice little book at an amazing price.

1/16/2025 – The Bundesliga weekend was all about Magnus Carlsen. Media all over Germany and international newspapers such as the New York Times reported on Carlsen's debut for St. Pauli and his convincing victory over Max Warmerdam. But there were other fine games this Bundesliga weekend. For example, a textbook Sicilian by German Grandmaster Luis Engel (photo) and a remarkable mating attack by Parham Maghsoodloo. | Photo: Arne Kähler

1/16/2025 – After nine intense rounds of classical chess battles, the 16th Inari Penang Heritage City International Chess Open 2024 concluded on December 27, 2024, with a spectacular victory for 15-year-old top seed, IM Poh Yu Tian. In Penang Island, often referred to as the "Pearl of the Orient," Malaysia's top teenage chess player lived up to his billing as the favorite, scoring an impressive 7.5 points out of 9 rounds.