8/25/2024 – Hans Niemann clearly defeated Etienne Bacrot in the blitz section of their match in Paris to end the 5-day contest with a 15-point edge over the Frenchman. This was Niemann's third consecutive match victory in the "Hans Niemann against the world" series. Thanks to his remarkable performances, Niemann climbed to the 17th spot in the classical live ratings list. | Photo: Frans Peeters

8/25/2024 – The Chess Olympiad will be hosted by Budapest on 10-23 September. Zeneszöveg.hu and Artisjus organised an international songwriting camp where participants wrote songs to honour this prestigious event. One of these songs, written by Rose May and Raul, has been selected as the official song of the Chess Olympiad.

8/25/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 192nd episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and takes a look at the life and games of Nigel Short. | Photo: Pascal Simon

8/25/2024 – Alina Kashlinskaya became the outright winner at the inaugural event of the 2024/25 Women's Grand Prix after beating Mariya Muzychuk with the black pieces in Saturday's final round. Bibisara Assaubayeva, who was tied for first place going into the ninth round, drew R. Vaishali with black - thus, she finished in sole second place. Anna Muzychuk, Nana Dzagnidze and Stavroula Tsolakidou tied for third place. | Pictured: FIDE Vice President Akaki Iashvili next to Kashlinskaya | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

8/24/2024 – Hans Niemann is facing three of the world's strongest players in head-to-head matchups that each includes blitz, rapid and classical games. After beating Giri in Utrecht and Vitiugov in London, Niemann faces Etienne Bacrot at the Blitz Society Bar in Paris. | The blitz section, featuring 12 games with a 3+2 time control, kicks off on 24 August at 18.00 CEST.

8/24/2024 – By beating Anish Giri with white, Alireza Firouzja became the sole leader going into the rest day of the Sinquefield Cup. Firouzja has collected 3½ points and stands a half point ahead of Wesley So. The latter escaped with a draw after fiercely defending an endgame material down against R. Praggnanandhaa. Sunday's sixth round will see So playing white against Firouzja. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/24/2024 – 33.g5! in the diagram position is the right line opener for White, but after 33...fxg5 he failed to crown his play. Can you do better?

8/24/2024 – The first event of the 2024/25 Women's Grand Prix series is taking place on 15-24 August in Tbilisi, Georgia. A 10-player single round-robin, the event has the Muzychuk sisters, Nana Dzagnidze and R Vaishali as the top seeds. The top 2 finishers in the series will qualify for the next edition of the Women's Candidates Tournament. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 13.00 CEST (7.00 ET, 16.30 IST)

8/24/2024 – Hans Niemann and Etienne Bacrot scored 2 wins each (and signed 2 draws) in the rapid section of their match in Paris. Saturday will be the final day of action, with 12 blitz games scheduled to take place - each granting 1 point for the overall score of the match. At this point, Niemann has a 9-point lead over his French opponent. | Photo: Frans Peeters

8/24/2024 – After an eventful day of chess at the Tbilisi Women's Grand Prix, 2 players emerged tied for first place going into Saturday's deciding round. Alina Kahslinskaya beat Lela Javakhishvili to join Bibisara Assaubayeva atop the standings. Importantly, both Assaubayeva and Mariya Muzychuk (who remains in the fight for first place) missed big chances to score full points in the penultimate round. | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

8/23/2024 – Vladimir Kramnik, known for his strong stance on fair play, took the test to address long-standing rumors and cheating allegations dating back to the 2006 World Chess Championship, as well as more recent accusations in online games. The test, conducted by Pinkerton, revealed “No Deception Indicated” on all key questions, including Kramnik’s role in the controversial “Toiletgate” scandal. Inspired by Kramnik’s example, World Chess is now introducing voluntary polygraph testing as an additional tool to combat cheating.

8/23/2024 – Spilimbergo is a pleasant little town of about 12,000 inhabitants, located about 100 kilometres north-east of Venice. The town is most famous for its over 100-year-old mosaic school - and for chess! The festival was held for the 22nd time this year and attracted 450 participants from 31 countries. Among them was Levy 'Gotham Chess' Rozman, who came to the Italian city to take another step on his way to becoming a grandmaster. In the end, however, the winner of the tournament was the Iranian IM Orimi Mahdi Gholami, who won with 7 out of 9 rating points. Bettina Trabert reports. | Photo: Old town centre of Spilimbergo | Photo: Wikipedia