7/4/2024 – The seventh round of the Superbet Chess Classic saw all five games ending drawn for a third time in the event — much like in the two previous occasions, it was not for a lack of fighting spirit, though. Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So failed to convert superior positions against Dommaraju Gukesh and Nodirbek Abdusattorov respectively. The results left Caruana in sole first place with two round to go. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/3/2024 – The grandmaster teams from the USA, England, Iceland and Italy, the favourites for the World Senior Team Championships according to the ratings, had no trouble in the first round of the event. England and Iceland both won 4-0, the USA and Italy both won 3.5-0.5. | Photos: Mark Livshitz/ Organiser

7/3/2024 – Once a year the English school chess initiative "Chess in Schools and Communities" organises a chess festival in the heart of London, in Trafalgar Square, which naturally focuses on children and young people. Next Sunday, July 7, is the day again. The theme of this year's ChessFest is the chess fairy tale "Alice Through the Looking Glass".

7/3/2024 – With 8 points from 10 games (+6, =4), 16-year-old Chinese player Haowen Xue secured the sole tournament victory at the strong Arona Open in Tenerife, which ended on 30 June. Second place went to 15-year-old Englishman Shreyas Royal, who is hoping to replace David Howell as the youngest English grandmaster of all time, but narrowly missed out on his third GM norm in Tenerife. The winner of the tournament, Haowen Xue, has yet to get a title, but is no unknown. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/3/2024 – In the one decisive game of round 6 at the Superbet Chess Classic, Alireza Firouzja obtained a convincing victory with the white pieces over Wesley So. Firouzja thus climbed to shared second place in the tournament standings, as he now has as many points as Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh — the three chasers stand a half point behind sole leader Fabiano Caruana with three rounds to go in Bucharest. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/2/2024 – In an interview with Nico Zwirs at the ChessBase studio in Hamburg, the Dutch IM shares insights into his recent tournament experiences, his journey in the chess world, and his thoughts on balancing competitive play with coaching. He also discusses the intricate dynamics of chess training and preparation, the personal and professional growth of a chess player, and the balance between maintaining a competitive edge while nurturing the next generation of players.

6/29/2024 – After 15...f4? (diagram position) White wins by storm - an ancient oldie, have fun!

6/28/2024 – Faustino Oro was born in Argentina on 14 October 2013 and has a good chance of becoming the youngest International Master in the history of chess. He has already achieved two norms and will easily surpass the 2400 rating mark in the next FIDE world ranking, which will be published on 1 July. The Argentine therefore only needs a third norm to win the title. And that seems to be within his grasp at an IM tournament in Barcelona. | Photo: Infobae

6/28/2024 – When FIDE created the inaugural list of grandmasters, in 1950, there were 27 of them. Today, there are more than 1,850. “There are too many grandmasters,” said GM Nigel Short, FIDE director for chess development. “To call me grandmaster adds nothing. They are two a penny.” Dylan Loeb McClain writes about the situation in this interesting New York Times article.

6/28/2024 – 2024 Candidates Tournament: analyses by Giri, Gukesh, Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit, plus video: Dorian Rogozenco shows the decisive moments of the tournament - "Special" on Gukesh: CBM authors show their favourite games of the youngest ever World Champion challenger, an exclusive collection of 24 annotated games - New trend from Toronto: Rustam Kasimdzhanov shows Caruana's 3...Nf6 in the Rossolimo Variation (video) - "The King is the goal!": Oliver Reeh presents 34 games with training exercises and four interactive videos - Semi-Slav Bluebaum Variation: Yago Santiago highlights the merits of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Qc2!? - In the end it's the technique that counts: knight and pawn against pawn(s) in "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 10 and much more.

6/28/2024 – Fabiano Caruana and D Gukesh continue to share the lead at the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, as the one decisive result of round 2 saw Alireza Firouzja beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Since Firouzja had lost to Caruana in the first round, this victory only allowed him to return to a fifty-percent score. Importantly, co-leader Caruana failed to make the most of a clearly better position in his game with white against Wesley So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/28/2024 – Knights are the pieces with the most complicated moves. Beginners know this, but professionals are also often painfully reminded of this when they overlook forks. Jan Markos goes in search of the secret life of the knights...