4/3/2026 – The Freestyle Chess Open in Karlsruhe has begun as part of the grenke Chess Festival, which brought together nearly 4,000 players across multiple events. Led by Magnus Carlsen, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer, the main Freestyle Open features nine rounds with randomly generated starting positions. The winner will secure a place in the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. | Photo: Jeroen van den Belt / ChessBase

4/3/2026 – At the top three places in the world rankings, nothing has changed: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana. Vincent Keymer has lost a few points and swapped places with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Hou Yifan is the highest-rated female chess player in the world, and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju is the best under-20 player. Alua Nurman is the new number one in the girls' youth category.

4/2/2026 – Amin Tabatabaei won the Reykjavík Open in dominant fashion. After securing seven consecutive victories at the start, he clinched the winner's trophy with two draws in the final rounds. In second place finished US grandmaster Zhou Jianchao, half a point behind. Third place went to the Ukrainian legend Vasyl Ivanchuk, who had the best tiebreak score among a group of seven players on 7 points. | Photo: Jökull Úlfarsson

4/2/2026 – Anna Muzychuk and Bibisara Assaubayeva share the lead after round four of the Women's Candidates Tournament, following two decisive games on Wednesday: Muzychuk defeated Kateryna Lagno, while Zhu Jiner overcame Divya Deshmukh. Assaubayeva missed chances to take sole first place in her draw with Tan Zhongyi, while Vaishali Rameshbabu held Aleksandra Goryachkina after facing early pressure. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

4/2/2026 – A clear leader has emerged after four rounds of the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Javokhir Sindarov defeated Fabiano Caruana in the clash of co-leaders to move to 3½ out of 4, with a full-point lead over his closest chaser. Anish Giri also won, beating Andrey Esipenko with black to return to a fift-percent score, while the remaining two games were drawn ahead of the tournament's first rest day. | Photo: FIDE / Yoav Nis

4/1/2026 – The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 is already in full swing, with streamers and top players sharing their takes on the early results. A common narrative has emerged: Matthias Bluebaum is seen as the biggest underdog in the field, but is that really justified? With a rating close to 2700 and back-to-back European Championship titles, his credentials are difficult to ignore. In this episode, Robert Ris has a closer look at one of Bluebaum's recent victories, explaining why the underdog label might still fit, and how it could become his greatest weapon in surprising the field.