2/8/2025 – Peter Enders was one of the greatest talents in the German Democratic Republic in the 1970s, but often came into conflict with the authorities. After reunification, Peter Enders was able to develop more fully, becoming an international champion and grandmaster. Peter Enders died on his 62nd birthday in Freyburg. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

1/29/2025 – Gukesh Dommaraju has taken sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters after the ninth round, marking a strong performance in his first tournament as world champion. While former co-leaders Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Nodirbek Abdusattorov both dropped points, Gukesh secured a win against Leon Luke Mendonca. Meanwhile, Vladimir Fedoseev moved into shared second place with a victory over Pentala Harikrishna. In the Challengers, Thai Dai Van Nguyen continues to be the sole leader. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/28/2025 – The controversy between Freestyle Chess and FIDE is escalating into a major conflict. Both sides have reiterated their positions in various media. The Norwegian NRK quotes Jan Henrric Buettner and FIDE. Emil Sutovsky has responded on X. Behind all this is a large sum of money that FIDE would like to receive. | Photo: sharkolot auf Pixapy

1/27/2025 – After giving his Bundesliga debut for St. Pauli, Magnus Carlsen travelled on to the ICE Gaming Fair in Barcelona. In an interview, Carlsen commented on the controversy with FIDE, though he did not mention it explicitly. Still, it was an interesting and open interview.

1/27/2025 – Wei Yi and Fabiano Caruana scored victories in round 8 of the Tata Steel Masters, with Wei beating Max Warmerdam and Caruana getting the better of Vincent Keymer. The two winners of the day stand a full point behind co-leaders Gukesh Dommaraju, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Meanwhile, Thai Dai Van Nguyen defeated Lu Miaoyi to become the sole leader in the Challengers section. Monday marks the penultimate rest day for the players. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/23/2025 – Round 5 of the Tata Steel Masters saw Nodirbek Abdusattorov taking down Jorden van Foreest in a sharp encounter to join Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the lead, each with 4/5 points. Meanwhile, Gukesh Dommaraju collected a second win as world champion and Vladimir Fedoseev obtained an upset victory over Fabiano Caruana. In the Challengers, Erwin l'Ami beat Divya Deshmukh to grab the sole lead. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

1/22/2025 – Volodar Murzin is currently one of the greatest Russian talents, and showed his skills by winning the World Rapid Chess Championship in New York in December. However, a conflict subsequently developed between him and his coach Mikhail Kobalia on one side and the Russian Federation on the other. Awful experiences with his violent father have also massively hindered his development as a player. | Photos: Sport.ru

1/22/2025 – After the Freestyle Chess Organisation had set up a series of freestyle tournaments, the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, FIDE sought contact and asked for possibilities of cooperation. However, the FIDE representatives seemed primarily interested in payments to the World Chess Federation. Negotiations dragged on, and after a recent statement by FIDE and a video by Hikaru Nakamura, the tone of the debate became more controversial.

1/20/2025 – Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won in the second round of the Tata Steel Masters. All three of them joined the leading pack, which also includes Vincent Keymer and Gukesh Dommaraju. In the Challengers, seven players (exactly half the field) are sharing first place with 1½ out of 2 points. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess / Lennart Ootes

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.

1/14/2025 – Even before the start of the Bundesliga season, the announcement that Magnus Carlsen would be playing for the Hamburg club St. Pauli caused a huge media stir. Last weekend the world's best chess player made his debut for his new club - and created a real chess hype, not only in Hamburg. | Photos: André Schulz

1/5/2025 – Robert Hübner died on 5 January 2025 after a long and serious illness. For decades after the war Robert Hübner was the best German chess player, with countless successes in individual and team competitions. In addition to his career as a tournament player, Hübner gained great importance as a profound chess historian and incorruptible analyst. With his death the chess world loses one of its outstanding minds. | Photo: R. Bogaerts / ANEFO via nationaalarchief.nl

12/20/2024 – Last weekend, the Swedish Chess Federation organised a major rapid chess open in Malmö, in which around 200 players from the Baltic Sea region took part. Axel Smith won because he had a better tiebreak than his two closest rivals, Hampus Sörensen and Tiger Hillarp-Persson, who both had the same number of points. | Photo: Linus Johansson and Tiger Hillarp Persson | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund

12/10/2024 – At the beginning of December Fabiano Caruana was the sole winner of the U.S. Masters in Charlotte, but at the Saint Louis Masters he had to share victory with German Grandmaster Alexander Donchenko. With one round to go, Caruana led the field by one point, but in the final round he lost to Donchenko with White and both finished with 6.5/9. | Photo: (from left to right) Tony Rich, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Donchenko, Sabina Foisor | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club

12/2/2024 – Arjun Erigaisi is now officially another player over 2800 behind Carlsen, Caruana and Nakamura in the December FIDE world rankings. Four Chinese players continue to lead the women's ranking and Gukesh D, the world's best junior might soon also be World Champion. Bibisara Assaubayeva is the world's best female junior.

11/20/2024 – In the 1960s and 1970s, Lev Polugaevsky was one of the best players in the world. He played in the USSR team in the 'USSR vs. the Rest of the World' competition, and was a multiple World Chess Championship candidate. He would have been 90 years old today. | Photo: Anefo / Croes, R.C.

11/14/2024 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads the field after two wins and a draw on the first day of rapid chess at the Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz tournament. The Uzbek grandmaster had a lot of luck in his game against Vincent Keymer. Magnus Carlsen started with two draws and a win. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/12/2024 – Tata Steel, sponsor of the traditional chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, has also been organising a top-level tournament in India every year since 2018, a rapid and blitz event. It starts again on Wednesday, with Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer, among others.