1/20/2020 – Ju Wenjun took the lead for the second time in the match with just two games before the end of the competition for the Women's World Championship. She defeated her challenger with the black pieces in today's tenth game in a Queen's Gambit Declined, and has excellent chances to retain her title. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/15/2020 – In Shanghai on Sunday, the sixth game of the women's world championship between Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina ended in a draw. Goryachkina pulled out all the stops until the 105th move, but the fortress of the defending champion held fast. The match is all tied up at 3:3, and the action now moves to Vladivostok. Get up to speed on the first half's action in time for Thursday's Game 7. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong FIDE / Official site

1/10/2020 – Quick trivia: Who was the strongest female player ever born in the USA? If you said Alisa Maric, you're right! She and Mirjana Maric are twins and they are both Women Grandmasters — a unique case in the history of chess. In 1990, Alisa almost played for the Women's World title and after the end of her chess career she had a successful career as an academic. From 2012 to 2013 she served as Serbia's minister for youth and sports. Today, January 10, 2020, Alisa and her 20 minutes younger sister Mirjana celebrate their 50th birthday. | Photo: Rochade Kuppenheim

1/10/2020 – Starting tomorrow the chess world will look again towards the tiny Dutch village of Wijk aan Zee. There, the crème de la crème of the chess world will drink pea soup with some very hungry young players at the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which kicks off Saturday with Round 1 of both the Masters and Challengers groups.

1/7/2020 – 25 years ago, on January 7, 1995, Harry Golombek died. He was a prolific and popular author, and from the 1930s to the 1950s also one of England's best players. Golombek also worked as an arbiter and directed tournaments and world championship matches. During World War II he belonged to the famous group of English "Codebreakers" who helped the Allies to win the war.

1/6/2020 – The Women's World Championship between defending champion Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina is being played over 12 games, half in Shanghai and half in Vladivostok. The second game ended today in a draw. FIDE Vice President GM Nigel Short (pictured) made the ceremonial first move before his live commentary duties. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Lewis Liu, Michael Friedman

1/4/2020 – The new chess year 2020 starts with a World Championship. World Champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina compete for the title of World Champion for women in a match split between Shanghai and Vladivostok. The first of a total of 12 games will be played on Sunday, January 5th. | Photos: cca.imsa.cn

1/3/2020 – There are several prominent opens held over the Christmas and New Year holidays. One of the long-running traditions is the Christmas tournament in Zurich which took place for the 43rd time. In all, 90 players, including ten grandmasters took part, and first prize went to Vitaly Kunin. | Photo: Gerd Densing

12/21/2019 – Anton Korobov gave up his first half point at the Sunway Sitges Open in round seven against his compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk (pictured), and his second in Friday's eighth round. But he maintains a half point edge over a quartet of pursuers. Dennis Wagner saved a half point with luck and skill, and he, along with fellow Germans Alexander Donchenko, Rasmus Svane and Andreas Heimann, trail by a full point. | Photos: sunwaychessfestival.com

12/18/2019 – Arica is a lively port city on the Pacific coast of Chile, not far from the Atacama Desert. An Open with international appeal has been played here for a few years. Alexey Shirov tops the ranking list and started with 5 out of 5. | Live games and video of Round 6 from 19:30 UTC (21:30 CET / 3:30 PM EST)

12/17/2019 – The Sunway Sitges Open started on the Catalonian coast south-west of Barcelona over the weekend. The starting list was led by Parham Maghsoodloo and there are also several other strong grandmasters in the field. After five rounds, Anton Korobov and Narayanan S.L share the lead. | Photos: @SunwayChessOpen on Twitter

12/10/2019 – Vlastimil Hort is a charming and elegant story teller and likes to share his memories of past and present masters. Now he published a book with 64 chess stories: "Meine Schachgeschichten" (My Chess Stories). The book is in German but maybe Hort will one day publish an English version. Till then, the non-German speaking Hort fans can find consolation by (re-)reading Hort's stories on ChessBase!

12/3/2019 – Alexandra Kosteniuk won the women's European Rapid Chess Championship on tiebreak score ahead of Olga Girya after both finished with 9/11. Five players ended up a full point behind, with former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova getting third place. | Photos: European Chess Union

11/29/2019 – A good password paired with strong encryption protects data against unexpected loss. No password is unbreakable, but some can last for quote a long time. After 39 years, recently a few old Unix passwords were cracked. Computer pioneer Ken Thompson had hidden his access behind a chess opening. | Photo: Bell Labs

11/23/2019 – Two major FIDE events will take place in Russia next year. On November 11th, representatives of the organizing bodies signed an agreement for the Candidates Tournament in the magnificent Central Chess Club in Moscow. They announced that the Candidates will be held in Yekaterinburg from March 15th to April 5th. Organizers of other anticipated events have released detailed information in recent weeks, including the Olympiad, the Tata Steel Masters and the TePe Sigeman tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

11/5/2019 – German chess fans (especially those in Hamburg) can look forward to a nice chess event in the countries second largest city. Today, the opening press conference took place at the Kehrwieder Theater in the "Speicherstadt" district, the venue of the Hamburg Grand Prix tournament which runs from November 5th to November 17th. | Photos: Nadja Wittmann

11/2/2019 – The Ukrainian team was unable to fend off the Russians as they regained 1st place in the final round at the European Teams in Batumi. Russia led the Women's tournament from start to finish and thus took double-gold. Games and live commentary of Round 9.

10/24/2019 – Alireza Firouzja is the world's highest rated junior player and is currently proving his strength at the Hoogeveen Chess Festival. After three games he leads Jorge Cori 3-0. The match between Jan Timman against Zhansaya Abdumalik remains balanced. In the top Open group, 13 year old Javokhir Sindarov is in sole possession of first place with 5½/6. | Photo: Harry Gielen / Official site