10/9/2019 – The annual Isle of Man Open has become a top tournament in recent years and has now been "promoted" by FIDE into the "Grand Swiss", a tournament that is now one of the qualification routes for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The elite field is led by World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Today is the opening ceremony, while Round 1 starts Thursday.

9/19/2019 – In 1970 Bobby Fischer played his last Olympiad — in Siegen, Germany. After the Olympiad he gave two simuls in Germany, one in Solingen, one in Münster. Now the score sheets of the games, unknown pictures of Fischer and newspaper articles about the simul in Münster were rediscoved. A remarkable find! | Photos: Norbert Rauch

9/17/2019 – Women's world champion Ju Wenjun is the sole leader of the Skolkovo Grand Prix after six rounds. A three-player chasing group is close behind though, with Kateryna Lagno, Humpy Koneru and World Championship challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina all standing at a half-point distance. The twelve participants are having a rest day, before the final five rounds take place through next Monday. | Photo: David Llada / FIDE

9/15/2019 – Hans Ree was the fourth chess player born in the Netherlands to receive the Grandmaster title from FIDE after Max Euwe, Jan Hein Donner and Jan Timman. Following his active years as a player, he became one of the most important chess journalists. Today Ree celebrates his 75th birthday. | Photo: Dutch National Archive

9/14/2019 – The chess world has a new power couple: Last Friday, the Hungarian Grandmaster Gabor Papp and the German national player WGM Sarah Hoolt tied the knot. Congratulations! | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

8/7/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the rapid chess exhibition tournament — part of what was dubbed "Levitov Chess Week" in Amsterdam — on Tuesday, ahead of Alexander Gríschuk, who came equal on points with 5.0/7. Anish Giri was the only undefeated player and came third with a half point less. | Photo: Zairon CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

8/7/2019 – Alexei Shirov showed he can still play, at the 5th CellaVison Cup in Lund, Sweden. He won the tournament with 7 of 8 thanks to better tiebreak score ahead of Kryakvin and Külaots. Pia Cramling took the women's prize with 6 points. The tournament also featured paintings by Mariya Yugina, wife of GM Mihail Marin. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

8/5/2019 – Eight top grandmasters are currently playing in Amsterdam a rapid and blitz chess tournament, invited to honour the 40th birthday of the former Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation, Ilya Levitov. Among them is Vladimir Kramnik, who retired from the tournament chess in January. He and Viswanathan Anand won the blitz tournament which was held on Saturday. | Photo: Peter Doggers / chess.com

8/1/2019 – In honour of the Soviet-Latvian World Champion Mikhail Tal, a blitz tournament and a rapid tournament were held in Riga. Vladimir Fedoseev won the rapid with a score of 9½/11. David Navara was second and Rasmus Svane finished third. Igor Kovalenko won the blitz tournament. Both featured a live commentary webcast courtesy European ChessTV. | Photos: TalChessMemorial.com

7/26/2019 – Boris Johnson has completed an improbable rise to the top of British politics. After the resignation of Theresa May as the United Kingdom's Prime Minister, Johnson is next in line to unravel the Gordian knot of the so-called "Brexit". Back in 2014, as the Mayor of London, he was a guest at the London Chess Classic and spoke clever things about the game of chess. But is his game up to the task ahead?

7/23/2019 – Today, in the times of data gathering, data security and strict privacy rules, it is hard to imagine but in the 1960s chess yearbooks could and did publish the addresses of famous chess players. Which now allows you to virtually visit the houses in which Fischer, Fine, Denker and other chess players had lived in New York in 1966. | Photo: World Chess Hall of Fame, St. Louis

7/18/2019 – In yesterday's 4th round of the Sparkassen Chess meeting, all games ended without a winner. Leinier Dominguez (pictured right) thus defended his lead in the tournament. Wojtaszek, Radjabov (pictured left) and Rapport remain a half point back in this short seven-round sprint. Thursday is the tournament's second (and final) rest day. Play resumes on Friday at 13:15 UTC (15:15 CEST, 9:15 AM EDT) | Photos: Georgios Souleidis

7/11/2019 – The 18-year-old grandmaster Lucas van Foreest was the unexpected winner of the Dutch Championship defeating none other than his big brother Jorden in a tiebreak. After seven rounds in Amsterdam, the brothers had each had 5.0 points. Lucas won one of the two blitz games and drew the other. Their little sister Machteld van Foreest did well in the Women's Championship making it a true family affair, but WGM Iozefina Paulet earned the Women's Champ title with 6.0/7. | Photo: Harry Gielen

7/3/2019 – Boris Gelfand turned in a strong second half in Netanya, and put himself in a tie for first with his victory in the eighth round against early-leader Luke McShane. Yesterday, a short draw against co-leader Leinier Dominguez was enough for him to win the tournament thanks to a better tiebreak score. Both finished with 5½ points. Mikhail Antipov won clear first in the Open with 7½/9. | Photos: Yoav Nisenbaum / imt.chess.org.il

7/3/2019 – With so many concurrent events, one thing's for sure: Chess fans around the world are not going to get bored! A strong tournament started in China on Sunday, the 10th Hainan Danzhou Tournament runs through July 7th with both top Chinese players and elite international guests. The Chinese are leading alongside Richard Rapport after four rounds. | Photo: sunnyhainan.com

7/2/2019 – A recent discovery from the estate of an antique dealer turns out to be worth a small fortune: A previously unknown chess piece found in the 19th century on the Isle of Lewis was sold at Sotheby's auction house this afternoon for 735,000 British pounds. Read on for details of the rare artefact. | Photos: Sotheby's

6/28/2019 – The Norwegian Chess Federation is facing a democratic dilemma. The betting company Kindred Group, registered in Malta and Gibraltar with offices in Stockholm, has offered the federation a sponsorship agreement worth about five million euros. The deal is controversial and the association wants to vote on the matter on July 7th. Magnus Carlsen is in favour of the deal and has now set up a chess club to gain direct influence on the vote.

6/26/2019 – The Norway Chess tournament ended not only with a Carlsen win but with music. At the prize giving ceremony Jason Kouchak and Juga di Primo showed off their grandmaster-class musical skills. Both musicians have dramatized chess motifs in their compositions and are great chess fans themselves.