3/5/2024 – The Djerba Chess Festival was not all about the Masters tournament, as a number of open tournaments and side events took place concurrently. Chokri Saidi, the festival’s organiser, noted: “I am a businessman, but nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing children and players from all over the region and from further abroad giving all their being into a game of chess”. | Pictured: Arezki Bouhini from Algeria | All photos by Diana Mihajlova

3/3/2024 – The Djerba Masters was an 8-player single round-robin featuring a mix of rising stars and experienced grandmasters. In the end, Daniel Dardha and Hans Niemann tied for first place with 4½ points each. Dardha was declared tournament winner thanks to his better tiebreak score. World junior champion Marc’Andria Maurizzi tied for third place with fan favourite Vasyl Ivanchuk. | All photos by Diana Mihajlova

2/24/2024 – The fourth edition of the Djerba Chess Festival is taking place on February 17-25 on the island of Djerba in Tunisia. Situated on the south-east coast of Tunisia, Djerba is a small, flat island at only 54 metres above sea level. The main event is the Masters, an 8-player single round-robin. After five rounds, Hans Niemann and Daniel Dardha (pictured) are sharing the lead. | All photos by Diana Mihajlova

2/19/2024 – The Arabian Karpov Cup, as part of the 1st Jeddah International Youth Festival, successfully fulfilled its mission: to present a platform for young players from the Arab and African regions to play in an international tournament, so as to increase their rating or simply to gain experience. Emirati WCM Rouda Essa Al Sarkal, aged 15, won the event after obtaining 7½/9 points and outscoring Humaidan Mohamed Alzaabi on tie-break criteria. | Photos: Diana Mihajlova and the Jeddah Chess Festival

2/17/2024 – The Jeddah Youth Chess Festival was held from 24 to 30 January in this Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia. It was a celebration of youth, chess and friendship. In the Young Masters tournament, a 10-players single round-robin for rising stars aged 18 or younger, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus from Turkey finished first with 6½ points. Volodar Murzin (FIDE), Raunak Sadhwani (India) and Andy Woodward (United States) obtained 6 points each.

2/11/2024 – Two tournaments focused on attracting the strongest promising talents in the world are devised, organised and sponsored by Chokri Saidi, an entrepreneur in love with chess, arts, travel, philosophy, psychology and spirituality. In an interview conducted by Diana Mihajlova, the chess enthusiast asserted: “I like to believe that God invented chess”

2/10/2024 – The Jeddah Youth Chess Festival was held from 24 to 30 January in this Red Sea port in Saudi Arabia. It was a celebration of youth, chess and friendship while soaking the culture and hospitality of a welcoming nation that is opening its doors and hearts to chess and all sports. Diana Mihajlova reports.

1/20/2024 – A brainchild of Chokri Saidi, a French-Tunisian entrepreneur, the Djerba Chess Festival aims to combine chess, friendship, culture and tourism on the beautiful island of Djerba, the largest island off the coast of North Africa — which is also known as the ‘island of dreams’. Furthermore, Saidi has gone a step further in his chess organizing pursuits and, from this year, he is also organizing the prestigious Jeddah International Youth Chess Festival. Diana Mihajlova informs.

12/23/2023 – The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) on October 31, 2003 and designated December 9 as the International Anti-Corruption Day. Commemorating the twentieth anniversary, this year’s theme for the International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) was “UNCAC at 20: Uniting the World Against Corruption”.

12/2/2023 – As described in the article "The Never Ending Saga of Moroccan Chess" (Part 1 and Part 2), the International Prix Mohammed VI tournament had an unfortunate end, as the winners did not receive their prizes. That incident did not take away from the players' efforts and performances, though, as shown here by Diana Mihajlova. | Pictured: Rising star Kevin Michael George with his parents and his coach, GM Bassem Amin

11/30/2023 – The recently published articles "The Never Ending Saga of Moroccan Chess, Part 1" and "Part 2" described the sorry state of Moroccan chess and the unfortunate end of the International Prix Mohammed VI tournament, where the winners did not receive their prizes. This bizarre end of the tournament overshadowed the success of the young Lithuanian GM Paulius Pultinevicius, who won the event convincingly. | Photo: Paulius Pultinevicius after winning the Riga Technical University Open 2022 | Photo: RTU Open Facebook.

10/28/2023 – The first part of the "Never Ending Saga of Moroccan Chess" described the dubious practices of Moustapha Amazzal, the President of the Moroccan Chess Federation. The second part describes how FIDE renewed its trust in Mr Amazzal and why Lithuanian GM Paulius Pultinevicius and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and other prizewinners of the 4th International Prix Mohammed VI tournament that took place in August 2023 are still waiting for their prize money. | Photo: Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca | Source: Brochure of the 4. International Prix Mohammed VI tournament brochure

10/25/2023 – When it comes to internal politics, our noble game is anything but ‘noble’. Nasty games can be played within federations for personal gain and power at immense expense to chess players. Disagreements and anomalies have affected the work of some federations at various degrees, but it seems that no one has suffered as much or as long as chess in Morocco. Diana Mihajlova reports.

8/25/2023 – In May 2022 the then world's oldest grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh, died at the age of 100. Since then, until two weeks ago, the 'title' of the world's oldest grandmaster was held by Aleksandar Matanovic. On 9 August 2023 Matanovic, one of the leading players of the Yugoslav golden era, died in Belgrade at the age of 93. Diana Mihajlova honours a man who gave his life to chess. | Photo: Serbian Chess Federation

7/9/2023 – Kazakhstan, host of the World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, has a lively and thriving chess scene and continues to organise attractive tournaments. The Uralsk Open (20-29 July) and the World Schools Team Championships in Aktau (3-8 August) are in the pipeline, but below is a report on the recently concluded Aktobe Open, which took place from 19-28 June and was won by Iranian grandmaster Daneshwar Bardiya. | Photo: The main square of Aktobe | Photo: Kazakhstan Travel

7/1/2023 – Kazakhstan is gradually becoming a Mecca for chess. In April 2023 the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi took place in Astana, at the beginning of June the Asian Continental Championship was held in Almaty, to name just two of the biggest events. While looking back at the Asian Continental Championships, Diana Mihajlova describes the development of chess in Kazakhstan and wonders about the predicament of Russian chess players after Russia left the European Chess Federation to join the Asian Chess Federation. | Photo: Panorama of Almaty | All Photos: Kazakhstan Chess Federation

6/14/2023 – More than 30 years since its inception, ‘First Saturday’ is still going strong. Constantly reinventing itself, it has been kicking and running against all odds. Most of today’s top professionals have succumbed to the attraction of this ingenious concept that aims at providing chess players with the opportunity to earn norms and subsequently further their chess career. The model has been adopted by many organisers at various corners of the globe, but the credit for the original set up goes to Laszlo Nagy, known as Mr First Saturday.

5/11/2023 – Delilah Sadvakassova is a 9-year-old girl from Kazakhstan who is not only a strong and talented player, but also a "chess influencer". Under the guidance of her parents, Delilah regularly posts videos about chess history and chess personalities on Facebook. In the second part of her portrait of Delilah, Diana Mihajlova tells how Delilah met Magnus Carlsen and talks about Delilah's family and how they make the young influencer's videos.