12/10/2024 – Currently, World Champion Ding Liren and Challenger Gukesh D fight for the World Championship in Singapore. They will certainly be keen to have the right equipment - board, pieces, and, perhaps underrated, chairs. Which chair will sit right with them? A question that is probably as old as the World Championship matches. Let’s have a closer look back, filled with some nostalgia. | Photo: Chess paradise in Formentera, Spain, from the annual Sunway Formentera Festival, official website

7/23/2024 – Pictorial portraits of ten chess players from many different countries, engaged in various sections (GMT Masters Triathlon, GMT Challengers Triathlon, Masters Open, and Amateur Open) at the 57th edition of the Biel Chess Festival. An unparalleled mix of chess activities! Our author, who lives in Biel, presents both known and unknown faces from the Festival | Photos: Organiser (Simon Bohnenblust, Peter A. Steffen)

3/31/2024 – In this pictorial Quiz for Easter, you need to guess who is in the photograph. Ten chess players in rare and unusual photographs. Some are easy, others are less easy, some include a hint. Check it out! At the bottom you will find the solutions and photo credits. Happy Easter to everyone!

1/12/2024 – Today, legendary Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort celebrates his 80th birthday. A long stay of several weeks in the hospital when he was five years old and a caring doctor who played correspondence chess and explained the chess rules to him gave way to his great passion. Eduard Frey celebrates the legend’s anniversary!

12/17/2023 – Today, 17 December 2023, Alexander "Big Al" Beliavsky celebrates his 70th birthday. 50 years ago, in 1973, he became World Junior Champion and has been a fixture in the chess universe ever since. For decades he was a world class player and in the course of his illustrious career Beliavsky defeated no less than nine world champions in classical chess - a feat achieved only by Paul Keres and Viktor Korchnoi! Eduard Frey congratulates and presents highlights of a remarkable career. | Alexander Beliavsky at his first Chess Olympiad in Lucerne 1982 | Photo: Dr. Klaus Krtschil via Wikipedia

12/14/2023 – A month after being crowned the new World Senior Champion 50+, Michael "Mickey" Adams wins the traditional London Chess Classic elite tournament outright. Adams has been a leading English player for more than three decades, consistently achieving outstanding results and being a formidable and reliable team player. A former child prodigy, Mickey won his first British Championship title (of eight to date) in 1989 and his most recent this year. The reigning British Champion (2023) and reigning World Senior Champion (2023) is truly Mister Evergreen! ChessBase congratulates the winner of the LCC 2023 by taking a brief look at a remarkable career and personality. | Photo: Adams at the Chennai Olympiad 2022 | Photo: FIDE

11/9/2023 – Jozsef Pinter is 70 years old today. He is known as a long-standing and important member of the Hungarian team, having won several strong international tournaments during his career, as well as an individual gold medal at the 1984 Chess Olympiad and the first World Team Chess Championship in 1985. Pinter is also a distinguished writer and teacher.| Photo: sakkmezo.hu

7/14/2023 – The 56th Biel Chess Festival, one of the most traditional and beautiful chess tournaments, begins next Saturday, 15 July 2023. In his review, Eduard Frey presents ten surprising and interesting facts about the history of the tournament. | Photo courtesy of the organiser: Playing Hall, Congress Centre Biel

6/3/2023 – Today, 3 June 2023, Nils Grandelius celebrates his 30th birthday. Grandelius is known as his country's long-time leading player, an important member of the Swedish team, and has won several major international tournaments in his career to date. Grandelius worked as Magnus Carlsen's second for the World Chess Championship matches in 2016 and 2018, and is also a well-known author and teacher. | Nils Grandelius at the TePe Sigeman & Co. tournament in 2023 | Photo: David Llada

6/2/2023 – Once upon a time we all looked quite different - even some famous chess players. Our author has selected some childhood and youth photographs of famous chess grandmasters and invites you to guess. For example, who are the two perky new wave girls? Background singers from A-ha?

5/5/2023 – This weekend the Grand Chess Tour starts with the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest. Eduard Frey takes a look at the great chess history of the Romanian capital. | Photo: Panoramic view of the city centre of Bucharest - University Square with the University of Bucharest building on the right, the National Theatre on the left and the Palace of Parliament on the far right in the background. | Photo: Wikipedia

5/1/2023 – The following survey lists all chess players who have reached a top five or top ten status at least once in their career, ranked by their highest position, then in chronological order. Of course, the start of the FIDE Elo list and the current date are arbitrary, but the chess world has now had an established rating and ranking publication for more than fifty consecutive years. How many different TOP FIVE players would you expect? Well, there are only 55 luminaries in the last 55 years or so! Check it out. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov | Photo: Grand Chess Tour

4/23/2023 – Pia Cramling, the Grande Dame of Chess is celebrating her 60th Anniversary today. Heartfelt congratulations! Looking back and forward, our author, who was a spectator at the tournament where she made her final GM norm to obtain the Grandmaster title as fifth woman on earth, presents fantastic facts and funny figures from an unparalleled biography. | Photo: Carolina Byrmo via hemtrevligt.se

1/13/2023 – The traditional Tata Steel international invitation tournament series, annually ongoing since the year 1938, held in Wijk aan Zee and earlier in Beverwijk, is a highlight in the calendar of classical chess. Eduard Frey presents funny Trivia from the rich history of this remarkable tournament. | Photo: Playing Hall, Organiser

11/27/2022 – Today, the Czech Grandmaster Vlastimil Jansa celebrates his 80th birthday. For many years, Jansa was one of the best Czechoslovak players, and he took part in ten chess Olympiads and was Czechoslovak national champion three times. In his youth, he was also part of the national junior team of Czechoslovakia - the football team. In 2018, he became senior world champion. Eduard Frey congratulates. | Photo: Jansa at the World Senior Championship 2022 in Assisi | Photo: Tournament page