10/27/2026 – Founded in 1964, the Reykjavik Open transformed from a biennial closed to an annual Swiss-system open tournament. It attracts hundreds of players each year, ranging from casual enthusiasts and rising talents to elite international. The Reykjavik Open 2027 will take place from March 17th to 23rd, in the stunning Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavík. But before then, from November 24th-29th, you can take part in the Friðrik Ólafsson Memorial 2026.

10/24/2026 – The English Chess Federation hailed her as a ‘generational talent.’ Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, shattered yet another world record, this time becoming the youngest female player in history to qualify for the International Master title. In doing so, she eclipsed a record set 38 years ago by chess great Judit Polgar, widely regarded as the greatest female chess player of all time. | Photo R Oleksiewicz

9/25/2026 – We have seen a lot of great performances at the Olympiad in Samarkand – many great players have lived up to their high standards. But it is especially pleasing to see chess prodigies you have known and looked after since their early teens deliver the goods. Like this batch, who have been surging. One has scored in absolutely record-breaking style. You'll never guess who.

9/22/2026 – In a previous article we described the genesis of this increasingly popular form of chess – and what the strongest ever player, Magnus Carlsen, thinks of it. Today we hear the opinion of another top grandmaster. In this remarkable interview you can listen to the view of Levon Aronian – but also on a number of other subjects that are of great interest to the chess world.

9/8/2026 – 1997: Kasparov vs Deep Blue. We all know the story. But here is a new version told by three-time National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin, using first-hand accounts from grandmaster Maurice Ashley, with riveting illustrations by Eisner winner Thien Pham. The narrative, in comic book form, captures the excitement and suspense of a classic sports showdown and explores thought-provoking themes about where humanity stands at the rise of AI.

9/3/2026 – I have been generally investigating AI's ability to appreciate humour. Do AI clients catch the point in jokes and cartoons, and do they interpret them correctly? Do they consider the jokes funny, or do they merely know what humans find funny? After doing some general research on these questions, I turned to chess. I showed these cartoons to AI. Here the reactions. My experiments were not conclusive, but at least a lot of fun. You should try it our yourself.

9/12/2026 – "Yesterday, in one of the most horrifying terrorist atrocities in history, the World Trade Center in New York was destroyed..." Those were the words with which we launched our brand new database-driven news page, on September 12, 2001. It was the very first report we filed. It had a special meaning for the world – but also for chess. Exactly six years earlier the World Chess Championship had been staged on the Observation Deck on the 107th floor.

8/29/2026 – Chess players, mark your calendars. The Icelandic Chess Federation, Goðinn Chess Club, and Reykjavík Chess Club are joining forces to present "Town and Country" – two spectacular tournaments that together offer 15 rounds of high-level chess in just 11 days, set against two of Iceland’s most contrasting backdrops. It all begins on Thursday, 19 November at 19:00. On Tuesday, 24 November, the Friðrik Ólafsson Memorial Tournament opens – honouring Iceland’s first grandmaster.

8/28/2026 – In a 15-minute video, Demis Hassabis, one of the central scientists working on artificial intelligence, tells us why he worries about AI going rogue. Hassabis, head of Google AI research, is a very strong chess player who created Alpha zero, the first neural network program on which all modern chess engines are based. It is his vivid description of how AI handled chess that will be of particular interest to the readers of our news page.

8/24/2026 – In 1997, World Champion Garry Kasparov was defeated 3½–2½ by Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer in New York. The loss in their second encounter marked the first time a machine beat a world champion in a standard tournament play. It was an historic moment that reshaped global perceptions of artificial intelligence. Almost three decades later, Kasparov has described his perception of AI and what he thinks about its future, in a Washington Post interview. Here are some excerpts.

8/20/2026 – Warning: this is a long read. Two weeks ago I wrote a piece on the increase of computer power in the last 50 years. A number of readers wrote me letters discussing my findings and commenting on what I had said. Then I asked myself: what does AI, what do ChatGPT and its colleagues think about the subject? Here's what I found out.

8/19/2026 – As you have noticed, this form of chess is becoming increasingly popular. Everyone seems to like it, sponsors are lining up to stage high-prize tournaments, even World Championships. In this series we look back at the origin of Fischer-Random, Chess960 or Freestyle, as it is now called, and discuss the reasons for its popularity. In the end we will propose some modifications to the rules and how the game should be played. Stay tuned.

8/13/2026 – A few weeks ago this great chess organiser and sponsor passed away at the age of 57. For many years he invited us to his "Zurich Chess Challenge", which saw some of the world's top players competing. During that time we had interesting, personal interaction with him. For us news of his passing came out of the blue, and it left us deeply saddened.

7/29/2026 – A year ago problem composer Werner Keym issued a challenge: compose a study in which White is winning – but one that can be shifted and mirrored vertically and horizontally, with all vertically shifted and mirrored positions drawing, and all horizontally shifted and mirrored positions losing. Here is the elegant solution, which reminds us of the famous Babson task.

7/28/2026 – And eleven-year-old British chess player has become the youngest girl to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600, breaking a 38-year-old record previously held by Hungarian all-time great Judit Polgar. Bodhana Sivanandan defeated a French grandmaster rated 2628, and the international news media went wild over this extraordinary feat. Bodhana is a special member of the ChessBase family and will most likely play in the Hamburg Bundesliga team.

7/27/2026 – Last Thursday the current FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has abandoned his candidacy for reelection, after been sanctioned by the European Union. We were informed by ther Chess Federation of Russia that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who had served as FIDE president for 23 years, received their full support as a candidate. And just as we were about to report this story we learn that he is not among the three candidates the FIDE Office received before the deadline. Turbulent times.

7/27/2026 – In the early 1980s, as a fledgling TV journalist, I did a report on the fastest computer in the world. The Cray-1 cost eight million dollars and could do 130 million floating point operations per second. That was enough to calculate the weather, but also to win two consecutive world computer chess championships. How much faster are today's supercomputers? Take a guess – you are definitely not going to get it right.

6/22/2026 – Were you able to solve the problems we gave you last Sunday? Find the absurd-looking key 1.Kh3 to solve the position shown here? We brought you four tricky mating positions, with the diagrams defending – refuting any bad moves you played. Today we bring you all the solutions, with full video explanations. And a full replayer which allows you to go through all the lines. Learn and enjoy.