6/20/2025 – Carissa Yip kept her nerves! With a draw against Alice Lee in the final round of the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, she secured both the tournament victory and a GM norm. If Lee had won the game, she would have taken first place, but the draw was enough for her to finish second. The youngest participants, and the 9th and 10th seeds—Carissa Yip and Alice Lee—won gold and silver in Saint Louis. Third place went to Harika Dronavalli. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/19/2025 – With her fourth consecutive victory, Carissa Yip has taken the lead at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. She won convincingly with Black against Bibisara Assaubayeva in round 8 and, with one round to go, is now half a point ahead of Alice Lee, who had to settle for a draw against Harika Dronavalli. And one of the two - Alice Lee or Carissa Yip - will win the tournament, as they face each other in the ninth and final round! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/18/2025 – The Cairns Cup in Saint Louis remains exciting. With two rounds to go, Humpy Koneru, Carissa Yip, and Alice Lee are tied for the lead with 4.5 points out of 7. Trailing by just half a point are Harika Dronavalli and Alina Kashlinskaya. In round 7, Carissa Yip won a tactical skirmish against Humpy Koneru, while Alice Lee capitalized on Alina Kashlinskaya’s overly aggressive attacking play. The other three games ended in draws, but Harika Dronavalli (pictured), Nino Batsiashvili, and Nana Dzagnidze all missed promising opportunities. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/17/2025 – After the rest day following Round 5, fighting spirit returned to the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis: all five games in Round 6 ended decisively. The new tournament leader is Humpy Koneru, who won an interesting theoretical battle against Harika Dronavalli. She now leads with 4.5 points out of 6, half a point ahead of Alina Kashlinskaya, who defeated Mariya Muzychuk. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/16/2025 – After five of nine rounds, three players share the lead at the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis: Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli and Alice Lee. All three drew in round 5 and now have 3.5 points. The only win in round 5 went to Carissa Yip (pictured), who defeated Nana Dzagnidze. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/13/2025 – Carissa Yip, US Women's Champion in 2021, 2023 and 2024, had a disappointing start to the Cairns Cup, losing one game and drawing another. However, in round three, she secured her first victory against Nino Batsiashvili, albeit with a touch of luck. The other four games in the round ended in draws, leaving Alice Lee as the sole leader with 2.5/3. | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club

6/12/2025 – 15-year-old Alice Lee is the youngest participant in the highly competitive Cairns Cup in Saint Louis and ranked 10th in the seedings, but she nevertheless got off to a flying start with two convincing victories. In round 2, she demonstrated her tactical skills and won with black against former world champion Mariya Muzychuk. The second victory of the round went to Nana Dzagnidze, who beat Bibisara Assaubayeva. The three remaining games ended in draws. This means that Alice Lee has taken the sole lead after two rounds with 2 out of 2. | Photo: Screenshot from a promotional video for the Cairns Cup

6/11/2025 – The Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, one of the strongest women’s tournaments of the year, began with a promising start: all five games in the first round ended decisively. There were also a few minor surprises. Alice Lee (pictured), the youngest participant at just 15 years old and number 10 seed, scored a convincing victory against Nino Batsiashvili. Meanwhile, top seed and 2024 Cairns Cup winner Tan Zhongyi suffered a setback, losing with the white pieces to Alina Kashlinskaya after landing in a difficult position as early as move 21. | Photo: Tournament page

6/10/2025 – "Enjoy the best game. Ever." That’s the slogan of the "New in Chess Magazine" – and the current issue lives up to that promise. It explores the question of whether Boris Spassky would have preferred to be buried next to Bobby Fischer, features in-depth interviews with Hikaru Nakamura and Aravindh Chithambaram, and includes the magazine’s regular columns offering training advice and entertaining insights from the world of chess. Informative and engaging.

4/10/2025 – In 2018 Ju Wenjun became Women's World Champion and then she defended her title in 2020 and 2023. Now it seems as if she will be able to defend her title a third time. In the World Championship match against Tan Zhongyi, she won convincingly with Black in the sixth game and now leads 4-2 at halftime. | Photos: Anna Shtourman

4/9/2025 – In the women's world rankings, Ju Wenjun (pictured), ranked 2nd, and Tan Zhongyi, ranked 3rd, are separated by just six Elo points. But in the fifth game of their World Championship match, the defending champion Ju Wenjun came to a clear victory after Tan Zhangyi misplayed the opening. She then tried to stir up trouble by giving material, but Ju Wenjun defended carefully and took a 3-2 lead in the match. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

4/7/2025 – In all four games of the match between Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi for the Women's World Championship, an endgame was on the board. In the fourth game, Tan Zhongyi had several good opportunities with White to put Ju Wenjun under pressure with precise play, but she didn't take these chances, and so the game ended in a draw. | Photos: Anna Shtourman

4/4/2025 – After a draw in the first game, challenger Tan Zhongyi took the lead in by winning the second encounter of the Women's World Championship match. Tan capitalised on an inaccuracy by the defending champion Ju Wen in the rook ending and went on to score a convincing victory. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

4/3/2025 – The 2025 Women's World Championship between defending champion Ju Wenjun and challenger Tan Zhongyi began with a cautious and unspectacular draw. Ju Wenjun had white, but could not find a way against Tan Zhongyi's determination to simplify in order not to lose the opening game with black. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

3/27/2025 – Matthias Bluebaum became European Champion for the first time in 2022 and has now won the title for the second time - no other player has ever achieved this feat. Frederik Svane ensured a German double triumph: in the last round, he bravely took risks against Daniil Yuffa and secured second place. Like Bluebaum, he finished with 8½/11 points, but Bluebaum had a better Buchholz score. Israeli GM Maxim Rodshtein, who also scored 8½ points, finished in third place. | Photo: David Llada

3/7/2025 – In round seven of the Masters tournament at the Prague Chess Festival, Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram took the lead in the standings, and in round eight he defended it with a draw against David Navara, as the second-placed player, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, also signed a draw. The wins of the round were achieved by Anish Giri, who won with black against Sam Shankland, and Wei Yi, who benefited from a mistake by Thai Dai Van Nguyen in a rook ending. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

3/6/2025 – The seventh round of the Masters at the Prague Chess Festival saw Aravindh Chithambaram beating Anish Giri with black in what perhaps was the best game of the tournament so far. With this victory, Aravindh took the sole lead in the standings, as Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was unable to get more than a draw against Wei Yi. Vincent Keymer fared similarly, as he put David Navara under pressure for a long time, but in the end had to be satisfied with half a point. Sam Shankland and Ediz Gürel had more luck: Shankland won with black against Le Quang Liem, while Gürel won with white against Thai Dai Van Nguyen. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

3/3/2025 – The fifth round of the Masters tournament in Prague brought only one victory. Wei Yi managed it against Sam Shankland, who completely failed in the opening. All four other games ended in draws, with Vincent Keymer missing a good chance to score. At the halfway stage, Aravindh Chithambaram and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu are in the joint lead with 3½ out of 5 points each, a full point ahead of the chasing pack. In the Challengers, Nodirbek Yakubboev leads the field with 4 out of 5 points. | Photo: Petr Vrabec