12/4/2025 – The main attraction of the XTX Markets London Chess Classic is the elite tournament, but the FIDE Open was also very strong, featuring numerous titled players. After nine rounds, three players finished on 7 points and shared first place: GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu of India (pictured), GM Velimir Ilic of Serbia and GM Ameet K. Ghasi of England. As there were no tiebreaks in the event, the three also shared the prize money for the top three places. | Photo: Yury Krylov / London Chess Classic

12/1/2025 – The first half of the London Chess Classic was dominated by Nodirbek Abdusattorov (photo). In round 5 he defeated Nikolas Theodorou with White, reaching 4.5/5 at the halfway mark and pulling a full point ahead of Alireza Firouzja. Firouzja drew with Black against Gawain Maroroa Jones and now stands on 3.5/5. Abhimanyu Mishra and Luke McShane also drew, as did Pavel Eljanov and Michael Adams. The second win of the round went to Nikita Vitiugov, who won a theoretically interesting game against Sam Shankland.| Photo: Tennis legend Andy Murray (center) makes the ceremonial first move | Photo: Tournament page

11/27/2025 – From 26 November to 7 December, the XTX Markets London Chess Classic showcase the game with a packed programme of tournaments and side events. The centrepiece of the festival is the Elite Tournament, featuring ten top players. The opening round produced five draws and no decisive games, but offered several interesting theoretical contests. | Photo: Elo favourite Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Lennart Ootes, Archive

11/21/2025 – The World Cup began on 30 October in Goa, India. Two hundred and six players entered the tournament; three weeks later, only four remain and will now meet in the semifinals. China’s Wei Yi faces the Russian GM Andrey Esipenko, while Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan takes on his compatriot Nodirbek Yakubboev. The top three finishers qualify for the Candidates Tournament. The winner earns 120,000 USD, the fourth-placed player 50,000. But who has the best chances of winning the event — and securing a spot in the Candidates? | Photos: Michal Walusza

11/14/2025 – “It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future” is a well-known witticism about the pitfalls of predictions. The quote is often attributed to American baseball legend Yogi Berra, but sometimes also to physicist and Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr. Predictions about the future may be difficult, but they can still be fun. Hikaru Nakamura recently ventured predictions about the round of the last 16 and the possible winner of the World Cup 2025.

11/12/2025 – In his best games, Vincent Keymer’s chess sense seems almost magical. In the second game of round three of the World Cup in Goa, he had Black against Indian grandmaster Pranesh M. After 29 moves, five of his six remaining pieces had retreated to the back rank — yet Black already stood better. Only twelve moves later, as if by sleight of hand, Keymer's pieces controlled the queenside, the kingside and the centre, breaking through into White’s position. It was an important and impressive victory for Keymer, who advanced to round 4 of the World Cup. | Photo: Michal Walusza

10/31/2025 – The first round of the World Cup will begin in Goa, India, on 1 November at 15:00 local time. A total of 206 players will compete; the oldest participant is 65-year-old Igor Efimov, while the youngest is Faustino Oro, who turned 12 in October. The prize money totals 2 million US dollars, and the top three finishers will qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Matches will consist of two games, with rapid chess and blitz tiebreaks following a 1–1 score. The loser is eliminated. Vincent Keymer is officially seeded 6th, but according to the live world rankings, he is effectively ranked 1st. So, how good are his chances of finishing in the top three? | Photo: FIDE

10/16/2025 – Richard Rapport had the best individual result at the European Team Chess Championship in Batumi. Playing on board 1 for Hungary, he scored 5.5 points from 7 games and had a performance rating of 2869, the highest of all players in Batumi. In the final round, he won a nice and theoretically interesting game against Maksim Chigaev. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archiv)

10/2/2025 – Magnus Carlsen no longer wants to compete for the World Championship title, but remains the clear number one in the world ranking. With an Elo rating of 2839, he continues to lead the FIDE world rankings by a clear margin. He has led the rankings continuously since July 2011 and is currently 23 points ahead of Hikaru Nakamura, who is number 2 in the world with 2816. In the women's rankings, Hou Yifan from China remains at the top. The best junior is Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu from India, while the best junior girl also hails from India – Divya Deshmukh.

9/18/2025 – On October 12, the U.S. Championship begins in St. Louis. Twelve of the country’s top players will compete, nine of whom also played in the Grand Swiss, which concluded on September 15 in Samarkand. Their performances there point to an interesting championship, with Abhimanyu Mishra and Andy Woodward delivering particularly notable results. | Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE

9/8/2025 – The rule that a pawn reaching the eighth or the first rank can be promoted into another piece of the same color is one of the most beautiful in chess. It makes the game dynamic and has already led to many brilliant combinations and exciting games. One of these was played recently in round 6 of the Fujairah Masters between the Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro and the American International Master Nico Chasin.

9/6/2025 – 95 years ago, on September 6, 1930, the Anderssen Jubilee Tournament of the Frankfurt Chess Club began in Frankfurt am Main. The Master Tournament was convincingly won by Nimzowitsch with 9½ out of 11, but the perhaps most famous game of the event was played in the Main Tournament. It was Hugo Hussong’s brilliant win against Fritz Herrmann.

8/30/2025 – Thirty years ago, on August 30, 1995, Soviet Grandmaster Lev Polugaevsky died in Paris from cancer. To commemorate the renowned theoretician, who for many years was among the world’s leading players, Johannes Fischer takes a look at his book "Grandmaster Preparation", in which Polugaevsky recounts his decades-long passion for the line that bears his name: the Polugaevsky Variation of the Najdorf. | Photo: Anefo / Croes, R.C.

8/7/2025 – The trend is toward speeding things up, chess being no exception. Today in Katowice, Poland, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Poland’s number one, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, face off in a six-game blitz match (3+2). If the score is tied after six games, an Armageddon game will decide the winner. ChessBase India will broadcast the short duel live, starting at 11:00 CEST.

6/26/2025 – From July 16 to 20, 16 of the world’s best chess players will compete in Freestyle Chess in Las Vegas. But before that, on July 13, Magnus Carlsen and his colleagues will face top athletes from a different discipline at the "Chesstival": players from the NBA who want to show the grandmasters how good they are at chess. | Photo: Basketball giant Victor Wembanyama with fans playing chess in New York. | Photo: Wembanyama's X account

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