1/22/2026 – The Floripa Open, part of the Brazil Chess Series, is taking place on 17-25 January as a 10-player Swiss open in Florianópolis. Niclas Huschenbeth recently announced that he would be competing in the popular Brazilian event. After six rounds, he has realised how difficult it is to consistently live up to the role of being among the top seeds. | Photo: Niclas Huschenbeth at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/19/2026 – The streamer match between IM Levy Rozman and IM Julien Song in Madrid opened with two draws in the classical games. In rapid and blitz, however, Rozman, known as Gotham Chess, clearly took control: he won two of the four rapid games, drew one and lost one, then scored six wins in the blitz while Song managed only two. Under the tournament’s scoring system, the final score was 14–8. | Photos: David Martinez/Chess.com

1/18/2026 – ChessBase 26 is certainly the highlight among the November releases, but the other databases also offer a wealth of study material. There are many new options to explore, as well as in Harald Schneider-Zinner’s checkmate course, which combines a book with an online course. Finally, there are also new installments of Karsten Müller’s Endgame Academy and Ivan Sokolov’s middlegame strategy series. | All photos: ChessBase

1/9/2026 – The rift between FIDE and Freestyle Chess seemed final – and then, on Wednesday evening, a press release from both surprised the chess world: in February 2026, the first joint World Championship in Freestyle Chess is set to take place in Weissenhaus, Germany. Sagar Shah of ChessBase India conducted an in-depth interview with Jan Henric Büttner of Freestyle Chess to learn more about this remarkable turnaround.

1/8/2026 – More convenience, better clarity, greater performance: ChessBase Mobile now comes with numerous improvements for even more efficient work at the chessboard — whether at home or on the go. And best of all, the app updates itself automatically, without requiring an update from the App Store. Just launch it and benefit immediately.

1/6/2026 – With a one-point margin, third seed Xu Xiangyu of China won the Rilton Cup, which was played in Stockholm over the turn of the year. A total of 19 grandmasters competed for the title at the traditional tournament, but there was no way past Xu. He conceded just two draws: one against top seed Anton Demchenko in round five and another against Mahadevan Siva in the final round. These were also the two players he relegated to second and third place respectively. | Photo: Rilton Cup, Abdel Rahman Sadeh

12/17/2025 – Alexander Donchenko has recently made positive headlines at the World Cup, reaching the quarterfinals. Along the way, the German grandmaster scored a sensational victory against Le Quang Liem before being eliminated by Nodirbek Yakubboev. Donchenko is now competing in Poland at the Wroclaw Open A, where he is the top seed but has already suffered one defeat. | Photo: Donchenko at the World Cup | Photo: Michal Walusza

12/17/2025 – Faustino Oro has reached his goal: with a draw in the final round of the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli in Buenos Aires, the twelve-year-old Argentine made his second grandmaster norm. He now needs just one more norm to earn the title. Norway’s Aryan Tari won the tournament, but his strong performance was somewhat overshadowed by Oro’s chase for a GM norm. | Photos: FADA

12/16/2025 – High tension in Buenos Aires: with his draw against Julio Granda Zuniga, Faustino Oro stayed in contention both for the tournament victory and for the second grandmaster norm that is so important to him. A lot would have to go his way to win the tournament, but the norm is firmly in his own hands: a draw in the final round would be enough. First place is still shared, yet after Alexei Shirov’s fighting win against the former co-leader Ivan Cheparinov, Shirov and Aryan Tari have the best chances to win the tournament. | Photo: Faustino Oro at the World Cup 2025 | Photo: Michal Walusza

12/13/2025 – ChessBase'26 is certainly the highlight of the new releases in November, but the other databases also offer a wealth of study material. There are many new options to discover, such as the new episodes of Karsten Müller's Endgame Academy and Ivan Sokolov's middlegame strategy series that have helped a lot of players to improve. | All photos: ChessBase

12/11/2025 – Chess weeks in Argentina: The national championships recently came to an end with one successful and one failed record – Diego Flores triumphed for the eighth time as Argentine champion, while Faustino Oro, who wants to become the youngest GM of all time and has till March to reach that goal, missed the GM norm. Just a few days later, both play in a tournament in Buenos Aires. At the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli, they face other Argentine talents and greats such as Alexei Shirov, Ivan Cheparinov, Julio Granda Zuniga and top seed Aryan Tari. | Photos: FADA, Mar Melero

12/8/2025 – In recent days, an unusual face has been circulating on sports pages and social media: Sarwagya Singh Kushwaha, a boy from the Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh, India, has been registered as a FIDE-rated chess player at just three years, seven months and 13 days old — making him the youngest player in history to obtain an official FIDE rating. His FIDE entry shows a rapid rating of 1572; his FIDE ID is 558059504. | Photo: ChessBase India

12/7/2025 – Fabiano Caruana is unavailable to play for Baden-Baden due to his commitment at the Freestyle Chess Finals in South Africa, and the same applies to Germany's number one, Vincent Keymer. Baden-Baden thus left Caruana's board vacant and still managed to beat Deggendorf – even though Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Baden-Baden) also lost his game. The former serial champions are now only 2½ board points behind the victorious Viernheim. After three rounds, they are the only two teams in the league not to have lost any match points. | Pictured: Matthias Bluebaum (Schachfreunde Deizisau) commentating his game | Photos: Hans-Joachim Vitz, Anna-Blume Giede, Jan Werner, Stefan Spiegel

12/3/2025 – In the 100th edition of the "Campeonato Argentino Superior" in Buenos Aires, seven-time national champion Diego Flores, 12-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro and 2021 champion Federico Pérez Ponsa are locked in a battle for first place. Flores is leading the standings, with Oro and Pérez a half point back. To get his second GM norm, the "Messi of chess" needs to score 3/3 in his final games. | Pictured: Faustino Oro at a press event with Jorge Macri, the head of government of Buenos Aires | Photo: Organisers, David Llada.

11/25/2025 – In Larnaca, Europe’s small chess nations met for the 9th ESNA Team Chess Championship – and delivered a full week of excitement, fierce games, and genuine team spirit. A tournament that shows: greatness isn’t measured on a map, but on the board. | Photos: European Small Nations Chess Association (ESNA)

11/23/2025 – ChessBase’s October releases cover everything from chess history to opening repertoire and calculation training. In episode 19 of the Master Class series, the expert team of Dorian Rogozenco, Karsten Müller, Mihail Marin and Oliver Reeh presents the first World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz. Robert Ris’ new opening course also reaches back to that era, as the opening he examines in depth is named after two classical masters: the Colle & Zukertort System. And who doesn’t enjoy looking into the thought processes of grandmasters and world-class trainers? Discover calculation techniques at the highest level — Surya Ganguly’s “Calculation Step by Step” is sure to climb the ChessBase bestseller list quickly. | All photos: ChessBase

11/20/2025 – The second day of the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Team Championship in Linares saw high-quality chess and dramatic moments. While Team FIDE extended its lead in Pool A, Hou Yifan produced a standout performance in Pool B with a precise win in her tournament debut. The battle for the remaining knockout spots is heating up – in both groups, tense final rounds lie ahead. | Photos: FIDE/Raul Martinez, Pavel Dvorkovich

11/6/2025 – A flying start at Lake Tegernsee! Polish grandmaster Szymon Gumularz storms to the top of the OIBM 2025 with a flawless record of five wins in five rounds. In round 6, he faces Luis Engel, who is half a point behind the leader in a group of five pursuers. | Photos: Organiser / Sandra Schmidt