FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2026

4/3/2026 – The fourth edition of the FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships will take place in Hong Kong from 16 to 22 June 2026. These tournaments are popular amongst players and fans alike, offering a unique space for top grandmasters, rising stars, and chess enthusiasts to play together and fight for World titles. Want to take part? The team registration is now open!

grenke Chess Open - Live!

4/3/2026 – The grenke Freestyle Chess Open is taking place from 2 to 6 April at the Karlsruhe Convention Centre in Germany. The tournament follows a nine-round Swiss format with a classical time control of 90 minutes for the game plus a 30-second increment per move. Players from the parallel grenke Chess Open could switch to the Freestyle event between rounds two and five while keeping their scores. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 16.00 CEST (10.00 ET, 19.30 IST)
More...
 2

Candidates Round 5 - Live!

4/3/2026 – The Candidates Tournaments form the final qualifying stage of the FIDE World Championship cycle. Each tournament features eight of the world's strongest players competing in a double round-robin format over fourteen rounds of classical chess. Following the first rest day of the event, sole leader Javokhir Sindarov faces top seed Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 14.30 CEST (8.30 ET, 18.00 IST) | Photo: Yoav Nis
More...
 45

Candidates R5: Head-to-head stats

4/3/2026 – Head-to-head records between the participants of the Candidates Tournaments provide useful context for each pairing. Drawing on data compiled via Mega Database 2026, the key statistics from past encounters highlight imbalances and trends. While such figures are not decisive, they offer an additional perspective on how rivalries have developed before a tournament that will determine the next challenger for the world title.

Problem challenge: rook vs pawns

4/3/2026 – That is an endgame that is most often seen in chess. And if you can handle it well, you can score well against opponents who falter. So today we provide you with four positions that will test your skills - and perhaps teach you how to better handle the endgame. In two positions you are asked to win against a defending diagram, in two you are all on your own. Full video solutions will be provided in a week.

Action from move 5!

4/3/2026 – Today, for a change, let's look at the opening phase of a game. In the diagram position, you have Black and play briskly forwards, starting with 5....d5!? - I hope you enjoy it!

Freestyle Chess in Karlsruhe!

4/3/2026 – The Freestyle Chess Open in Karlsruhe has begun as part of the grenke Chess Festival, which brought together nearly 4,000 players across multiple events. Led by Magnus Carlsen, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer, the main Freestyle Open features nine rounds with randomly generated starting positions. The winner will secure a place in the 2027 FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship. | Photo: Jeroen van den Belt / ChessBase
More...
 1

FIDE ratings - April 2026

4/3/2026 – At the top three places in the world rankings, nothing has changed: Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana. Vincent Keymer has lost a few points and swapped places with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Hou Yifan is the highest-rated female chess player in the world, and world champion Gukesh Dommaraju is the best under-20 player. Alua Nurman is the new number one in the girls' youth category.
More...
 3

Fritz 20 & Fritz Powerbook 2026

4/2/2026 – Meet the ultimate training-and-prep bundle: Fritz 20 plus Fritz Powerbook 2026 - your personal chess trainer combined with a modern, statistics-based opening reference. With opponent-style simulation, Bullet Training, and AI voice commentary on the Fritz side, you can turn preparation into realistic practice games. And with 25 million opening positions built from 1.7 million high-class tournament games, Powerbook 2026 gives you a clear, structured picture of what actually works in today's openings.
More...
 2

Amin Tabatabaei dominates Rejkjavík Open, gets 2849 TPR

4/2/2026 – Amin Tabatabaei won the Reykjavík Open in dominant fashion. After securing seven consecutive victories at the start, he clinched the winner's trophy with two draws in the final rounds. In second place finished US grandmaster Zhou Jianchao, half a point behind. Third place went to the Ukrainian legend Vasyl Ivanchuk, who had the best tiebreak score among a group of seven players on 7 points. | Photo: Jökull Úlfarsson
More...
 2

Women's Candidates R4: Muzychuk wins, shares the lead with Assaubayeva

4/2/2026 – Anna Muzychuk and Bibisara Assaubayeva share the lead after round four of the Women's Candidates Tournament, following two decisive games on Wednesday: Muzychuk defeated Kateryna Lagno, while Zhu Jiner overcame Divya Deshmukh. Assaubayeva missed chances to take sole first place in her draw with Tan Zhongyi, while Vaishali Rameshbabu held Aleksandra Goryachkina after facing early pressure. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
More...
 3

Candidates R4: Sindarov stuns Caruana in clash of co-leaders, climbs to world number six

4/2/2026 – A clear leader has emerged after four rounds of the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Javokhir Sindarov defeated Fabiano Caruana in the clash of co-leaders to move to 3½ out of 4, with a full-point lead over his closest chaser. Anish Giri also won, beating Andrey Esipenko with black to return to a fift-percent score, while the remaining two games were drawn ahead of the tournament's first rest day. | Photo: FIDE / Yoav Nis
More...
 7

Is this year's greatest underdog Matthias Bluebaum? - The Underdog

4/1/2026 – The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 is already in full swing, with streamers and top players sharing their takes on the early results. A common narrative has emerged: Matthias Bluebaum is seen as the biggest underdog in the field, but is that really justified? With a rating close to 2700 and back-to-back European Championship titles, his credentials are difficult to ignore. In this episode, Robert Ris has a closer look at one of Bluebaum's recent victories, explaining why the underdog label might still fit, and how it could become his greatest weapon in surprising the field.
More...
 1

Britain's No.1 female player is just eleven years old!

4/1/2026 – British chess phenom Bodhana Sivanandan has made history by shooting to the top of the UK chess rankings after a sensational start to 2026, the English Chess Federation is pleased to report. At ten, she was the youngest female chess player to beat a grandmaster, and the youngest ever to secure a WGM norm. She is really going places. We predict there will be a Netflix documentary about her in a few years' time.

Candidates R4: Head-to-head stats

4/1/2026 – Head-to-head records between the participants of the Candidates Tournaments provide useful context for each pairing. Drawing on data compiled via Mega Database 2026, the key statistics from past encounters highlight imbalances and trends. While such figures are not decisive, they offer an additional perspective on how rivalries have developed before a tournament that will determine the next challenger for the world title.

Women's Candidates R3: Lagno and Assaubayeva win rollercoaster games

4/1/2026 – Two decisive games in round three of the Women's Candidates Tournament saw Bibisara Assaubayeva and Kateryna Lagno move into the lead. Assaubayeva capitalised on tactical complications to defeat Zhu Jiner, who had again obtained a promising position, while Lagno overcame Tan Zhongyi after a wild encounter featuring a number of blunders and tactical shots. Aleksandra Goryachkina pressed throughout but could not convert against Divya Deshmukh, while Vaishali Rameshbabu's game against Anna Muzychuk ended in a controlled draw. | Photo: FIDE / Yoav Nis
More...
 1

Candidates R3: Caruana pounces on Wei's blunders, Sindarov beats Pragg

4/1/2026 – Two players have already established a clear lead after three rounds of the Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. Fabiano Caruana and Javokhir Sindarov both secured their second wins to move a full point ahead of the field. Caruana defeated Wei Yi following an uncharacteristic pair of errors by the Chinese grandmaster, while Sindarov overcame Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in a double-edged struggle. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
More...
 6

ChessBase at grenke Festival in Karlsruhe – Come and visit us!

3/31/2026 – At the grenke Chess Festival 2026 in Karlsruhe, ChessBase is right in the middle of the action: at the Chess Tigers booth, visitors can get direct help with preparation, training and all questions related to chess. At the same time, the team is creating plenty of content from the world's largest open chess festival, including interviews and shows with guests such as Veronika Exler and Georgios Souleidis, as well as coverage of the new Opening Encyclopaedia 2026. | Photos: Grenke Chess Festival video screenshots
More...
 2

The Monthly Dragon - Dragadorf developments

3/31/2026 – In this episode of The Monthly Dragon, Chris Ward takes a close look at the newest Dragadorf developments and shows why these modern Dragon setups are becoming such a practical weapon for Black. Using fresh blitz examples and clear strategic ideas, he explains how early ...h5, flexible piece play and typical Dragadorf plans can leave White struggling to find a convincing setup. A particularly striking highlight is an unexpected knight retreat that turns out to be a powerful positional idea and perfectly captures the fresh creativity in today's Dragon theory. | Photo: John Upham
More...
 3
12345...Next