6/28/2024 – When FIDE created the inaugural list of grandmasters, in 1950, there were 27 of them. Today, there are more than 1,850. “There are too many grandmasters,” said GM Nigel Short, FIDE director for chess development. “To call me grandmaster adds nothing. They are two a penny.” Dylan Loeb McClain writes about the situation in this interesting New York Times article.

6/28/2024 – 2024 Candidates Tournament: analyses by Giri, Gukesh, Firouzja, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit, plus video: Dorian Rogozenco shows the decisive moments of the tournament - "Special" on Gukesh: CBM authors show their favourite games of the youngest ever World Champion challenger, an exclusive collection of 24 annotated games - New trend from Toronto: Rustam Kasimdzhanov shows Caruana's 3...Nf6 in the Rossolimo Variation (video) - "The King is the goal!": Oliver Reeh presents 34 games with training exercises and four interactive videos - Semi-Slav Bluebaum Variation: Yago Santiago highlights the merits of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Qc2!? - In the end it's the technique that counts: knight and pawn against pawn(s) in "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 10 and much more.

6/28/2024 – Fabiano Caruana and D Gukesh continue to share the lead at the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, as the one decisive result of round 2 saw Alireza Firouzja beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Since Firouzja had lost to Caruana in the first round, this victory only allowed him to return to a fifty-percent score. Importantly, co-leader Caruana failed to make the most of a clearly better position in his game with white against Wesley So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/28/2024 – Knights are the pieces with the most complicated moves. Beginners know this, but professionals are also often painfully reminded of this when they overlook forks. Jan Markos goes in search of the secret life of the knights...

6/27/2024 – In an in-depth interview, the founder and CEO of ChessBase India, Sagar Shah, talks about how chess is developing in India and what projects are keeping him busy. The interview was conducted by Stefan Liebig for the German chess magazine Schach 64 and tells us about Sagar's professional career, and his work with top Indian talents.

6/27/2024 – After nine rounds, three players shared first with 7.5/9 at the Teplice Open in the Czech Republic: Dutch Grandmaster Max Warmerdam, GM Tin Jingyao from Singapore and GM Alexander Donchenko from Germany. But Warmerdam had the best tie-break and won the tournament. | Photos: Tournament page

6/23/2024 – The English Championships came to an end on Sunday in Kenilworth. Both the open and the women’s sections were decided in rapid tiebreakers, with Gawain Jones beating Michael Adams in the open and Elmira Mirzoeva beating Katarzyna Toma in the women’s. Coincidentally, both champions entered the final round of the event standing a half point behind the players they would later beat in the playoffs. | Photo: London Chess Classic

6/23/2024 – Tan Zhongyi signed a quick draw with Alexandra Kosteniuk to become the outright winner of the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis. The Chinese star finished the event with an undefeated 6/9 score. In the one decisive game of the final round, Anna Muzychuk defeated Alice Lee to secure sole second place. This was Muzychuk’s second win in a row, after having collected seven draws in the first seven rounds of the event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/23/2024 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 183rd episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and looks at the life and games of Garry Kasparov who many consider to be the best player of all time. | Photo: Pascal Simon

6/23/2024 – In celebration of International Chess Day and the FIDE’s 100th anniversary, FIDE invites all chess players in the world to participate in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record on July 20. All chess players are invited to support the attempt by participating in OTB tournaments or playing online, thus demonstrating the unity and passion of the chess community.

6/22/2024 – The Cairns Cup is taking place on June 13-24 at the World Chess Hall of Fame. Tan Zhongyi, Mariya Muzychuk and Nana Dzagnidze are the top seeds in the 10-player single round robin with a classical time control. The event features one of the strongest female fields, as they compete for a total prize fund of $200,000. | Follow the action live starting at 20.00 CEST (14.00 ET, 23.30 IST)

6/22/2024 – GQ magazine is conducting a series of video portraits of celebrities in which they are asked to name their ten “essentials”. For the English striker Harry Kane, chess is one of them. The Queen’s Gambit series has inspired him, and he regularly plays online, with his family and the other Bayern professionals. Kane also revealed who the best Bayern professional in chess is — not him. | Photo: Video GQ