5/25/2024 – The FIDE 100 Torch Relay, marking the centennial celebration of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), is set to light up Latin America. A nine-day event in Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, will bring together FIDE officials, players and chess fans from the continent. The central ceremony will take place on May 26, when the Torch Relay will make its journey through five public parks in Medellin.

5/25/2024 – If you want to improve your chess, you need a repertoire, but developing a repertoire on your own can be tedious. This is where recommendations from GMs can help. In a new ChessBase course, Dutch GM and FIDE Trainer Sipke Ernst has developed a repertoire for anyone who plays or intends to play 1.d4. Christian Hoethe went over the course and came to the conclusion that White can easily “make his/her opponent sweat” with this repertoire.

5/25/2024 – The seventh edition of the Salamanca Chess Festival is taking place on May 21-25 at the “Centro Internacional del Español” in the city’s prestigious university. The Masters Tournament, featuring four men and four women, is a single round-robin with a time control of 40 minutes plus 5-second increments. Follow the games live with computer-assisted analysis starting at 17.00 CEST (11.00 ET, 20.30 IST)

5/25/2024 – In the diagram position White could have won with the immediate 21.Bxh7+!, while the game continuation 21.f4 Ng4 22.Bxh7+ Kxh7 22.Qxf8 was nicely refuted by Black. Two queens in enemy territory - enjoy!

5/25/2024 – Kirill Alekseenko defeated Mariya Muzychuk on Friday to become the sole leader at the Salamanca Masters. With two rounds to go, Alekseenko, the defending champion, has a half-point lead over Eduardo Iturrizaga and Ruslan Ponomariov. In Saturday’s final rounds, Alekseenko will face Iturrizaga with the white pieces and will play black against Michael Adams. | Photos: Official website

5/24/2024 – In the 1971 Candidate Matches Bobby Fischer faced Mark Taimanov In Vancouver, Canada. The American defeated his opponent from the Soviet Union with a "dry" 6-0 score. But matters could have started differently. In the first game it was Taimanov who put on the pressure, and even had winning chances. He played 27.h3, which nobody considered a bad move – until Kasparov pointed out its defect in 2004. Today's riddle deals with the position before White's 27th move. Computers find it devilishly difficult to find the best continuation. Can you?

5/24/2024 – The Candidates Tournament 2024 took place last month in Toronto, Canada. The tournament turned out to be quite exciting, with many twists and turns. Sanket Nawle lives in Toronto, and is an excellent photographer. He tried to capture a few moments outside the playing hall — and managed to take some beautiful photos! In this article, he takes you through some of his most favourite photos from the Candidates, shortly describing why he likes them. | Photos: Sanket Nawle

5/24/2024 – After four rounds of rapid games, Kirill Alekseenko and Eduardo Iturrizaga are tied for first place at the Salamanca Masters. The co-leaders have collected 3 points each and stand a half point ahead of Ruslan Ponomariov. Thursday’s rounds saw all eight games ending decisively, as tactical, hard-fought chess has been the rule at the age-old University of Salamanca. | Photos: Official website

5/23/2024 – The Norway Chess super-tournament will start on Monday, with a stellar 6-player field including world champion Ding Liren and world number one Magnus Carlsen. In a recent interview conducted by The Indian Express, Ding talked about his expectations for the event in Stavanger, the pressures connected to having become the world champion and his preparation for the World Championship match against D Gukesh. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

5/23/2024 – In his new Game of the Week show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at an interesting endgame, which helped German IM Julian Kramer to score a crucial win in an important game. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/23/2024 – Four players finished the Sharjah Masters atop the standings with 6½ points — and it was 17-year-old Bardiya Daneshvar who was declared the winner on tiebreak criteria. Volodar Murzin and Sam Shankland completed the podium, while Shamsiddin Vokhidov grabbed fourth place after scoring a full point in Thursday’s ninth round. In the Challengers, 18-year-old Divya Deshmukh emerged victorious, as she finished the event with a better tiebreak score than Leya Garifullina and Sina Movahed. Pictured on the right is Agshin Alizada, who won the Futures section. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

5/22/2024 – The Salamanca Masters, an 8-player all-play-all event, kicked off on Wednesday with the first two rounds. Elisabeth Paehtz and Kirill Alekseenko won their first two games to become the early co-leaders. Paehtz beat Mariya Muzychuk and upset Eduardo Iturrizaga, while Alekseenko defeated Nurgyul Salimova and Mónica Calzetta. | Photos: Official website