8/17/2026 – Wesley So is still the sole leader at the Sinquefield Cup after four draws kept the top of the standings unchanged in round six. The only decisive result saw Anish Giri defeat fellow Dutchman Jorden van Foreest, who remains alone in last place on 1/6. So leads with 4/6, while Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are half a point behind. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

8/17/2026 – Karsten shows 3 endgames from rapid games. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

8/17/2026 – Saco Oliveros de Lince won the American Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship in San José, finishing unbeaten on 15/16 match points. Harvest Park Middle School from the United States and Crescent Heights Academy from Canada took second and third, with all three teams qualifying for the Grand Final in December. The closing day also featured board prizes, perfect individual scores and final side events for the young players. | Photos: ISCF, Arlan Olzhabay

8/17/2026 – Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his title. After winning the Esports World Cup in 2025, he came out on top again this year. In the final, he faced Denis Lazavik, a young talent who is particularly strong in online chess. Carlsen won both matches, each of which consisted of four games. Overall, he defeated Lazavik four times and drew the other four games. In the match for third place, Hikaru Nakamura beat Alireza Firouzja. Their encounter was not without drama. | Image: Esports World Cup webcast

8/16/2026 – The French Championship is taking place in Vichy from 7 to 16 August 2026. The competition follows a knockout format, with each match consisting of two classical games, followed, if necessary, by rapid, blitz, and Armageddon tiebreaks. Etienne Bacrot and Maxime Lagarde face off in the final match of the open, while Sophie Milliet and Pauline Guichard are the finalists in the women's chahmpionship. | Photo: Ambrose Ducable

8/16/2026 – All the games in round five ended in draws. As a result, Tan Zhongyi (4/5) maintains her one-point lead at the top of the standings. Alice Lee, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Divya Deshmukh follow on 3 points. Playing white against Stavroula Tsolakidou, Alexandra Kosteniuk scored her first half-point. Humpy Koneru and Candidates Tournament winner Vaishali Rameshbabu have yet to score a win. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/13/2026 – The World Championship match between Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren demonstrated how important it can be to catch your opponent on the wrong foot in the opening. In her 60-minute course, Svitlana Demchenko shows how this can be achieved with both colours and very little theory. | Photos: Nils Rohde

8/13/2026 – After three decisive games in each of the first two rounds, things were a little quieter on the third day of the Cairns Cup: India's Divya Deshmukh was the only winner. She handed former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk her third defeat. Such a disastrous start must be hard to find anywhere else in the career of the Swiss representative. There was no change at the top of the standings: Alice Lee and Tan Zhongyi dropped their first half-points but remain in front. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/13/2026 – In April 2026, Timur Turlov, entrepreneur and President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the International School Chess Federation, acquired ChessBase. In June, he announced his candidacy for FIDE President. In an interview with Sagar Shah, founder and driving force behind ChessBase India, Turlov discusses, among other things, his plans for FIDE, the acquisition of ChessBase, the digital transformation of the chess world and the sanctions against Russia. One important point for context: although ChessBase India adopted the ChessBase name, it is a completely independent company.

8/13/2026 – Wesley So took the sole lead at the Sinquefield Cup after defeating Fabiano Caruana with black in round three. Vincent Keymer bounced back from his previous-round loss by beating Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, while Sam Sevian overcame Anish Giri after 110 moves. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian remain half a point behind So following draws against Javokhir Sindarov and Jorden van Foreest, respectively. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

8/13/2026 – A few weeks ago this great chess organiser and sponsor passed away at the age of 57. For many years he invited us to his "Zurich Chess Challenge", which saw some of the world's top players competing. During that time we had interesting, personal interaction with him. For us news of his passing came out of the blue, and it left us deeply saddened.

8/13/2026 – Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura secured their places in the Esports World Cup playoffs after winning both of their matches on Wednesday. Firouzja needed Armageddon deciders against Wei Yi and Arjun Erigaisi, while Abdusattorov won all four of his games. Carlsen and Nakamura also advanced without losing a match, leaving 12 players to contest the remaining 4 playoff spots on Thursday. | Image: Esports World Cup