12/6/2023 – The 2023 Turkish Chess Championship is played from 1 and 10 December at the Antalya Mirage Park Resort. Ten players compete in 9 rounds. The championship is broadcast live by IM Melih Yurtseven and FM Özgün via Youtube. Live streams of the games are also available at live.chessbase.com. | Photo: Ufuk Tuncer

12/6/2023 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy unveils exciting Training Programs with two groundbreaking courses: a four-level training program crafted by chess maestros and inspired by the legendary Garry Kasparov himself, and an "Improve Your Chess" lecture series, designed to elevate your game. Announcement and info from the KCF

12/5/2023 – The Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2023 will be held in Gabala, Azerbaijan, on December 8-11. Ten strong grandmasters will compete in a combined rapid chess and blitz tournament. The event is held in memory of the former world-class player Vugar Gashimov, who sadly died of a brain tumour in January 2014, at the age of 27.

12/5/2023 – The Caro Kann Defence is a much-played opening today, with which Black often makes life difficult for White after 1.e4. In his ChessBase course "Weapons against the Caro-Kann, 1 and 2", English GM Daniel Fernandez shows how White can successfully combat this defence. Christian Höthe took a look at the course.

12/5/2023 – David Hater, FIDE delegate of the US Chess Federation, has written an open letter to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich on behalf of the USCF, complaining that imprecise FIDE rules for qualifying for the FIDE Circuit Candidates Tournament and for rating have caused confusion among players. FIDE had changed the rules at short notice.

12/5/2023 – A second consecutive round with four decisive results ended with Michael Adams atop the standings of the London Chess Classic. Former co-leader Gukesh had a clear edge against Jules Moussard — however, a blunder by the Indian star allowed Moussard to take over and convert his newfound advantage in style. Similarly, Shreyas Royal first gave up his advantage and then lost the game he played with black against Hans Niemann. Adams and Niemann are the only two players who remain undefeated in the event. | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh

12/2/2023 – As described in the article "The Never Ending Saga of Moroccan Chess" (Part 1 and Part 2), the International Prix Mohammed VI tournament had an unfortunate end, as the winners did not receive their prizes. That incident did not take away from the players' efforts and performances, though, as shown here by Diana Mihajlova. | Pictured: Rising star Kevin Michael George with his parents and his coach, GM Bassem Amin

12/2/2023 – Today some elementary endgame tactics. In the diagram position, the constellation on the kingside with the far advanced pawn h3 secures Black's advantage. But how to exploit this?

12/2/2023 – Dommaraju Gukesh and Michael Adams got off to winning starts at the 13th edition of the London Chess Classic. Gukesh defeated Mateusz Bartel’s French Defence, while Adams showcased his positional virtuosity playing white against Amin Tabatabaei. Both Gukesh and Adams will play black in the second round, against Nikita Vitiugov and Hans Niemann respectively. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram

12/1/2023 – The International Chess Federation released the inaugural Gender Equality in Chess Index (GECI), an innovative instrument designed to measure and compare the level of gender equality in chess federations across the globe. The GECI incorporates three indicators of Participation, Performance, and Progress to offer an all-encompassing view of gender parity in chess. This index introduces a comprehensive scoring system ranging from 0 to 100.

12/1/2023 – With a final-round win over Richard Rapport, Fabiano Caruana secured tournament victory at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis. This was Caruana’s third victory in this event, as he had previously won it in 2014 (when he famously grabbed seven wins in a row) and in 2018. Sole second place went to Leinier Dominguez, who drew Levon Aronian with the black pieces on Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/1/2023 – On October 7th, in their brutal attack, Hamas took 240 hostages from Israel. After tough negotiations some of them are being currently released. In world-wide actions people showed their support – including in chess circles. In Savion, Hungarian-Israeli IM Sofia Polgar held a simultaneous exhibition in order to show concern and solidarity. Sofia has sent us a report with some very moving pictures.