8/11/2026 – From 11 to 16 August, school teams from across the Americas will compete in San José, Costa Rica, for places in the FIDE-ISCF World Schools Team Championship Finals. The continental stage, held in Central America for the first time, will also feature a ministerial conference on chess in education. Freedom Holding Corp. is the event's General Partner.

8/11/2026 – Tan Zhongyi, Divya Deshmukh (pictured) and Alice Lee made winning starts to the Cairns Cup in Saint Louis, emerging as the early leaders after a first round that produced three decisive games. Tan got the better of defending champion Carissa Yip, Deshmukh overcame Vaishali Rameshbabu and Lee beat Alexandra Kosteniuk, while Humpy Koneru missed winning chances against Stavroula Tsolakidou and Bibisara Assaubayeva drew Anna Muzychuk. | Photo: Austin Fuller

8/11/2026 – Opening the king's road: Sometimes pawn walls block the way. But often they can be broken: White to move and win.

8/11/2026 – Fabiano Caruana was the only winner in the opening round of the Sinquefield Cup, defeating Jorden van Foreest to take the early sole lead in Saint Louis. The remaining four games were drawn, though Javokhir Sindarov missed chances to convert a favourable endgame against Levon Aronian. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/11/2026 – The inaugural Apogee Chess Festival will take place in Caissargues, near Nîmes, from 22 to 30 August 2026, combining competitive chess with the cultural heritage of southern France. Organised by IM Silvia Alexieva, the event will feature two FIDE-rated open sections, a €26,000 prize fund and a special appearance by former FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov, who will give a simultaneous exhibition near the historic Maison Carrée.

8/10/2026 – Magnus Carlsen will return to defend his Esports World Cup title as chess makes its second appearance at the event, this time in Paris. The competition runs from 11 to 15 August and features a rapid 10-minute time control without increment. Fourteen players have already qualified directly for the group stage, while eight others will contest Tuesday's Play-In for the final two places in the 16-player field. | Photos: Esports World Cup 2025

8/10/2026 – Elham Amar (pictured, right) won the main open tournament at the Dortmund Chess Festival. The Norwegian GM went into the final round with a half-point lead over two pursuers. He drew against one of them, Surya Ganguly, while the other, Sumiya Chinguun, lost to Amilal Munkhdalai. Amar's 7 points were enough to secure clear first place, half a point ahead of a group of five players. In the Women's International Tournament, a draw in the final round was enough for Song Yuxin to grab outright victory. The B Open was won by Max Pick on tiebreaks, ahead of Oleksandr Kasapchuk Jr. and Thomas Peter. | Photo: Dariusz Gorzinski

8/10/2026 – Karsten shows 3 endgames from Biel. | You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

8/10/2026 – Ural State Mining University has been crowned champion of the inaugural FIDE World University Team Championship Finals, defeating Saint Louis University in Sunday's final in Almaty. The final day of competition brought the championship down to its two decisive encounters: Ural State Mining University against Saint Louis University for the title and Kazakh National University of Sports against The University of Texas at Dallas for third place.

8/10/2026 – Shreyas Royal and Bodhana Sivanandan claimed the main titles at the 2026 British Chess Championships in Coventry, bringing the largest edition in the event's history to a record-breaking conclusion. Royal, 17, won his first overall British title after finishing ahead of Luke McShane and Michael Adams, while 11-year-old Sivanandan became Britain's youngest-ever women's champion after defeating Trisha Kanyamarala in a rapid playoff. | Photos: Yury Krylov

8/9/2026 – One of the world's strongest women's super-tournaments returns to Saint Louis this summer as the 2026 Cairns Cup welcomes ten of the world's top women chess players to compete for a $250,000 prize fund - one of the largest in women's chess. The tournament will take place on 10-19 August at the recently expanded Saint Louis Chess Club (STLCC), where it will run alongside the prestigious Sinquefield Cup, creating one of the world's premier showcases of elite chess. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club

8/9/2026 – It’s often the small tricks that make training clearer and more effective. One such feature in ChessBase´26 is the ability to insert null moves. This can be especially helpful in chess training or analysis. In this short and concise tutorial, you'll learn how to use null moves effectively.