1/2/2024 – In 2024, the International Chess Federation will celebrate its 100th anniversary. As part of the celebrations throughout the year 2024, FIDE, chess organisers and national federations are planning numerous activities, including chess festivals, exhibitions, tournaments, and others under the umbrella of #FIDE100. One of the first was the lecture about the former FIDE president Folke Rogard, which took place at the Rilton Cup 2023-24 at Scandic Continental on December 30. | Photo: FIDE

1/2/2024 – A rising star is the 17-year-old Srilankan Susal De Silva, who won the recent U18 category in the Asian Youth Championship 2023, which was held in Al Ain (United Arab Emirates). No wonder: he is a student of world-class trainer Efstratios Grivas, who tells us that "a Gold Medal is mostly welcomed, but hard work is in need and opening preparation is a value part of the success!"

1/2/2024 – The diagram shows a position from a game Vincent Keymer and Magnus Carlsen played at the World Cup in Baku 2023. It is Black to move and win. In the game, Carlsen missed this chance - can you do better?

1/1/2024 – On 1st January FIDE published its new ranking list. Firouzja, who tried hard in the last days of December to gain a few more rating points, has achieved his goal: he has overtaken Wesley So and qualified for the Candidates by rating. Magnus Carlsen is still the clear number one, ahead of Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura in second and third, while Vincent Keymer and Praggnanandhaa are the world's best juniors. Hou Yifan continues to top the women's list and Bibisara Assaubayeva is the world's best female junior.

1/1/2024 – Today we bring you the first instalment of solutions, to the puzzles on our Christmas Day page. It includes charming video of two 14 year old lads solving one of the problems. Today, both are Candidates for the World Championship. Solutions to the next six puzzle pages will follow soon – together with details on our composition competition, which will end on January 15.

1/1/2024 – We wish our readers and all chess fans a happy new year 2024. It's a special year for chess: 100 years ago, the World Chess Federation FIDE was founded in Paris. | Photo: Pixabay

1/1/2024 – We are three months away from the start of the Candidates Tournaments in Toronto. With no more rated classical games in the December-2023 period, we got the names of the two players who got the rating spot in the open and women’s sections — Alireza Firouzja and Humpy Koneru (pictured), respectively. The 2023 edition of the FIDE Circuit has also finished, with Gukesh grabbing the Candidates spot by finishing in second place, since Fabiano Caruana — the winner of the Circuit — was already qualified via the FIDE World Cup. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

12/31/2023 – The traditional chess tournament in the English seaside resort of Hastings has been held immediately after Christmas for over 100 years. The event has reached its 97th edition, with rounds taking place on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. The most important tournament, the Masters, which includes a number of titleholders, ends on January 5. French grandmaster Maxime Lagarde is the tournament’s top seed.

12/31/2023 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books on chess training and strategy. In the 158th episode of his ChessBase show "Understanding before moving" Herman continues his series "Chess history in a nutshell" and continues to talk about the games and the legacy of Paul Keres. | Photo: Pascal Simon

12/31/2023 – Today we have two very special problems. They are doubtlessly like no other chess puzzle you have seen. And warning: they are very hard. You could easily spend a substantial part of the final day of the year 2023 struggling to solve them. But if you succeed, you will experience an exhilarating feeling of pride. Take a look.

12/31/2023 – Once again, a fantastic chess year is coming to an end. As usual, Svitlana gathered some of her absolute favourite tactics, for the viewer and Arne to solve. Happy new year everybody, and see you in 2024!

12/30/2023 – Magnus Carlsen grabbed his 17th World Championship title — the 7th in blitz — by scoring 16/21 points at the World Blitz event in Samarkand. After losing his first game of the day, against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Carlsen grabbed six wins in a row to retake the sole lead. Two draws in the final rounds allowed him to outscore Daniil Dubov by a half point. In the women’s championship, Valentina Gunina got outright victory thanks to a final-round win over Anna Muzychuk. Alexandra Kosteniuk came close to catching the eventual champion, but fell just short and took the silver medal. | Photo: FIDE / Anastasia Korolkova