8/2/2026 – The top seeds made a solid start to the British Chess Championship in Coventry, with Luke McShane, defending champion Michael Adams and four other top contenders winning their opening games. Most results on the leading boards followed the ratings, although 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan was held to a draw by George Zhao after recovering from a pawn deficit in a queen-and-minor-piece ending. | Photo: Yury Krylov

8/1/2026 – Magnus Carlsen remains the undisputed world number one in chess. Hou Yifan is still the highest-rated woman player. Reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju has lost several rating points and has also relinquished his position as the world's top junior - it is now 15-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus who stands as the top-ranked player in the under-20 category!

8/1/2026 – Magnus Carlsen learnt to play chess at the age of five, although his tournament career began a little later, in late 1999 or early 2000. In the summer of 2000, exactly 26 years ago, Carlsen faced another nine-year-old at the Peer Gynt Open in Gausdal, who would later become at least an international master.

8/1/2026 – Alongside its latest releases, ChessBase's Summer Specials also include a selection of older Fritz Trainers, such as titles from Daniel King's long-running PowerPlay series and Karsten Müller's endgame courses. This raises an interesting question: can Fritz Trainers that are up to 20 years old still be used on modern computers, and how well have they stood the test of time? Jochen Schwarz, a club player from Bremen, revisited a number of these classic titles and also reveals his personal favourites among these old gems.

8/1/2026 – Fintech entrepreneur and chess sponsor Timur Turlov has announced his candidacy for President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), standing together with five-time World Champion Vishwanathan Anand as his candidate for Deputy President. Press release.

7/31/2026 – The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will bring ten grandmasters to the Saint Louis Chess Club from 2 to 6 August for the fourth leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer and Wesley So are the leading tour contenders in a field that also includes World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov (pictured), Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and three wildcards from the United States. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/31/2026 – Svitlana explores the Center Game with 1.e4 e5 2.d4 and explains why this historic opening remains a practical surprise weapon. She examines the main queen placements, Black’s most important defensive setups, and White’s typical plan of castling queenside and launching an attack. Particular attention is given to the choice between f3 and Nf3, the importance of preventing Black’s central break with d5, and the tactical possibilities that arise from opposite side castling. The episode shows that even if engines consider many positions equal, the Center Game can still lead to rich, aggressive, and highly playable positions

7/31/2026 – The 53rd Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting gets underway on Saturday (1–8 August). Alongside a strong open tournament featuring German national team players Matthias Blübaum, Rasmus Svane and Dmitrij Kollars, as well as Biel Open winner Christian Glöckler (pictured), the festival also includes an international women's GM tournament, where Dinara Wagner will defend her title. | Photos: Tournament organisers

7/31/2026 – FIDE and the International School Chess Federation (ISCF) have introduced a new format for the World Schools Team Championship. Continental championships will first be held in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, with the continental winners advancing to a final tournament in December.

7/31/2026 – On Monday, the African Chess Confederation elected a new executive board. In an extremely close vote, the incumbent continental president was voted out of office, and Benard Wanjala (pictured) was elected as the new president. The defeated candidate, Tshepiso Lopang, has accused Benard Wanjala of vote-buying and lodged a complaint against the result. | Photos: FIDE / ACC

7/31/2026 – The chess summer continues with events all over the place. The DOLE open in Aix-en-Provence, France, features elite players like Nepomniachtchi, Tabatabaei and Maghsoodloo. Nepo already had to accept two draws in the first four rounds, when he was paired with young Norwegian GM Aksel Bu Kvaloy in the fifth round. Both players showed very inspired chess, each of them willing to sacrifice material at various stages of the game. Nepo kept playing very fast, until disaster struck. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/31/2026 – Dear chess friends! We’ve got another great offer for you: this week (until August 2nd, 2026), you can get over 25% off all Fritztrainer courses by RB Ramesh, Surya Ganguly and Michael Prusikin!