10/25/2023 – When it comes to internal politics, our noble game is anything but ‘noble’. Nasty games can be played within federations for personal gain and power at immense expense to chess players. Disagreements and anomalies have affected the work of some federations at various degrees, but it seems that no one has suffered as much or as long as chess in Morocco. Diana Mihajlova reports.

10/25/2023 – On Tuesday evening, the Grand Swiss Tournaments 2023 were ceremonially opened at Villa Marina on the Isle of Man and the colours for the first round were drawn. The field is strong, the pairings are exciting. | Photos: Anna Shtourman

10/25/2023 – India is beginning to seriously dominate the chess world, the country is on a path to becoming the super-power in the game. This is deeply gratifying – especially for the people involved in the training and advancement of the young stars. Frederic Friedel describes how the new group of super-talents is making its way to the very top. Other countries should take this as an example!

10/25/2023 – The Candidates Tournament and the Women’s Candidates Tournament will be played simultaneously next year in Toronto. Four spots are still up for grabs in the open event, while three participants remain to be decided among the women. In both cases, two spots will be decided in the upcoming Grand Swiss tournaments. Let us recap who already qualified, and who are the frontrunners to get the remaining spots. | Pictured: Elite grandmasters apparently discussing a position during the Grand Swiss opening ceremony. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

10/24/2023 – The recently completed Qatar Masters 2023 was a quite strong event and, as usual, a lot of interesting games and subjects were in the daily menu. In the first instalment of this series world leading chess trainer GM Efstratios Grivas showed us why the endgame of rook vs. two minor pieces is a difficult one to understand and master. Using games from the above event (one by Carlsen) he is showing us how to play the endgame, and understand the secrets hidden behind it.

10/24/2023 – The World Chess Federation has expanded the Women's Grand Prix series for the upcoming 2024-25 cycle. Instead of 16 players, there will now be 20. The number of tournaments has been increased from four to six, with ten players per tournament. The prize money has also been increased.

10/20/2023 – Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubboev beat compatriot Nodirbek Abdusattorov in blitz tiebreaks to win the Qatar Masters in Doha. Yakubboev entered the tournament as the 19th seed, and obtained a round-9 victory over Karthikeyan Murali to reach the tiebreaks. Abdusattorov, on his part, defeated former sole leader Arjun Erigaisi in the final round of classical chess. Arjun made a very unfortunate blunder to lose the all-important encounter. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10/20/2023 – In his new Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes some games from the Qatar Masters as his starting point, and then focuses on one of Carlsen’s games where he was outplayed. This takes him to a game of Boris Spassky, who played the same sideline of the Spanish back in the late 1980s! | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

10/20/2023 – Like Henry Ernest Atkins, whom Eugene Manlapao featured in September, William Ewart Napier was an exceptional master, but is now almost forgotten. In this article, Eugene explores the life of Napier, who burned brightly in his short career as a chess player.

10/20/2023 – The Qatar Masters, one of the strongest open tournaments of the year, is taking place on October 11-20. A star-studded field with Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri as the top seeds fights for a prize fund of $108,250. | Follow the games live with computer-assisted analysis starting at 14.00 CEST (8.00 ET, 17.30 IST)

10/20/2023 – Round 8 of the Qatar Masters saw Arjun Erigaisi beating David Paravyan to enter Friday’s final round as the sole leader, with six players standing a half point behind. Among these six chasers are Hikaru Nakamura and Nodirbek Abdusattorov — Arjun’s rival in round 9 — who both grabbed wins on Thursday. Former co-leaders Karthikeyan Murali, Narayanan S.L., Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Yakubboev still have chances to win the event as well. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10/19/2023 – In the new episode of his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris is looking at a spectacular miniature played by Magnus Carlsen in the first round of the Qatar Masters Open. A very instructive masterpiece, completed with a splendid mating attack! | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.