6/14/2023 – More than 30 years since its inception, ‘First Saturday’ is still going strong. Constantly reinventing itself, it has been kicking and running against all odds. Most of today’s top professionals have succumbed to the attraction of this ingenious concept that aims at providing chess players with the opportunity to earn norms and subsequently further their chess career. The model has been adopted by many organisers at various corners of the globe, but the credit for the original set up goes to Laszlo Nagy, known as Mr First Saturday.

6/14/2023 – The 10th Dhamso International Chess Festival was held on May 26-30 at the Hotel Lavanga Resort & Spa in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. In the main event, IM Mohan Kushara (pictured) won the championship by scoring 9/10 points, while R M Dulinma Hemalni Rathnayake won the women’s championship after scoring 7/10 points. More than 660 players competed in the event which included one GM, two IMs, one FM and three Arena FMs from four different countries: Azerbaijan, India, Russia and Sri Lanka.

6/13/2023 – Magnus Carlsen suffered a shock defeat to long-time second GM Laurent Fressinet but roared back to secure qualification for Division I in the Champions Chess Tour’s upcoming Aimchess Rapid event. Joining Carlsen in the top tier will be Levon Aronian, Wesley So, and the Venezuelan-born Spanish Eduardo Iturrizaga who all progressed through a challenging Swiss event before winning their respective rapid matches against other top-eight finishers.

6/13/2023 – The ninth round of the Cairns Cup saw Alexandra Kosteniuk grabbing a third consecutive win to secure clear second place in the final standings. Kosteniuk defeated Elisabeth Paehtz with black, while Irina Krush, who was sharing second place with Kosteniuk before the final round, failed to get the better of tournament winner Anna Zatonskih in a tricky endgame. In the other decisive game of the day, Nana Dzagnidze defeated Gunay Mammadzada. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

6/13/2023 – The last pawn is often worth its weight in gold. How did it help White to win in the diagram position?

6/13/2023 – The first day of the Europe and Africa Regional qualifier kicked off with a top match between British number one Michael Adams and Poland's top player Jan-Krzysztof Duda. After several ups and downs Duda won with a bit of luck. The second match of the day saw an all-German clash between Vincent Keymer and Alexander Donchenko, in which Keymer (pictured) was a bit more lucky and won.

6/10/2023 – In the sixth round of the Cairns Cup played on Friday, Anna Zatonskih won her game with black against Gunay Mammadzada and now stands alone at the top of the standings with a 4½/6 score. Elisabeth Paehtz is in second place after beating Nana Dzagnidze with white to reach a 3½/6 score. Zatonskih’s lead is not quite so clear, however, if you consider that the table is somewhat ‘skewed’ after Humpy Koneru withdrew due to health issues. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

6/9/2023 – From June 21 to July 2, the Global Chess League will be played in Dubai, with six excellent teams. Before that, inauguration events will take place in New York, London, Paris and Berlin. In Berlin, the event will take place next Sunday at the Schachfreunde Berlin, with Sebastian Siebrecht.

6/9/2023 – Hikaru Nakamura beat Fabiano Caruana in their last-round classical encounter to finish the tournament in sole first place. Nakamura climbed to the second spot in the live ratings list. Caruana got second place in Stavanger, while 17-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh impressed with his clear third place in the standings. | Replay the games with computer-assisted commentary.

6/9/2023 – In his new Power Play Show, GM Daniel King looks at a strategically complex line in the Najdorf that surfaced in a recent game in Norway Chess. And Daniel knows what he is talking about! | 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.

6/9/2023 – D. Gukesh was the only player to win his classical game in the penultimate round of the Norway Chess Tournament by creating a veritable work of art against Aryan Tari. Hikaru Nakamura lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Armageddon, but still has a chance to win the tournament. Fabiano Caruana remains in the lead, and Magnus Carlsen won his seventh Armageddon game, but with 10.5/24 he is still in the lower part of the table. | Photos: Lenart Ootes/ Norway Chess

6/9/2023 – Last Monday, 5 June, Ukrainian grandmaster Vadim Malakhatko died of a heart attack in Kyiv. During his career Malakhatko won numerous open tournaments and played for the Ukrainian national team, although he moved to the Belgian Chess Federation in 2007. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis