4/7/2023 – The third leg of the Women’s Grand Prix was marred by the early withdrawal of two players. Zhansaya Abdumalik decided to leave due to organizational issues, and her withdrawal triggered other players to bring up further issues related to previous events. Harika Dronavalli was one of three Indian players in the field, and found herself struggling to decide how to react to the situation. Only after the tournament finished, she spoke up about the New Delhi debacle in a 13-minute video produced by ChessBase India. | Photo: FIDE / Ismael Nieto

4/6/2023 – In his Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris takes a close look at the fifth and decisive game that Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie played in the finals of the Women’s Candidates. Lei came up with an interesting approach against the Zukertort-Colle system and won a fine game. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

4/6/2023 – Fabiano Caruana has yet to lose a match at the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. The US star finished undefeated to win Division II of the Airthings Masters, and has now reached the Grand Final of the Chessable Masters. On Wednesday, Caruana defeated Hikaru Nakamura by a convincing 2½-½ score in the final of the winners’ bracket. Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian won their matches in the losers’ bracket.

4/6/2023 – Aleksandra Goryachkina, Zhu Jiner and Bibisara Assaubayeva all finished with 6/9 scores atop the standings of the Women’s Grand Prix in New Delhi. The three players entered the final round in shared first place, and all three drew their games on Wednesday. Prize money and Grand Prix points were evenly distributed between the three, but Goryachkina was declared tournament winner based on tiebreak criteria. | Photo: FIDE / Ismael Nieto

4/5/2023 – The fourth and decisive leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix will take place in Cyprus on May 15-28. The tournament will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Cyprus’ capital, Nicosia. Featuring 12 ballrooms and state-of-the-art technology meeting rooms, totalling 1,800 square meters of space for events, the venue is a very suitable option for both leisure and business visitors.

4/5/2023 – Nils Grandelius scored an impressive 7½ out of 9 to become the outright winner at the 2023 edition of the Reykjavik Open. The Swedish grandmaster, who was the second seed in Iceland, beat Quentin Loiseau in the final round to claim first place. With over 400 participants in the traditional event, it was not surprising that seven players finished a half point behind the winner. Mustafa Yilmaz from Turkey and Abhijeet Gupta from India got second and third place on tiebreak criteria, respectively. | Photos: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir

4/5/2023 – Day 2 of the Chessable Masters saw Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana advancing to the winners’ bracket final in Division I, thanks to victories over Wesley So and Vladislav Artemiev, respectively. In the losers’ bracket, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian scored wins to remain in contention for first place. In Division II, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Vladimir Kramnik are set to face each other in the next phase.

4/5/2023 – From March 25 to April 5, New Delhi is hosting the third stage of the 2022-23 Women’s Grand Prix series. The two best players from four tournaments will qualify for the Candidates Tournament. The action kicks off at 11.30 CEST (5.30 EDT, 15.00 IST). Follow the games live, with commentary by GM Praveen Thipsay and IM Soumya Swaminathan.

4/4/2023 – Middlegame secrets are revealed - in a series of articles featuring videos by Jan Markos. Next we'll discuss the Rook, exploring things like the impact of the 7th rank or the difference between rooks and light pieces! If you wish to know more, we recommend the full course by Jan Markos: Middlegame Secrets Vol.2: The Potential of the Rook| Photo: Benjamin Smith/Unsplash

4/4/2023 – A total of 56 players are participating in the Chessable Masters Tournament. The players are distributed in three divisions, each taking place with a double-elimination format. Four rapid games (15+3) are played in each confrontation, and if a match ends in a draw, an Armageddon decider follows. This format ensures excitement, surprises and plenty of mistakes. The biggest surprise on Day 1 was Magnus Carlsen’s loss to Vladislav Artemiev in Division I.

4/4/2023 – Your heart rate and adrenaline have an impact on your performance. As a chess player, understanding and monitoring various physiological aspects can have a significant impact on your performance. When you play chess, you may not be as physically active, but the mental demands of the game can still trigger an extreme stress response in your body. As was demonstrated in last month's Armageddon tournament in Berlin.

4/4/2023 – In the endgame - and in the middlegame - far advanced passed pawns can be very powerful. In the diagram position it is White to move and win. What would you do?