7/9/2026 – The 59th edition of the Biel International Chess Festival begins on the weekend of 11 July. Participating are chess greats such as Levon Aronian, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Matthias Bluebaum in the Masters Triathlon, as well as Vaishali Rameshbabu and Alexandra Kosteniuk in the Generations Challenger. In both invitational events, games will be played in a triathlon system featuring blitz, rapid and classical games. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase

7/8/2026 – Norwegian football is currently enjoying something of a high. Last Sunday, the Norwegian team knocked Brazil out of the World Cup, and they did it in style. In Norway, football and chess go well together - and not only because of Magnus Carlsen. Edith and Monika Machlik are also among the country's dual-sport stars! | Photos: tromsosjakk.no / Lars Elevold and Anniken Vestby

7/8/2026 – The African Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship began in Stellenbosch, South Africa, with 26 school teams from 22 countries competing for places in the Grand Final. The opening day featured two rounds, an unconventional ceremony centred on messages from young players and outreach activities at Paul Roos Gymnasium. The event, held during the Year of Chess in Education, continues until 10 July. | Photo: ISCF

7/8/2026 – This week at the Dutch Championship, Max Warmerdam surprised his former trainer Loek van Wely with a very nasty piece of homework in the 6.Bg5 Nbd7 variation of the Najdorf. In Dutch chess circles the game Arno Bezemer-Twan Burg, Meesterklasse 2011, is a well-known game from the early 6...Nbd7 days, featuring Velimirovic style attacking play. Max combined knowledge of this important old game with some new move order twists, making Black's job extremely difficult. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/8/2026 – FIDE has decided that the Best Creator category at the inaugural FIDE Excellence Awards will be named The Daniel Naroditsky Best Creator Award. The dedication comes as the chess world continues to honour the memory of Daniel Naroditsky, known to friends and fans as Danya, who passed away in October 2025 – a loss still felt deeply across the chess community. FIDE press release.

7/7/2026 – Three full days! What if, out of those 72 hours, you play chess for 67 hours? Would you be able to survive? This was the question posed to all the players as the WR Chess World Record Marathon kicked off in Lima, Peru at the Sheraton Hotel. Some of the best grandmasters from South America participated in this amazing chess celebration that had US$100,000 at stake! We bring you the entire report from Lima.

7/7/2026 – Indian Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca has never been shy about letting people into his world. Long a familiar face at the ChessBase studio, the 20-year-old from Goa has spent recent years building a genuine chess résumé, headlined by his surprise victory in the 2024 Tata Steel Challengers. Now the man who became India's 67th grandmaster back in January 2021 is channelling that same openness into his own YouTube channel, where he shares tournament battles, game analysis and glimpses of life on the professional circuit. His tagline says it all — "Just here to play chess and have fun".

7/7/2026 – Black's knight's knightmare: The duel bishop against knight can be deep. As defender the knight often wants to construct a fortress: Black to move and draw.

7/7/2026 – The Naroditsky Memorial featured rapid and blitz tournaments in tribute to Daniel Naroditsky, whose association with fast chess made the format a fitting choice. Javokhir Sindarov won the rapid after a playoff against Aravindh Chithambaram, then took first place outright in the Blitz Final. The event also raised funds for the Daniel Naroditsky Memorial Fund and the Naroditsky Fellowship for young players. | Pictured: Javokhir Sindarov and Daniel Naroditsky's mother Lena Schuman | Photo: Charlotte Chess Center

7/6/2026 – In the London System, after 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3, Black has the choice between the main lines 4...c5 (the move most frequently played to date) and 4...Bd6 (the modern continuation). In his opening article for the new ChessBase Magazine #232, Christian Braun suggests the counter 5.Bd3!? against 4...Bd6. In his detailed analysis – the article includes, amongst other things, seven annotated model games – Braun highlights the advantages of this move. This opening offers a high degree of flexibility. And “very often, White gets the better development and simply has ‘the stronger pieces’.” Take a look at the free sample from CBM #232 – in the ChessBase Books format, you can view the full article with all the analyses directly in your web browser.

7/6/2026 – Alireza Firouzja won the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia after a playoff against Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Zagreb. The French grandmaster began the final day with a three-point lead, lost it for a while during the second half of the blitz section, but then recovered to finish tied for first on 23½ points. After two drawn tiebreak games, Firouzja held the Armageddon game with black to secure the title. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/6/2026 – Svitlana shows her final-round game from the Canadian Women’s Championship, which she describes as one of the best games of her life. Facing WIM Yunan Li in a sharp Sicilian Taimanov, Svitlana surprises her opponent with the rare and aggressive 7.g4, launches a powerful kingside attack, and keeps finding precise tactical resources. The game reaches a spectacular climax with a rook sacrifice, a queen sacrifice and a clean attacking finish, helping Svitlana secure third place and likely qualification for the Canadian Olympiad team.