1/12/2017 – The Women’s World Championship 2017 will be played from 10. February to 5. March in Tehran. The decision to play in the Iranian capital was controversial, not least because women in Iran are forced to wear a headscarf in public, and all players have to comply to this rule. But Fide stood by its decision and now published a list of the 64 players who will fight for the Women's title. Top seed is Ju Wenjun, second seed Anna Muzychuk. But a number of top players refused to start.

1/11/2017 – We asked, you voted: who was player of the year 2016, who was female player of 2016, what game was the best of 2016 and what move? And which endgame did the chess fans like best? Here are the results.

1/11/2017 – In the endgame it is often a good idea to send your king across the board to invade the enemy's camp. In the middlegame, however, such a strategy is often be reckless or even foolish. But it sometimes pays unexpected dividends. In his Agony Column #36 Jon Speelman presents three games and two active kings who brought agony and ecstasy.

1/10/2017 – The tournament in Wijk aan Zee that starts on Friday, January 13 - the first round begins one day later, January 14, 1.30 pm - promises attractive chess but also offers a lot besides chess. For instance, a football match with the chess stars.

1/10/2017 – Today, 4 pm German time, Karsten Müller gives endgame lessons. In his monthly "Endgame Magic Show" (which is in English) the endgame expert shows instructive and entertaining endgames. For starters, here is a pawn endgame in which White is to move and would like to win. But how? Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun!

1/9/2017 – Baadur Jobava, rapid chess and a sharp modern line of the Najdorf is a mix that can easily lead to entertaining chess. This mix appeared in the game Jobava vs Atabayev from the World Rapid Championship 2016 in Doha. In the latest installment of his Power Play Show Daniel King takes a closer look at this brilliancy.

1/9/2017 – A lot of players used the Christmas Holidays to take part in a chess tournament. Or two. One of them was Azeri grandmaster Nijat Abasov. After winning the Christmas Open in Zürich he started in Basel, in the Chess Festival that took place from 2nd to 8th January. But in Basel he "only" finished sixth. Another Azeri won the tournament on tie-break: Eltaj Safarli.

1/9/2017 – 116 players took part in the Masters Tournament of the traditional Christmas Open in Zürich. After seven rounds six players shared first place with 5.5/7 each. Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan had the best tie-break and won the tournament. Chess legend Vlastimil Hort scored 4.0/7.

1/8/2017 – Only a few more days and World Champion Magnus Carlsen will play his first tournament game of 2017. On Saturday, January 14, 1.30pm local time, at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Carlsen will compete against players such as Sergey Karjakin, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Richard Rapport, and Wei Yi to name just a few. Traditionally, Wijk aan Zee is one of the strongest and most interesting tournaments of the year, a real chess festival!

1/7/2017 – In December he turned 65. For decades Jan Timman was a top GMs – in 1982 in fact the world's number two player, behind Anatoly Karpov, against whom he played a World Championship match. Timman is also an expert in endgame studies, with many prize-winning compositions to his name. It is therefore appropriate that Hans Böhm celebrates his 50 years of close friendship with Jan with a special composition contest, and we present some enchanting pictures.

1/7/2017 – The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess festival with a long and rich tradition. The top event was the Hastings Masters, which took place 29th December to 5th January 2017. Deep Sengupta of India took clear first with 7.0/9, half a point clear of five players with 6.5/9 each. Among them was the world's youngest International Master, Indian talent Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.

1/6/2017 – The Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran won the 46th Rilton Cup in Stockholm with six wins, three draws, no loss and 7.5/9. Second place went to Russian Grandmaster Sergey Volkov who scored 7.0/9. Seven players with 6.5/9 shared places 3 to 8, among them Gata Kamsky and Ivan Sokolov. But the most spectacular game was played by Tiger Hillarp Persson.