5/9/2016 – The 2016 edition of the largest French chess event took place in Gonfreville l'Orcher, a small town near Le Havre, in the northwestern region of France. The lovely rural town with fewer than 10 thousand inhabitants seemed ill-suited for such a large competition where thousands were expected, yet they overcame it with sponsorship and teamwork making it a truly exemplary event.

5/9/2016 – After winning the Candidates Tournament in Moscow Sergey Karjakin took a break from playing but at the Russian Team Championship in Sochi he is back at the board. However, the World Champion Challenger does not seem to be in top form yet. In round six he was convincingly outplayed by Peter Svidler and in round seven he almost lost against Vladimir Kramnik.

5/9/2016 – The Kenya Open is East Africa’s most iconic chess tournament and it was held over the three day Easter weekend at the KCB Club, Nairobi. The sponsor of this event was the Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa who contributed USD 1,200 for this event – a huge amount by Kenyan standards. The winners were Ben Nguku and Jane Wambugu. Organiser Kim Bhari has sent us a big pictorial report.

5/8/2016 – April turned out to be yet another month of success for Indian chess in general. While the man responsible for the chess boom in this country played some sparkling games in the Candidates tournament in March, his legion of followers continued to progress in the following days. ChessBase India brings you this brief overview of the happenings in chess in India in the bygone month.

5/7/2016 – While the Premier League in the Russian Team Championship with its roster of big names is the largest draw for most fans, they would be seriously remiss to not look at all the other competitions involved. Notably the Women's Team Championship with several former world champions, the Higher League, the Senior's with legends from yesteryear still strutting their stuff.

5/7/2016 – India number two Pentala Harikrishna played in one of the strongest Round Robin tournaments of his career-The Altibox Norway Chess 2016. He performed very well scoring 4.5/9. In this interview he speaks about his tournament, what went right, what were his mistakes, how he prepared and how did he find his second. Hari is slowly and steadily climbing the ladder and when asked about his Elo race with Anand, "Well, it is not so important," was his straightforward reply!

5/6/2016 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so.

5/6/2016 – The spectacular game Wesley So played at the Ultimate Blitz Challenge against legendary World Champion Garry Kasparov – with echos of Anderssen and Morphy – will go down in history. But there were other highlights in a month filled with exciting chess. Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek treats us to seven examples taken from the events in Norway and St Louis. It's a column to enjoy.

5/5/2016 – While the Bundesliga is certainly the best-known of the world class league championships, it is hardly the only one, and no less impressive is the Russian Team Championships with players such as Kramnik, Karjakin, and Svidler, not to mention top women like Kosteniuk, Lagno, and others. It doesn't stop there, so read the report and check out the tons of exciting chess.

5/5/2016 – The Stockholm Chess Society is the third oldest continuously running chess club in the world, first founded in 1866. Celebrating its 150th anniversary, the Hasselbacken Open has been organized, bringing players from all over the world, and the organizers have held nothing back with photos, GM video commentary, and more! See the report and don't miss the sacrificial masterpiece by Shirov.

5/4/2016 – GM Viktor Gavrikov, who was born on 29th July 1957 in Criuleni, Moldova, was a strong grandmaster. In 1985 he won the Soviet Championship, arguably his biggest triumph. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Gavrikov moved to Switzerland and later relocated to Bulgaria. He worked as a trainer and author. On 27th April Gavrikov died in a hospital in Burgas. Obituary...

5/4/2016 – Favorite to win the Italian Team Championship 2016 was the team of Padova, which started with top players such as Etienne Bacrot, Boris Gelfand and Peter Leko. But in round four the favorites lost their top encounter against the team of Chieti and in the end finished only second. Chieti, however, won both the men's and the women's event.