12/1/2025 – The first half of the London Chess Classic was dominated by Nodirbek Abdusattorov (photo). In round 5 he defeated Nikolas Theodorou with White, reaching 4.5/5 at the halfway mark and pulling a full point ahead of Alireza Firouzja. Firouzja drew with Black against Gawain Maroroa Jones and now stands on 3.5/5. Abhimanyu Mishra and Luke McShane also drew, as did Pavel Eljanov and Michael Adams. The second win of the round went to Nikita Vitiugov, who won a theoretically interesting game against Sam Shankland.| Photo: Tennis legend Andy Murray (center) makes the ceremonial first move | Photo: Tournament page

12/1/2025 – The European Rapid and Blitz Championships in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, brought together more than 350 players from 38 federations. Lithuanian GM Paulius Pultinevicius won the rapid title with a 10/11 score after a final-round victory over Vasyl Ivanchuk (who lost on time in an endgame with an extra pawn), while Jorden van Foreest secured the blitz crown by finishing on 11/13. | Photo: European Chess Union

11/30/2025 – At the next Candidates Tournament, in spring 2026 in Cyprus, eight players will compete to determine the challenger to world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Five of the players are in the current world top ten, while three are far from it. Several top players who one might have expected to see in the Candidates failed to qualify by any route. Has FIDE put forth a fair World Championship format? | Photo: Larneg (Pixabay)

11/30/2025 – Round four of the London Chess Classic saw Nodirbek Abdusattorov keep his sole lead with a third straight win, this time over Michael Adams in their first classical encounter ever. Alireza Firouzja also scored, outplaying Pavel Eljanov in a lengthy rook endgame, while Luke McShane defeated Gawain Maroroa Jones after a promising position for Black collapsed around move twenty. The remaining games were drawn, leaving Abdusattorov ahead on 3½ points. | Photo: Official website

11/30/2025 – The European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championships are being held in Pristina, Kosovo, from 28 to 30 November. The Rapid Championship concluded on Friday and Saturday; the Blitz Championship follows on Sunday, with thirteen rounds of blitz chess (3+2) on the schedule. Vasyl Ivanchuk, Baadur Jobava, Jorden Van Foreest, Rasmus Svane and Christian Bauer are among the many top European players in the field. Follow the action live with commentary from 10:30 local time.

11/29/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris looks into the FIDE World Cup which has seen a lot of interesting games, featuring spectacular openings as the KO-format forces players to take a lot of risks.| Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

11/29/2025 – An imaginary interview with José Raúl Capablanca offers a reflective journey through the Cuban world champion's life, ideas and legacy. Presented in Capablanca's own voice, the conversation explores his childhood, style, intellectual interests and views on intuition, simplicity and the nature of chess. The piece revisits the milestones that shaped him and highlights his enduring influence on the game's philosophy. | Images (AI): Uvencio Blanco

11/29/2025 – Robert Ris showcases José Eduardo Martínez Alcántara’s stunning World Cup win with Black against Super GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, starting from a sharp opposite-castling Philidor-type position in which White unleashes a powerful kingside attack, including an exchange sacrifice on d5 and the pawn storm with h5–h6, while Black searches for counterplay on the queenside. Ris explains how key defensive resources completely turn the tables, leading to a direct attack on the white king.

11/28/2025 – The KazChess Masters in Almaty is coming to a close. In a strong field, reigning rapid chess world champion Volodar Murzin has the best prospects of winning the tournament: after 7 of 9 rounds, he leads with 5 points. But he faces a difficult remaining schedule. Today, he has Black against a direct rival. | Photo: Murzin at his World Championship triumph in 2024 (Michal Walusza)

11/28/2025 – I can already guess what you are considering for White in the diagram position. It works - and knowing that, you might actually try to calculate everything to the end again. No pain, no gain!

11/28/2025 – Three decisive games in round two of the London Chess Classic saw Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Nikolas Theodorou move into the shared lead. Abdusattorov's extensive preparation, Firouzja's tactical win over Luke McShane and Theodorou's controlled performance against defending champion Gawain Maroroa Jones offered contrasting paths to victory at Arsenal Football Club's stadium. | Photo: XTX Markets

11/27/2025 – Today, Svitlana teaches us about the Immortal Game by Carl Schlechter. If a game is called an "immortal game", you can expect some sensational tactics. Another thing what makes this game exceptional is the opening choice of 1.b4. According to the new ChessBase opening report, the Sokolsky Opening, also known as the Orangutan and the Polish Opening, is getting less, and less fashionable in the last years. But 1.b4 had its peak from 2009 to 2011!