6/23/2026 – There are now just three weeks to go before ChessFest returns to Trafalgar Square on Sunday 12th July 2026, 12pm-7pm. Once again, this spectacular will take over the whole square for a day of free, family-friendly chess activities. ChessFest 2026 will also celebrate a unique piece of the London’s history: the 175th anniversary of the Immortal Game, played by German chess master Adolf Anderssen, just five-minutes walk away.
new: Fritz 20
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before. FRITZ is more than just a chess engine – it’s a training revolution! Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
ChessBase is re-releasing this timeless classic in the modern ChessBase Media format - complete with brand-new training features. Get ready to rediscover a masterpiece of chess instruction!
€49.90
Sunday 12th July 2026, 12pm-7pm, on Trafalgar Square, the chess activities, include:
Free chess lessons from a CSC tutor
Simultaneous displays by the top Grandmasters in the country including Mickey Adams and Gawain Jones
Giant chess sets
Speed chess galore in the Challenge the Chess Master tent
Living chess with actors, replaying famous games of chess on our giant board
Puzzle-rush: pit your wits against fiendish chess puzzles on ChessKid.
Watch chess masters battle it out in game of giant blitz, a test of skill and stamina.
In this video course, experts including Dorian Rogozenco, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver Reeh, examine the games of Boris Spassky. Let them show you which openings Spassky chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were and much more.
This year's theme is wildlife. Will the kingfisher defeat the queen bee? You may have heard of an isolated pawn, a passed pawn, or even a doubled pawn, but you've never seen a butterfly pawn in mortal combat with a hedgehog pawn. Only at ChessFest 2026!
Now it's your move!
We want more people than ever before to visit ChessFest in 2026. Please invite chess lovers everywhere to join us on Sunday 12th July:
schools – please include this flyer in your school newsletters
chess clubs – please circulate details of ChessFest to your club members
everyone – please forward this to friends and family, spread the word on social media
Never played chess before? Not a problem - CSC tutors will be running free classes throughout the day for complete beginners.
Something for Everyone
Now in its 6th year, ChessFest welcomes over 20,000 people of all ages, and is suitable for chess lovers of all standards, from beginners to experts:
Besides in-depth theory and exciting tactical exercises in the Scotch Game, this video course also includes a bonus section on the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Bc4), a lively variation often leading to very dynamic positions.
Beginners – come and have a free individual or group chess lesson with one of our amazing CSC tutors. No prior knowledge of chess required.
Experts – come and test your chess skills against some of England's top international players and young prodigies in either a simultaneous game or over a blitz game in our Challenge the Chess Master tent.
Everyone – enjoy the performances of our amazing troupe of actors on our living chess board and watch all the action broadcast on a giant screen at the foot of Nelson's Column.
For a flavour of what to expect, please see this video of our 2024 event:
No need to book – just turn up on Sunday 12th July the largest chess event in the country, a true chess extravaganza!
Britain's No.1 female player Bodhana Sivanandan, gives a simultaneous exhibition. She has beaten grandmasters, and will play in the German Bundesliga. Guess how old this girl is.
If you can't make it to Trafalgar Square, there are other ChessFest events being held around the country. The action kicks off in Portishead on 11th July and then continues in Hull (12th), Liverpool (19th) and Coventry (25th), finally finishing in Lancaster on 17th August. Keep an eye on the ChessFest website for more details or follow us on social media for the latest news.
A Historic Anniversary
ChessFest 2026 will celebrate a unique piece of the London’s history: the 175th anniversary of the Immortal Game. In 1851, German chess master Adolf Anderssen entered the game's folklore by sensationally sacrificing his queen and both rooks to force checkmate. One of the most famous games ever, it was likely played just a five-minute walk away from ChessFest at the newly-reopened home of chess, Simpson’s-in-the-Strand. Come and see Anderssen's materpiece re-enacted by our living chess set, ChessFest-style!
Trafalgar Square - How to get to ChessFest
Public transport is your best bet. The closest Tube station is Charing Cross, which goes right to Trafalgar Square. Additional nearby stations include Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. If you’re traveling by mainline train, the Charing Cross station is a three-minute walk away. Many buses will take you there as well. Click here for a map.
The aim of these Dvd's is to build a repertoire after 1.c4 and 2.g3 for White. The first DVD includes the systems 1...e5, the Dutch and Indian setups. The second DVD includes the systems with 1...c5, 1...c6 and 1...e6.
6/21/2026 – Dragon Chilling completed a double triumph at the World Team Rapid and Blitz Championships in Hong Kong, adding the blitz title to their rapid victory. Led by Ding Liren, the Chinese squad defeated Endgame.AI in the final with two 5-1 wins, after surviving tiebreaks in the previous rounds. Uzbekistan took bronze after beating Hexamind in the consolation match, while WR Chess recovered from their quarterfinal exit to finish fifth. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
6/21/2026 – On World Refugee Day 2026, FIDE has highlighted the continued development of its Chess for Protection project, created with UNHCR and partner organisations to support displaced communities through chess. The initiative, active in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, has trained thousands of children and will now expand to Bangladesh. A further milestone will come in September, when Refugee Olympic Teams make their first appearance at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. | Photos: Stev Bonhage, Denis Burko and Rawful Alam
‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are:
• 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2
• 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc)
• 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation
• 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1
• 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3)
It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.
YOUR PERSONAL CHESS COACH - Whether you’re taking your first steps into the world of club chess, or already playing at a tournament level: with FRITZ, you can train more efficiently, intelligently and with a more personalised approach than ever before.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
The Hyper-Accelerated dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
Chess is a concrete game. There is no way around training your calculation skills. Improve your visualization, pattern recognition and learn calculation techniques such as reciprocal thinking with this course.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Slav and Semi-Slav Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains a total of 11 766 games from Mega 2026 or the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 1136 are annotated.
€9.90
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