8/12/2026 – The French Championship is taking place in Vichy from 7 to 16 August 2026. The competition follows a knockout format, with each match consisting of two classical games, followed, if necessary, by rapid, blitz, and Armageddon tiebreaks. Marc'Andria Maurizzi (Photo) and Yosha Iglesias, crowned champions in 2025, are still in contention to retain their titles. The first semi-final games begin on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., with the second games taking place at the same time on Thursday. | Photos: Ambrose Ducable
new: ChessBase Magazine 225
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
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In the National Championship, Étienne Bacrot, Laurent Fressinet, Maxime Lagarde, and Marc'Andria Maurizzi have qualified for the semi-finals. In the Women’s National Championship, the four remaining players are Pauline Guichard, Marie Sebag, Yosha Iglesias, and Sophie Milliet.
The line-up is exceptionally strong: the eight semi-finalists have won a combined 23 French Championship titles! In the National Championship, the four highest-rated players in the field have all reached the semi-finals. Étienne Bacrot, Maxime Lagarde, Marc'Andria Maurizzi, and Laurent Fressinet occupied the top four places in the rankings at the start of the competition. Between them, they have won no fewer than twelve French Championship titles!
Étienne Bacrot versus Laurent Fressinet is a true classic of French chess. On one side stands Bacrot, an all-time record eight-time French champion, who finished third last year. On the other is Fressinet, a two-time French champion, the record holder for appearances with the French national team, and a finalist in each of the past two editions. The two players obviously know each other’s games inside out, and their rivalry goes back many years. In 2017, Bacrot claimed his eighth title by defeating Fressinet in an Armageddon tiebreak. They met again in the semi-finals in 2022, when Bacrot prevailed after another lengthy tiebreak. A new chapter in this great rivalry is about to be written in Vichy!
Etienne Bacrot | Photo: Ambrose Ducable
The other semi-final will pit Marc'Andria Maurizzi against Maxime Lagarde. The reigning French champion, also the 2023 World Junior Champion and the youngest French Grandmaster in history, is now dreaming of retaining his title. Lagarde also has plenty of experience on the big stage: French champion in 2019, he has also won several national rapid and blitz titles and is a member of the French national team. Both players handled their quarter-finals perfectly, winning the first game before securing a draw in the return game.
The Women’s National Championship also offers two superb match-ups, with the four semi-finalists sharing eleven French Championship titles between them!
Pauline Guichard will face Marie Sebag in a battle between two-time French champions. Guichard won the title in consecutive years, in 2018 and 2019, and has since added the 2025 French Rapid Championship to her list of achievements. Sebag was crowned French champion in 2000 and 2002. The first Frenchwoman to earn the Grandmaster title and still France’s highest-rated female player, she has considerable experience at the highest level. Both players have also won medals with the French national team.
Marie Sebag | Photo: Ambrose Ducable
Finally, reigning French champion Yosha Iglesias will take on Sophie Milliet, one of the iconic figures of the French Women’s Championship. Iglesias won the title for the first time in Vichy in 2025 and also claimed the national blitz crown that same year. Milliet, meanwhile, has won the French Championship six times—in 2003, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2016, and 2017. She remains in contention to equal Almira Skripchenko’s record of seven titles. After losing the first game of her quarter-final against Manon Schippke, Milliet once again demonstrated her fighting spirit by levelling the match in the return game before prevailing in the tiebreaks.
Dive into the fascinating world of the Sicilian Kalashnikov variation! We will uncover the secrets of this explosive opening from the very first moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5.
Etienne MenschEtienne Mensch ist Internationaler Meister, Entdecker der digitalen Welt und ... der Geschichte des Schachs! Rund 15 Jahre lang war er sehr aktiv als Schachtrainer. Einer seiner Schüler, Bilel Bellahcene, gewann 2014 bei der U16-Jugendweltmeisterschaft die Bronzemedaille und wurde später Großmeister. Etienne verbindet seine Leidenschaft für Schach und digitale Technik, indem er sich bei Gelegenheit an der Organisation von Veranstaltungen beteiligt. Sein besonderes Interesse gilt Live-Übertragungen, darunter audiovisuelle Produktionen und die Übertragung von Partien.
8/8/2026 – Shreyas Royal has taken the sole lead at the British Chess Championship after seven rounds in Coventry. The 17-year-old followed a draw against Svyatoslav Bazakutsa with consecutive wins over Bodhana Sivanandan and top seed Luke McShane to reach 6/7. Bazakutsa is among five players half a point behind. Royal will face nine-time British champion Michael Adams in Saturday's penultimate round. | Photo: Yury Krylov
8/8/2026 – Day four of the FIDE World University Team Championship Finals began away from the chessboard, as participants traded the playing hall for the mountains surrounding Almaty. Before the start of the quarterfinals, players had an opportunity to visit Shymbulak, one of the city’s best-known mountain destinations. After three intense days of group-stage competition, the morning excursion gave the students a chance to experience another side of Almaty and spend time together before returning to the tournament venue for the start of the knockout stage. A few hours later, attention turned firmly back to chess.
On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!
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.
IM Andrew Martin shows why this 19th-century opening weapon still is a fantastic choice for club players. The Evans produces exciting chess and teaches the art of attack.
The major part of the material on which the Petroff Defence Powerbook 2026 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 357 000 games. This imposing number is supplemented by another 17 000 from Mega and from correspondence chess.
Petroff Defence Powerbase 2026 is a database which contains 6475 high class games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 682 annotated.
Videos: Felix Blohberger presents the surprise weapon 4…a6 in the Four Knights Game. Mihail Marin analyses the English Opening with 1.c4 e5 2.g3 g6 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg2 Nc6. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 37 analyses by Berg, Radjabov and others.
Renowned for its solidity and strategic soundness, it has been a cornerstone of the repertoires of elite grandmasters including Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who relied on it successfully in the Candidates Tournament.
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