5/12/2026 – Frederik Svane won the Sardinia World Chess Festival outright with 7½/9 points, defeating Karthikeyan Murali in the final round after both had entered the day tied for first place. The event in Orosei also saw 12-year-old Faustino Oro secure his third grandmaster norm, completing the title requirements and becoming the second-youngest grandmaster in chess history. | Photo: Sardinia World Chess Festival / KNZO Photography
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.!
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.
Why memorising endless theory might not be the best path - and how an idea-based repertoire can change your game.
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Svane wins tournament outright
The Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026 took place from 3 to 10 May in Orosei, Sardinia, with the main section played at Club Hotel Marina Beach. The event was a nine-round Swiss tournament, with a classical time control of 90 minutes for the whole game and a 30-second increment from move one. Ten players rated 2600 or above took part, including two rated over 2700, with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Parham Maghsoodloo, Ivan Saric, Karthikeyan Murali and Frederik Svane the top seeds in the field.
Frederik Svane emerged as the outright winner. The 22-year-old German grandmaster scored a remarkable 7½/9 and finished with a 2748 tournament performance rating. His victory was achieved thanks to a crucial result in the final round, when he defeated Karthikeyan Murali with the white pieces after the two players had entered round nine tied for first place on 6½/8. The win left Svane half a point clear of the rest of the field.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities! Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career.
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section
Three players shared second place on 7/9: Haik Martirosyan, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Mamikhon Gharibyan. Gharibyan's result was particularly notable, as he had entered the tournament as the 29th seed and obtained back-to-back upset wins over Leon Luke Mendonca and Abhimanyu Puranik in the final two rounds. Nepomniachtchi, the top seed and a former World Championship challenger, also finished in the chasing group after beating Faustino Oro in the last round.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups. The Benoni family of openings has toppled world champions, decided match games under the highest pressure, and rewarded those brave enough to play them with some of the most electrifying chess imaginable. In this Fritztrainer, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov - continuing his successful series "Understanding Middlegame Structures" - takes you deep inside the complexities of the Colour-Reversed Benoni, the Colour-Reversed Benko Gambit, and the Colour-Reversed Blumenfeld Gambit.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Colour Reversed Banoni - Game 1
Frederik Svane | Photo: KNZO Photography
Oro becomes second-youngest GM ever
Oro's result was the other central storyline of the tournament. The 12-year-old Argentine, who entered as the 23rd seed with a 2528 rating, scored 6/9 and finished 16th, with a 2594 tournament performance rating. The score was enough for his third and final grandmaster norm, and since he had already crossed the 2500 rating mark, it secured the title.
The norm was effectively secured before the final game was played. Oro had reached 6/8 after grabbing key victories with the black pieces over Guido Caprio and Bartlomiej Niedbala in rounds six and eight, and was then paired with Nepomniachtchi in the final round. Because of the Russian grandmaster's high rating, Oro only needed to appear for the game to complete the norm requirement. Nepomniachtchi won their 55-move encounter from a Nimzo-Indian Defence, but the result did not affect Oro's title qualification.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions. The London System is one of the most popular openings at every level of chess but not all Londons are the same. In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: 5...cxd4 6.exd4 Qb6 sidelines
With the result, Oro became the second-youngest grandmaster in chess history. He surpassed the marks set by Sergey Karjakin and Gukesh Dommaraju by a small margin, though Abhimanyu Mishra's record remains intact. The Argentine had earned his first grandmaster norm and crossed 2500 at the Legends & Prodigies tournament in Madrid last year, before adding his second norm at the Szmetan-Girardelli Masters in Buenos Aires in December.
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
2/22/2026 – Twelve-year-old Argentine talent Faustino Oro is set to compete in the Aeroflot Open in Moscow, one of the strongest open tournaments on the international circuit. With two GM norms already secured and the rating requirement met, the event represents his final opportunity to become the youngest-ever GM in history. The Moscow tournament brings together an exceptionally strong field, with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Andrey Esipenko and Daniil Dubov as the top seeds. | Photo: Argentine Chess Federation
12/11/2025 – Chess weeks in Argentina: The national championships recently came to an end with one successful and one failed record – Diego Flores triumphed for the eighth time as Argentine champion, while Faustino Oro, who wants to become the youngest GM of all time and has till March to reach that goal, missed the GM norm. Just a few days later, both play in a tournament in Buenos Aires. At the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli, they face other Argentine talents and greats such as Alexei Shirov, Ivan Cheparinov, Julio Granda Zuniga and top seed Aryan Tari. | Photos: FADA, Mar Melero
The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
From the 2026 Candidates Tournament, featuring a video review by Dorian Rogozenco, to Jan Werle’s opening video on the French Tarrasch Defence, and Oliver Reeh’s tactical column ‘Top Grandmasters at Work’. Analyses by Giri, So, Wei Yi and many others.
You will learn how Black's dynamic piece activity and structural counterplay more than compensate for White's extra tempo in the colour-reversed setups.
In this course, you’ll learn how to take the initiative against the London and prevent White from comfortably playing their usual system by playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5.
London System Powerbase 2026 is a database and contains in all 11 285 games from Mega 2026 and the Correspondence Database 2026, of which 282 are annotated.
The London System Powerbook 2026 is based on more than 410 000 games or game fragments from different opening moves and ECO codes; what they all have in common is that White plays d4 and Bf4 but does not play c4.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
€59.90
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