4/3/2024 – On April 7, the subscribers of Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy will gather for an exclusive interview with Maurice Ashley, the first African American chess grandmaster. Here, amidst the whispered echoes of strategic brilliance, Ashley will unveil insights from his latest literary endeavour, "Move by Move: Life Lessons on and off the Chessboard", which has seen the world on April 2.

3/22/2024 – Romanian grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac won the Reykjavik Open after scoring 7½/9 points, leaving seven players tied for second place a half point back. According to tiebreak criteria, Sebastian Maze from France and Paulius Pultinevicius from Lithuania grabbed second and third place, respectively. Deac entered the event as the rating favourite, and obtained clear first place after scoring back-to-back wins in the final two rounds. | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir

3/18/2024 – Step into the illustrious world of chess greatness for an interview with IGM Vladimir Tukmakov at the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy! Tukmakov is a former top player of the end of the 20th century. His chess education was in the Ukrainian city of Odesa, where he still resides nowadays. Subscribers of the KCF Academy have full access to the captivating interview on March 24, 2024.

3/12/2024 – Dive into the minds of chess legends as the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy unveils exclusive interviews with two of the brightest stars: Fabiano Caruana and Peter Svidler! Subscribers of the KCF Academy have full access to these captivating conversations, offering a glimpse into the strategies, stories, and experiences that have shaped their illustrious careers.

3/6/2024 – Step into the world of chess brilliance with Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest chess grandmaster in history! At just twelve years old, Mishra captivated the chess world with his exceptional talent and unwavering dedication. In an exclusive interview at the Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy, Abhimanyu shares insights into his remarkable journey, including his experience training with the legendary Garry Kasparov.

2/24/2024 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy invites you to watch an interview with grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz, one of the strongest German female chess players since her youth. On February 25, 17:00 CET, Elisabeth will give a live interview at KCF Academy. Add it to your calendar!

2/17/2024 – Magnus Carlsen defeated Fabiano Caruana with the white pieces to claim overall victory at the first edition of the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Chess Challenge. The Norwegian took home the US$ 60,000 first prize for his efforts. Levon Aronian grabbed third place after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov, while Alireza Firouzja secured an invitation to the next edition of the event by beating Gukesh D in the fight for fifth place. | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase

2/8/2024 – Chess960 or Freestyle chess will soon be the centre of attention. The 1st German Chess960 Championship will take place in Berlin, Germany, on 9 February and in the German spa Weissenhaus at the Baltic see the world's best chess players will compete in the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. But who invented this form of chess? Chess historian Hans D. Post has been searching the archives. | Picture: Philip Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt, who probably was the first to come up with the idea of Chess960 or Freestyle chess.

2/4/2024 – The Northwest Cup took place for the first time in Oldenburg and then moved to Bad Zwischenahn. This year it celebrated its 25th anniversary. The railway strike in Germany made it difficult for participants to travel to the event, but well over 380 chess enthusiasts made it to the tournament hall, including Bettina Trabert. | Photos: Bettina Trabert

1/27/2024 – The Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy has announced an extraordinary bonus for participants of their course! The renowned grandmaster Fabiano Caruana will be sharing his insights and experiences in an exclusive interview conducted by Christian Chirila. Add it to your calendar!

1/25/2024 – The FIDE Trainers’ Online Seminar will be held on February 2-4, 2024. The seminar is being organized by the Asian Chess Federation in cooperation with the FIDE Commission for Women in Chess under the supervision of the FIDE Trainers’ Commission. Artur Yusupov, Hou Yifan and Antoaneta Stefanova will be among the lecturers.

1/20/2024 – A brainchild of Chokri Saidi, a French-Tunisian entrepreneur, the Djerba Chess Festival aims to combine chess, friendship, culture and tourism on the beautiful island of Djerba, the largest island off the coast of North Africa — which is also known as the ‘island of dreams’. Furthermore, Saidi has gone a step further in his chess organizing pursuits and, from this year, he is also organizing the prestigious Jeddah International Youth Chess Festival. Diana Mihajlova informs.

1/9/2024 – An eventful chess year lies behind us. And an equally eventful chess year lies ahead of us. Many dates for the major and somewhat smaller international tournaments have already been announced. Here is a preview of the 2024 tournament calendar. | Photo: FIDE

1/1/2024 – We are three months away from the start of the Candidates Tournaments in Toronto. With no more rated classical games in the December-2023 period, we got the names of the two players who got the rating spot in the open and women’s sections — Alireza Firouzja and Humpy Koneru (pictured), respectively. The 2023 edition of the FIDE Circuit has also finished, with Gukesh grabbing the Candidates spot by finishing in second place, since Fabiano Caruana — the winner of the Circuit — was already qualified via the FIDE World Cup. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

12/28/2023 – Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy is proud to announce stellar events in January 2024, that promise to elevate your chess game to unprecedented heights. Brace yourselves for insightful and strategic wisdom from two of the world's top chess players: Grandmaster Ramesh RB and Grandmaster Alexander Motylev.

12/11/2023 – ChessBase India, together with several partners and supported by the Government of Tamil Nadu, is organising the Chennai Masters 2023, the strongest classical chess tournament in the history of Indian chess, from 15 to 21 December. The tournament might decide who will go to the Candidates Tournament 2024. | Photos: ChessBase India.

11/7/2023 – With a last-round-win Czech Grandmaster Jiri Stocek won the 26. Open International Bavarian Championships ahead of GM Maxime Lagarde from France. Both players finished with 7.5/9, but Stocek had the better tiebreak. German International Master Roven Vogel won bronze and made his third and final GM-norm. | Photos: Sandra Schmidt

10/26/2023 – He is an internist, a gastroenterologist at a Berlin hospital. He is also an avid chess player. And a photographer, who founded the Valokulta art group. Dr Jan Wähner has sent us some extraordinary pictures from the 2024 calendar, for which his good friend GM Dr Helmut Pfleger has written the foreword.

8/23/2023 – In mid-August, the Women's Chess Commission hosted its inaugural Online Blitz Tournament on the ChessBase Playchess platform. Under the leadership of Chairperson Regina Pokorna, the event was organized to further spotlight women's chess. Eleven female competitors took part in this intimate online blitz event, where they had the chance to challenge the formidable IM Stavroula Tsolakidou. The top Greek female player clinched the title with a flawless score of 10/10!

8/20/2023 – The FIDE World Cup is coming to an end. One of the most exciting events in the chess calendar, it features an open section and a women’s section, with spots in the Candidates up for grabs in both events. The ever-curious GM Karsten Müller compiled the most interesting positions from the tournaments. Find here five instructive endgames from the women’s category! | Pictured: Divya Deshmukh | Photo: Anna Shtourman

8/10/2023 – One of the most exciting events in the chess calendar, the FIDE World Cup, is taking place in Baku. Players try to show their best as they fight for spots in the next edition of the Candidates Tournaments, both in the open and in the women’s section. Robert Ris, a successful coach and a fantastic analyst, has been publishing videos with highlights from the much-anticipated tournament. Not to be missed!

7/14/2023 – The 56th Biel Chess Festival, one of the most traditional and beautiful chess tournaments, begins next Saturday, 15 July 2023. In his review, Eduard Frey presents ten surprising and interesting facts about the history of the tournament. | Photo courtesy of the organiser: Playing Hall, Congress Centre Biel

7/14/2023 – Caiobá is a beach near the city of Matinhos, in the state of Paraná, in the south of Brazil. Matinhos has been the site of many important tournaments, most notably the 1994 U20 World Championship. In recent years, however, Caiobá has become better known among chess players due to the SESC Caiobá Chess Open, an important tournament in the Brazilian chess calendar since 2015, only missing in 2020/21 due to the covid pandemic. This year's edition was a great chess party, and the organisers promise that 2024 will be even better.

7/7/2023 – The finish of the 6th game of the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi was impressive. In a tense and complicated position, Ding surprisingly advanced his d-pawn, and this small pawn advance was crucial to a spectacular mate that could have occurred in the game. The audience was impressed, the study composers were inspired. In his last "Study of the Month" column Siegfried Hornecker had a look at "Ding's Theme" in studies, in his current column he returns to this theme with further insights. | Photo: Ding Liren | Photo: Amruta Mokal