4/9/2024 – Four rounds have been played in the Candidates Tournament and Ian Nepomniachtchi is in the lead with 3.0 out of 4. But, as we often hear, nothing is decided yet because, after all, 14 rounds are played in Toronto, which is still a long way to go. But the numbers tell a different story: in the six Candidates Tournaments from London 2013 to Madrid 2022, the player leading after four rounds has always won. | Photo: Ian Nepomniachtchi at the Madrid 2022 Candidates Tournament, which he won comfortably. | Photo: Stev Bonhage (FIDE)

3/31/2024 – In this pictorial Quiz for Easter, you need to guess who is in the photograph. Ten chess players in rare and unusual photographs. Some are easy, others are less easy, some include a hint. Check it out! At the bottom you will find the solutions and photo credits. Happy Easter to everyone!

3/24/2024 – The most important tournament of the year begins on April 3 in Toronto, Canada: the Candidates Tournament. Eight participants, 14 rounds, the winner plays for the World Championship. Two of the eight participants have already won one or more Candidates Tournaments, four have already played one or more Candidates Tournaments, the youngest candidate is 17, the oldest is 36 years old. But who will win? | Photos: Official website / FIDE

3/15/2024 – Have you ever finished last in a tournament? Well, it happened to Vidit Gujrathi at the Prague Masters 2024. As Vidit himself pointed out, this might be the first time ever that he finished last in his entire chess career. And it happened 20 days before the most important event of his life - the Candidates, this cannot really be a good sign, can it?

2/7/2024 – In his World Chess Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, which made him the 17th World Champion in the history of chess, Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren won the sixth game by threatening a checkmate with rook and knight. Let us see how that checkmate was utilized in endgame studies. | Photo: Midjourney

2/2/2024 – Good news for chess fans all over the world, and especially for those in Germany. The largest chess tournament in Europe, the Grenke Open, and the elite Grenke Classic are back. Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Richard Rapport and Daniel Fridman will play in the Classic. | Photo: Grenke Chess

2/2/2024 – The history of the Candidates Tournaments and Candidates Matches dates back to 1950. In its anniversary year, FIDE is looking forward to the Candidates Tournaments in Toronto in April 2024 and provides an overview of the history of these competitions. | Photos: Via FIDE

1/14/2024 – The much-anticipated Tata Steel Masters kicked off on Saturday in Wijk aan Zee. A lively first round saw four players scoring full points, all with the black pieces — Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri and Wei Yi are sharing the lead after the first day of action. The Challengers also saw four players grabbing wins right off the bat. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

1/12/2024 – Today, legendary Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort celebrates his 80th birthday. A long stay of several weeks in the hospital when he was five years old and a caring doctor who played correspondence chess and explained the chess rules to him gave way to his great passion. Eduard Frey celebrates the legend’s anniversary!

1/4/2024 – As expected, Magnus Carlsen has now announced on his X account that he won't be playing in the Candidates Tournament in Toronto in April, even though he qualified by winning the World Cup 2023 and by being the world's number one on the rating list. GM Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan, who lost to Carlsen in the semifinals of the World Cup, will get Carlsen's place in the Candidates. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

1/3/2024 – With the publication of FIDE's January rating list, the participants in the Candidates Tournaments in April have been practically finalised. Alireza Firouzja and Humyp Koneru qualify thanks to their ratings while Magnus Carlsen is formally qualified, but has already stated that he does not wish to play.

12/26/2023 – Five players ended day 1 of the World Rapid Championship sharing first place with 4½/5 points. Magnus Carlsen, who assessed his play on the first day as “so-so”, heads the leading pack, which also includes Yu Yangyi, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and Ivan Cheparinov. In the women’s section, Zhu Jiner and Nurgyul Salimova are sharing first place with perfect 4/4 scores. | Photo: FIDE / Lennart Ootes

12/18/2023 – There are still two places available in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. One of these places will go to the player with the highest Elo rating in the January 2024 world rankings who has not yet qualified for the Candidates Tournament. A tournament was therefore organised at short notice in Chennai, India, to give Erigaisi and Gukesh a better chance to qualify. Leinier Dominguez tried his luck at the Sunway Sitges Open, while Alireza Firouzja now suddenly has a chance to gain Elo in a series of matches in France.

12/17/2023 – Today, 17 December 2023, Alexander "Big Al" Beliavsky celebrates his 70th birthday. 50 years ago, in 1973, he became World Junior Champion and has been a fixture in the chess universe ever since. For decades he was a world class player and in the course of his illustrious career Beliavsky defeated no less than nine world champions in classical chess - a feat achieved only by Paul Keres and Viktor Korchnoi! Eduard Frey congratulates and presents highlights of a remarkable career. | Alexander Beliavsky at his first Chess Olympiad in Lucerne 1982 | Photo: Dr. Klaus Krtschil via Wikipedia

12/11/2023 – Michael Adams became the first Englishman to win the London Chess Classic. At 52, the former World Championship candidate described this victory as “the best ever” in his career. In the final round, Adams drew Shreyas Royal with black, which meant Royal finished with 4/9 points, the score he needed to collect a second GM norm. The one decisive result of the day saw Hans Niemann beating Gukesh. Amin Tabatabaei, who signed a draw with Jules Moussard, got sole second place. | Photo: London Chess Classic

12/10/2023 – With one round to go, Michael Adams continues to be the sole leader at the London Chess Classic. Saturday’s round saw Adams holding Luke McShane to a draw with black, while chasers Gukesh and Amin Tabatabaei also split the point in their direct encounter. Two hard-fought encounters did finish decisively, though, as 14-year-old Shreyas Royal turned the tables in his game against Jules Moussard, and Andrei Volokitin got the better of the adventurous Matuesz Bartel. | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh

12/9/2023 – The first three rounds of rapid chess at the Gashimov Memorial ended with Nijat Abasov as the sole leader in the standings. Abasov, who is likely to play in the Candidates Tournament next year, beat Boris Gelfand and Richard Rapport in consecutive rounds to finish the day with 5/6 points (wins are worth 2 points in the rapid section). Sharing second place on 4/6 scores are Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi and Rauf Mamedov. | Photo: Official website

12/6/2023 – Michael Adams continues to be the sole leader at the London Chess Classic after a fifth round with one decisive result. Going into the rest day, Adams has a half-point lead over four players, including Mateusz Bartel, who was the one participant to collect a full point on Tuesday. Adams played Gukesh in round 5, got a very promising position, and agreed to a draw by repetition while still in the driver’s seat. | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh

12/2/2023 – Dommaraju Gukesh and Michael Adams got off to winning starts at the 13th edition of the London Chess Classic. Gukesh defeated Mateusz Bartel’s French Defence, while Adams showcased his positional virtuosity playing white against Amin Tabatabaei. Both Gukesh and Adams will play black in the second round, against Nikita Vitiugov and Hans Niemann respectively. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram

12/1/2023 – With a final-round win over Richard Rapport, Fabiano Caruana secured tournament victory at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis. This was Caruana’s third victory in this event, as he had previously won it in 2014 (when he famously grabbed seven wins in a row) and in 2018. Sole second place went to Leinier Dominguez, who drew Levon Aronian with the black pieces on Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/15/2023 – In chess, blunders are inevitable. Of course, you might try to minimize them with tactical training, but you will never be able to get rid of them altogether. The same is true for unpleasant surprises. Whatever you do to be fully prepared for anything that might happen at the board, your opponent will still be time to time able to play a nasty unexpected move that gets you in a state of shock and horror. | Photo: A shocked Magnus Carlsen, analysing a game he played against Levon Aronian at the Grand Chess Tour tournament in Zagreb 2019 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/6/2023 – Robert Hübner is the best German chess player since Emanuel Lasker. At the height of his career, the grandmaster from Cologne was ranked third in the world behind Karpov and Korchnoi. With his scientific training, Hübner also took a scientific interest in the game of chess. The multiple World Championship candidate turns 75 today. | Photo: Robert Hübner during a lecture about a game he played in Tilburg 1985 against Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Photo: Hartmut Metz)

10/25/2023 – On Tuesday evening, the Grand Swiss Tournaments 2023 were ceremonially opened at Villa Marina on the Isle of Man and the colours for the first round were drawn. The field is strong, the pairings are exciting. | Photos: Anna Shtourman

10/17/2023 – Fabiano Caruana successfully defended his title at the 2023 U.S. Championship in Saint Louis. The 31-year-old beat Abhimanyu Mishra to secure tournament victory with a round to spare, and thus claimed his third U.S. title — Caruana won the championship in 2016, 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, in the women’s event, Carissa Yip beat Anna Zatonskih to leapfrog Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova atop the standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes