2/13/2024 – In about two weeks, on 26 February 2024, the sixth Prague International Chess Festival (PICF) will begin. This year the four best juniors in the world - Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Abdusattorov and Keymer - will be in Prague to complete the strong field of Vidit, Rapport, Maghsoodloo, Navara, Bartel and Nguyen. But as tournament director Petr Boleslav explains in an interview, this is just one reason to combine a visit to one of Europe's most beautiful cities with chess. | Picture: Festival logo 2024

1/14/2024 – Chess legend Vlastimil Hort turned 80 on Friday. In a short interview, he talks about when and how he learned to play chess, which player he admired the most, why he left the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and what he thinks of online chess tournaments. | See also: Vlastimil Hort, the great chess entertainer, turns 80! by Eduard Frey

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!

9/18/2023 – Thirty years ago, the World Championship match between Garry Kasaprov and Nigel Short was played in London. The match was not organized by FIDE and divided the chess world in two. The match was very one-sided. Dagobert Kohlmeyer was there. | Photos: Dagobert Kohlmeyer

6/26/2023 – Ray Robson rejoined the lead at the Prague Masters after beating Wang Hao with white in Sunday’s fifth round. This was the US grandmaster’s third decisive game in a row, as he employed the same line he had used to defeat Boris Gelfand in round 3. In the other decisive game of the day, Haik Martirosyan got the better of Thai Dai Van Nguyen. Meanwhile, an eventful round in the Challengers left Benjamin Gledura in the sole lead. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

5/13/2023 – Andrzej Filipowicz is one of the most interesting chess personalities in the world. He has been a chess player, arbiter, organizer, editor and writer, as well as a civil engineer specializing in steel structures. Endowed with a strong personality, clear intelligence, well-defined convictions and a curious sense of humour, he is turning 85 today, on 13 May 2023. Uvencio Blanco conducted a lengthy interview with the Polish chess polymath.

5/5/2023 – This weekend the Grand Chess Tour starts with the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest. Eduard Frey takes a look at the great chess history of the Romanian capital. | Photo: Panoramic view of the city centre of Bucharest - University Square with the University of Bucharest building on the right, the National Theatre on the left and the Palace of Parliament on the far right in the background. | Photo: Wikipedia

5/1/2023 – The following survey lists all chess players who have reached a top five or top ten status at least once in their career, ranked by their highest position, then in chronological order. Of course, the start of the FIDE Elo list and the current date are arbitrary, but the chess world has now had an established rating and ranking publication for more than fifty consecutive years. How many different TOP FIVE players would you expect? Well, there are only 55 luminaries in the last 55 years or so! Check it out. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov | Photo: Grand Chess Tour

1/22/2023 – The photo shows the tournament hall of the Hoogovens tournament 60 years ago, at that time still in Beverwijk. 18 players took part in the A-tournament and Jan Hein Donner won. One of the participants at that time was Tan Hiong Liong. He was one of the first IMs of Asia - a bright star that soon burnt out for tragic reasons. A journey through time... | Photos: Dutch National Archive (if not otherwise stated)

1/13/2023 – The traditional Tata Steel international invitation tournament series, annually ongoing since the year 1938, held in Wijk aan Zee and earlier in Beverwijk, is a highlight in the calendar of classical chess. Eduard Frey presents funny Trivia from the rich history of this remarkable tournament. | Photo: Playing Hall, Organiser

9/1/2022 – After twenty games the score was 11½-8½ for Challenger Bobby Fischer, who needed 12½ to win the title. In game 21 he had the black pieces, gained a distinct advantage, but then allowed Boris Spassky to get a drawn position. However, when the still-reigning World Champion adjourned, he sealed a losing move. The next day, September 1st, 1972, resigned by telephone on. At 2:35 p.m. Chief Arbiter Lothar Schmid congratulated Fischer and announced in the hall that Bobby was the new champion.

8/25/2022 – After draws in games 14 and 15, Fischer still had a three-point lead in the World Championship match, and the Spassky side was getting nervous. The Champion was fighting hard, but not getting any points. Suspicion arose that Fischer might be using secret weapons: hypnosis, devices planted in the lights or the chairs, and even perhaps assistance from an "IBM" (Russian for "computer" at the time). All this was formally investigated, while Fischer continued to coast.

8/25/2022 – The well-known grandmaster and author Lubomir Kavalek passed away last year in January. A prolific writer, he penned dozens of well-read chess columns, including one he shared on ChessBase over the years. Here we reproduce one from February 2017, in which Kavalek shows us a failed queen sacrifice by Jan Timman against him, and Caruana’s successful 19.Qxf6!! sac against Nakamura at the London Chess Classic.

8/18/2022 – Fischer leads by three points. The Match of the Century was coming to a head, with Spassky, despite all his efforts, unable to reduce the deficit. "I felt that Fischer was like a large fish in my hands," he lamented, "one that was slippery and hard to hold on to. At certain moments I let him slip. And then again the psychological torment would begin. Everything had to be begun again from the start ..." Spassky was beginning to feel despondent. | Photo: Skáksamband Íslands

8/13/2022 – After ten games in the World Championship match in Reykjavik, 1972, the score was 6½-3½ for Challenger Bobby Fischer. The match seemed virtually over – in the last eight games Boris Spassky had only managed to score 1½ points. In game 11 Spassky took on the Poisoned Pawn variation of the Najdorf Sicilian. "Fighting with the desperation of the doomed: he sensationally crushed his opponent in the 11th game" (Kasparov). In the twelfth he held Fischer to a comfortable draw. And then came the 13th round. Fischer played, for the first time in a top-level game, the Alekhine Defence. It turned into one of the most exciting battles of the match, and is beautifully annotated by GM Robert Byrne.

8/12/2022 – The World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) pays homage to American chess phenom Bobby Fischer with the largest exhibition of its kind, 1972 Fischer/Spassky: The Match, Its Origin, and Influence", on view from August 18, 2022, through April 30, 2023. A public opening reception is happening on Thursday, August 18, 2022, 5-8 pm, with free admission. | Photo: worldchesshof.org

7/15/2022 – This is the 2nd episode in the series of Olympiad stories with Saravanan. In this episode, we discuss the Madras Tiger Vishy Anand and some of his memorable games at the Olympiad. In discussing the games, Saravanan and Sagar also go into the history of how Vishy developed as a chess player. Saravanan saw the lightning kid style of play of Anand and also the more mature and calm style. This is part of a 6-episode series of the most interesting stories from the Chess Olympiads. | Photo: Abhyudaya Ram.

6/14/2022 – Almost eight years ago, in 2014, it was with deep chagrin that we announced the demise of the decades-old chess column in the venerable New York Times. Its most recent upkeeper at the time was the New York Times journalist, Dylan Loeb McClain, who still writes about chess affairs for the paper. It is with pleasure that we can trumpet its resurrection at the hands of GM Daniel Naroditsky.

6/24/2021 – In one of the most memorable finals played in a World Cup, Sergey Karjakin beat Peter Svidler in a match brimming with ups and downs. After winning the first two classical games, Svidler only needed a half point in the next two games to secure tournament victory — the player from Saint Petersburg went on to miss winning chances in game 3 before losing both that encounter and the next one. Blunders also played a big role in the tiebreaks, with Karjakin finally emerging as the winner.

5/6/2021 – Wesley So has proven to be capable of beating any player from the elite, including world champion Magnus Carlsen. The Filipino-born grandmaster, currently representing the United States, obtained his highest-ever live rating in April 2017, following a streak of remarkable results in the elite circuit. We look back at the successes that helped the ever-humble star to reach the second spot in the world ranking. | Photo: South African Junior Chess Championship Facebook page

4/8/2021 – In the last couple of decades, China has become a chess powerhouse, with Ding Liren fighting at the highest level, the national squads accumulating success after success in team events and the women players continuing to show their strength. A week and a half before the resumption of the Candidates — where two of the participants are Chinese — we revisit two brilliant games by players born in the world’s most populous country: Liu Wenzhe and Wei Yi. | Photo: Niki Riga

4/3/2021 – When a chess club reaches a nice round anniversary, a proper celebration is called for. And what better way to celebrate than with a grandmaster tournament? That’s what the ‘SG Bochum 31’ club did in 1981, when it celebrated its 50th anniversary with the “International German Championship” held at Stadtpark Restaurant. Those who were already active chess fans at the time will certainly look back and remember one or two of the participants — among them was Lubomir Kavalek, who in fact won the tournament! It all happened 40 years ago to the day. | Photo: Gerhard Hund, via Wikimedia Commons

4/3/2021 – Take a look at this position. Can White (to play) win? It is a truly remarkable study by a truly remarkable composer. Mario Matouš gives us a wonderful position to solve. The theme is a rampaging queen which wants to sacrifice itself to stalemate the black monarch. Can you solve it? The composer was born in Czechoslovakia in 1947, and died 2013. Here's a memorial by Emil Vlasák.

4/2/2021 – Australia’s Gold Coast metropolitan region is known for sandy beaches and surfing. And a simul. International Master Alex Wohl took on 20 chess players in an outdoor simultaneous exhibition. Woman International Master Alexey Root and Wohl report on chess activity at the Gold Coast’s Burleigh Market. | Photo: Kgbo [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons