4/28/2019 – During the 1950s and 1960s Svetozar Gligoric was one of the world's best players and the Yugoslavian number one. Gligoric was also happily married, a successful journalist and writer, and had fought for the Yugoslavian partisans during World War II. Vlastimil Hort often met Gligoric and now shares his memories.

1/12/2019 – If Vlastimil Hort did not exist one would have to invent him. He was born in Kladno, Czechoslovakia, on January 12, 1944, and in the 1970s he was one of the world's best players and World Championship candidate. He also enriched chess with his stories full of wit, humour and a deep knowledge about the game he loves. Today, Vlastimil Hort celebrates his 75th birthday. | Drawing: Ottokar Masek

11/22/2018 – How to recover after a loss? What to do when things do not go your way — in life and in chess? Vlastimil Hort has an answer to this question: "Don't worry, be happy!" And he shares some anecdotes to show how this works in practice.

10/29/2018 – Chess is a beautiful game, but sometimes the beauty is not so obvious to an untrained eye. When an experienced grandmaster like SUNDARARJAN KIDAMBI carefully studies a game between two world-class players, you know that you are in for a treat. Kidambi doesn't do a superficial job. He puts himself into the shoes of Wesley So and tries to understand the logic behind his every move. When studied carefully, this can seriously help you improve your chess understanding as well as appreciate the art of the game.

10/11/2018 – David Bronstein was certainly one of the most creative players in the history of chess. In 1951 he drew a World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik who thus narrowly defended the title. Vlastimil Hort remembers encounters with "my David Ionovich", including how a promise to play the King's Gambit in 1970 came back to haunt him 24 years later!

8/21/2018 – In the second part of his comments on the Senior World Team Championships, New-Senior Vlastimil Hort deals with some incidents on the chess board and has picked out and commented on some critical games and positions.

8/9/2018 – Lubomir Kavalek was born in Prague, but left his country in 1968 and found a new home in the USA. In the 1970s, he was one of the world's best players and also successful as a second and coach, including Bobby Fischer, and a prolific writer with dozens of columns shared on ChessBase over the years. Today he celebrates his 75th birthday. | Photo: (left) Kavalek and (right) World Chess Hall of Fame

7/24/2018 – The World Senior Team Championships was on Jon Speelman's mind recently, and now it's Vlastimil Hort's turn. Hort was born in 1944 and initially wanted to wait until he reached his eighties before starting to play in senior tournaments. However, friends convinced him to try it earlier and he took part in Radebeul. He enjoyed the time and was happy to meet a lot of old colleagues and friends. | Photos in the report: Karsten Wieland

7/11/2018 – The chess train continues this year, with the great route Prague-Ostrava-Warsaw-Krakow-Hradec Králové and back to Prague. During the ride, a rapid chess tournament is played. In the afternoon there is enough time to see the cities. Find out about this now-traditional and quickly-becoming-legendary tournament. | Photos: Pavel Matocha

7/5/2018 – Ludek Pachman was an important theoretician, an industrious author, and a controversial personality. In Czechoslovakia he was a staunch communist but after the "Prague Spring" he changed from Saul to Paul or, as some people think, from Saul to Saul. Vlastimil Hort shares memories of Ludek Pachman. (Part 1) | Photos: Archive Michalek

7/2/2018 – Ludek Pachman was an important theoretician, an industrious author, and a controversial personality. In Czechoslovakia he was a staunch communist but after the "Prague Spring" he changed from Saul to Paul or, as some people think, from Saul to Saul. Vlastimil Hort shares memories of Ludek Pachman. | Photos: Archive Michalek

2/28/2018 – Bent Larsen was born 83 years ago, on March 4, 1935, in Tilsted, a small village in Denmark. He never had a trainer but became one of the best players in the world. "If in hell, then first class," was his motto. Vlastimil Hort knew him well. | Photo: Harry Pot/ Nationaal Archief NL

1/5/2018 – For decades Vlastimil Hort, born in 1944, was one of the world's best players. He played countless tournaments and matches, where he saw chess history in the making and met many chess legends. No wonder he has lots of short stories to share. Here are some more... | Photo: André Schulz

1/2/2018 – For decades Vlastimil Hort, born in 1944, was one of the world's best players. He played countless tournaments and matches, where he saw chess history in the making and met many chess legends. No wonder he has lots of short stories to share. Here are some of them. | Photo: André Schulz

12/19/2017 – Vasja Pirc was born 110 years ago today. His name is immortalised in the opening theory, but the man himself is almost forgotten, although the Slovenian history professor was at times one of the best players in the world. Vlastimil Hort has met the wine-lover and remembers.

12/14/2017 – Geurt Gijssen is one of the most renowned chess arbiters and during his active time witnessed many dramatic and historical moments of chess history. In an interview Vlastimil Hort asked the veteran arbiter about his career, his passion for chess, and his take on incidents and scandals in recent chess history. | Photo: Gerhard Hund

11/11/2017 – Curiosity, asking ourselves questions, engaging actively our opening study — what we really need on the road to chess mastery. In this review Davide Nastasio was curious to discover what made GM Bauer begin to play the Scandinavian, and thanks to Megabase 2017 he shares his findings in this review, through showing some critical games everyone should know.

10/12/2017 – Vlastimil Hort continues to share memories of great chessplayers and personalities he has met during his long chess career. One of them was German Grandmaster Wolfgang Unzicker. At first, Unzicker suspected that Hort was a communist spy, but when this suspicion was dispelled, they became friends and liked to tell each other jokes in Russian. | Photo: André Schulz

7/23/2017 – On Saturday the 50th chess festival of Biel officially openedl. Today chess players such as Anatoly Karpov, Vlastimil Hort and Rafael Vaganjan participate in a rapid tournament. Monday sees the start of the GM-tournament, the main event in the annual festivities. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival (bielchessfestival.ch)

6/23/2017 – In his series about great chessplayers of the past Vlastimil Hort honors Karel Opočenský, the first Czech chess professional. Hort knew him personally and Hort knows that it was Opočenský who once showed Najdorf an interesting new idea in the Sicilian.

6/2/2017 – Paul Keres was perhaps the best of all the top players who never became World Champion. For decades he was among the world's elite and he was also an excellent commentator and renowned theoretician. Vlastimil Hort remembers his encounters with the great Estonian.

2/22/2017 – Before World War II Salo Flohr was one of the world's best players. In 1939 Flohr was to play a World Championship match against Alexander Alekhine but the outbreak of the war destroyed Flohr's hopes to become World Champion. Vlastimil Hort knew Flohr well and shares memories.

1/12/2017 – January 12 seems to be a special day for chess: today, three well-known chessplayers celebrate thieir birthdays! The oldest of the jubilarians is Vlastimil Hort who turns 73 today. Much younger is Sergey Karjakin, World Championship Challenger and reigning World Blitz Champion. But the youngest of the three is Harika Dronavalli. Happy Birthday!

1/9/2017 – 116 players took part in the Masters Tournament of the traditional Christmas Open in Zürich. After seven rounds six players shared first place with 5.5/7 each. Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan had the best tie-break and won the tournament. Chess legend Vlastimil Hort scored 4.0/7.