1/15/2020 – In Shanghai on Sunday, the sixth game of the women's world championship between Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina ended in a draw. Goryachkina pulled out all the stops until the 105th move, but the fortress of the defending champion held fast. The match is all tied up at 3:3, and the action now moves to Vladivostok. Get up to speed on the first half's action in time for Thursday's Game 7. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong FIDE / Official site

6/18/2018 – “Tournaments should be held in places which uphold the rights of chess players”, says WGM Soumya Swaminathan after withdrawing from the Asian Nations Cup 2018 due to a dress code that requires women to wear a hijab. The Asian Nations Cup will be held from July 27th to August 4th, 2018 in Hamadan, Iran. Soumya has refused to travel to the tournament as she thinks that the dress code violates her human rights. This stand by Soumya which started as a small Facebook post has snowballed into international coverage.

3/7/2017 – Iran, the country that has just finished hosting the 2017 Women's World Championship, has been in the mainstream news of late for different reasons. In a remarkable incident during sidelines of the Championship the Iran Chess Federation banned two siblings for "hurting Iran's national interests" (e.g. not wearing a hijab in the Gibraltar Open). This has caused an international outcry, and now an Iranian player and computer scientist, Arash Akbarinia, weighs in.

2/21/2017 – Dorsa Derakhshani is a talented teenaged chessplayer residing in Spain, originally from Tehran, Iran. She is only the second female in Iran's chess history to have become an international master. Her younger sibling Borna Derakhshani is a talented lad of fifteen and has a good career ahead of him. Imagine their surprise when they were informed by Dorsa's friends that she and her younger brother had been 'banned' by the Iranian Chess Federation!

2/12/2017 – The first round of the Women's World Championship 2017 was off to a controversial start in Iran. For a handful of higher rated players, it was a frustrating opening round as they were held to draws. Some even lost. Check out GM Elshan Moradiabadi's illustrated report with analysis and more.