Take a look at this position. In order to have any winning chances, White must clearly move his rook. There are nine squares it can safely occupy, but only one retains the win. Can you find it? Today we have four problems that will challenge your endgame skills. Try to solve them by moving pieces […]
Monthly Archives: October 2025
Wilhelm Steinitz, born in Prague in 1836, is regarded as the first official World Chess Champion after winning the historic 1886 match against Johannes Zukertort. He founded modern chess theory by replacing romantic, attacking chess with strategic and positional thinking, formulating numerous principles that still shape the game today. The Master Class, featuring four international […]
Hans Niemann was the sole winner in Round 4 of the Open section at this year’s U.S. Championships. Playing Black, he defeated Sam Shankland to move into a tie for second place with defending champion Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian, half a point behind leader Wesley So, who drew his game against Abhimanyu Mishra. In […]
Richard Rapport had the best individual result at the European Team Chess Championship in Batumi. Playing on board 1 for Hungary, he scored 5.5 points from 7 games and had a performance rating of 2869, the highest of all players in Batumi. In the final round, he won a nice and theoretically interesting game against […]
The Colle and Zukertort Systems offer White a simple yet powerful setup with d4–Nf3–e3–Bd3, aiming for rapid development and a strong kingside attack. The Colle-Koltanowski focuses on c3 and e4, while the Zukertort System employs b3 and a fianchettoed bishop for added strategic depth. Easy to learn and highly effective for club players, this course […]
In a surprising move, FIDE has officially approved a new world championship format: the Total Chess World Championship Tour, organized by Norway Chess. The Tour will determine a FIDE World Combined Champion across three disciplines – Fast Classic, Rapid, and Blitz – through four global events each year. With a $2.7 million annual prize pool, […]
Two decisive games were seen in the open section and four in the women’s section as round three of the US Chess Championships took place in Saint Louis. In the open, Wesley So defeated Sam Shankland to move into the sole lead on 2½ points, while Grigoriy Oparin scored his first win of the tournament. […]
The 2025 European Team Chess Championship concluded in Batumi with Ukraine and Poland emerging as the continental champions in the open and women’s sections respectively. Both teams entered the final round in control of their own destinies and confirmed their titles with victories on the last day of play. The tournament featured 40 teams in […]
ChessBase co-founder Matthias Wüllenweber talks in an interview about 40 years of ChessBase, 35 years of Fritz and much more. The interview was first published in the October issue of Schach-Magazin 64 and appears here with the kind permission of Otto Borik, editor-in-chief of the chess magazine. | Photos: ChessBase / Nils Rohde / Archive […]
The 2025 US Chess Championships began in Saint Louis with an eventful first day that saw Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian take the early lead in the open section, while Irina Krush, Atousa Pourkashiyan and Anna Sargsyan prevailed in the women’s event. The opening round was notable both for the quality of play and for […]