The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will bring ten grandmasters to the Saint Louis Chess Club from 2 to 6 August for the fourth leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer and Wesley So are the leading tour contenders in a field that also includes World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov (pictured), […]
Monthly Archives: July 2026
Svitlana explores the Center Game with 1.e4 e5 2.d4 and explains why this historic opening remains a practical surprise weapon. She examines the main queen placements, Black’s most important defensive setups, and White’s typical plan of castling queenside and launching an attack. Particular attention is given to the choice between f3 and Nf3, the importance […]
The 53rd Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting gets underway on Saturday (1–8 August). Alongside a strong open tournament featuring German national team players Matthias Blübaum, Rasmus Svane and Dmitrij Kollars, as well as Biel Open winner Christian Glöckler (pictured), the festival also includes an international women’s GM tournament, where Dinara Wagner will defend her title. | […]
FIDE and the International School Chess Federation (ISCF) have introduced a new format for the World Schools Team Championship. Continental championships will first be held in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, with the continental winners advancing to a final tournament in December.
On Monday, the African Chess Confederation elected a new executive board. In an extremely close vote, the incumbent continental president was voted out of office, and Benard Wanjala (pictured) was elected as the new president. The defeated candidate, Tshepiso Lopang, has accused Benard Wanjala of vote-buying and lodged a complaint against the result. | Photos: […]
Argentine 15-year-old IM Francisco Fiorito won the 42nd Andorra Open, scoring 7½ points from 9 rounds to finish half a point clear of the field. After suffering his only defeat in round four, he recovered to win four of his final five games, including victories over GMs Egor Bogdanov and Andrey Sumets. Top seed Miguel […]
Chris Ward turns this edition of the Monthly Dragon into a special exploration of the Accelerated and Hyper Accelerated Dragon. He explains how Black can respond to the Maroczy Bind, why move order details matter, and which active ideas can prevent White from establishing comfortable control. Several instructive sidelines and one of Ward’s own quick […]
Alireza Firouzja has withdrawn from the remainder of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour after choosing to compete in the Esports World Cup in Paris, whose dates overlap with the Sinquefield Cup. His tour points have been annulled and contractual penalties will apply, while Samuel Sevian will replace him in Saint Louis. Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So […]
The British Championships will take place from 1 to 9 August in Coventry and, with more than 1,700 participants across all sections, will be the largest edition in 122 years. The country’s leading players will compete alongside a number of promising young talents. Particular attention will be focused on Bodhana Sivanandan, England’s young chess prodigy. […]
From August 3 to 10, 2026, Almaty will become the center of global university chess. Kazakhstan’s largest city will host the finals of the FIDE World University Team Chess Championship, the first-ever world team championship for universities. The tournament will feature 16 university teams. Among them are institutions with centuries of academic history and deep-rooted […]