Jaime Santos won the 39th edition of the León Masters after obtaining a convincing 3½-½ victory over defending champion Le Quang Liem in the final match. The 30-year-old GM from León, who had already won the event in 2023, reached the title match by beating Faustino Oro, while Le needed tiebreaks to overcome Kirill Alekseenko. […]
Monthly Archives: July 2026
Alireza Firouzja is once again the sole leader thanks to an 8/9 performance on the first day of blitz. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who entered the fourth day of action in shared first place, suffered four losses in a row at some point and only scored 3½/9. Firouzja’s closest chasers are now Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, […]
On the penultimate weekend in June, the “De Sprenger Echternach” chess club hosted the traditional Echternach Open. Nearly 350 chess enthusiasts gathered in the historic Abbey of Echternach to compete for tournament victory, special prizes and strong placings. In the end, second seed Loek van Wely came out on top.
The FIDE Ethics & Disciplinary Commission has issued its decision in proceedings involving former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, finding him responsible for multiple violations linked to public statements about David Navara, the late Daniel Naroditsky and other players. The EDC imposed a two-year worldwide ban, with the final year suspended for a three-year probationary period, […]
On the third day of the rapid chess section at the Super Rapid & Blitz in Zagreb, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu managed to draw level with Alireza Firouzja. Pragg won all three of his games on Friday, defeating Ivan Saric, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Anish Giri. Firouzja and Pragg thus go into the blitz section sharing the lead […]
The inaugural Naroditsky Memorial Rapid & Blitz is taking place in Charlotte from 3 to 5 July, combining open tournaments with elite showcase events across a three-day festival. Friday is devoted to a seven-round rapid competition, divided into Masters and Challengers sections, with a time control of 10+5. Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Javokhir Sindarov […]
At the end of last year, the famous chess café Simpson’s-in-the-Strand reopened, and its new operator, Jeremy King, together with his friend Jason King, intends to preserve its chess tradition. To this end, a “chess menu” was recently put together. Luke McShane gave a blindfold chess exhibition – the first at Simpson’s for 100 years.
Alireza Firouzja increased his lead at the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb after scoring two wins and a draw for the second day in a row. He now has 10/12 points, 3 more than Vincent Keymer, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Gukesh Dommaraju and Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Firouzja won both his games with black on Thursday, while […]
After nine hard-fought rounds, the Kasparov Chess Foundation Friendship Festival 2026 Open came to a thrilling conclusion. Chinese grandmaster Xu Xiangyu captured the title with an outstanding performance, prevailing in one of the strongest international open tournaments ever organized on Slovenian soil. Final report, with photos provided by Jernej Borovinšek.
Alireza Firouzja took the sole lead after the first day of the Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia in Zagreb, scoring two wins and a draw in the opening three rapid rounds. His victories over Ivan Saric and Bogdan-Daniel Deac were not straightforward, while a third-round draw against Anish Giri left him on 5/6. Four players […]