The second edition of the Sahel Chess Festival will take place in Monastir, Tunisia, from 24 October to 1 November 2026. After attracting more than 300 players in its inaugural year, the festival will again feature several classical tournaments divided by rating category, including a section for players aged fifty and above. The organisers also […]
Monthly Archives: July 2026
Does this sound familiar? You often reach good positions from the opening, only to fail to convert your advantage because you do not understand the resulting positions well enough. Jochen Schwarz, a club player from Bremen, wants to improve in this area and has enlisted Ivan Sokolov as his ‘coach’ through the video series “Understanding […]
In July 1976, Viktor Korchnoi, then the second-best player in the world, used his participation in the IBM tournament in Amsterdam to defect from the USSR. A cat-and-mouse game worthy of a spy thriller began. The Soviet authorities responded with offensive statements and an almost total boycott – almost. | Photo: Viktor Korchnoi in 1976 […]
ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess. Nagesh Havanur takes a look at the recent issue, CBM 231. 2836 games, mainly from the Candidates Tournament and European Individual Championship. 27 annotated, 11 opening surveys, 3 opening videos, demo. lectures and several exercises for training. Annotators include Anish Giri, Wei Yi, Wesley […]
Alexey Sarana won the KazChess Masters in Almaty after finishing level with Alexander Donchenko on 6/9 points and taking first place on tiebreaks. The ten-player round-robin, held from 30 June to 8 July, paired five established international grandmasters with five rising Kazakhstani players. Igor Kovalenko finished third on 5½/9, while Denis Makhnev achieved the best […]
After six rounds at the African Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship in Stellenbosch, Uganda’s Sr. Miriam Duggan Primary School and Kenya’s Moi Nyeri Complex Primary School share the lead on 10 match points. Five teams remain two points behind before the final day. The third day also featured spotlights on […]
Jon Speelman examines how computer-assisted analysis can sharpen the study of complex positions, using examples from Svidler-Lobron at the 1996 Yerevan Olympiad and recent Grand Chess Tour games in Zagreb. The article explores hidden defensive resources, zugzwang motifs and tablebase findings, while also posing several calculation challenges for readers. | Image: Centaur mosaic found in […]
Jonathan Levitt is an English chess grandmaster, author, teacher, and composer of endgame studies. As a player, he competed successfully in tournaments, but health challenges led him to retire from regular over-the-board play in his forties. In recent years, he has pursued creative endeavors, including songwriting with chess themes dedicated to figures like Bobby Fischer […]
The 59th edition of the Biel International Chess Festival begins on the weekend of 11 July. Participating are chess greats such as Levon Aronian, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Matthias Bluebaum in the Masters Triathlon, as well as Vaishali Rameshbabu and Alexandra Kosteniuk in the Generations Challenger. In both invitational events, games will be played in […]
Norwegian football is currently enjoying something of a high. Last Sunday, the Norwegian team knocked Brazil out of the World Cup, and they did it in style. In Norway, football and chess go well together – and not only because of Magnus Carlsen. Edith and Monika Machlik are also among the country’s dual-sport stars! | […]