As the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) enters its 11th edition, it has become a cornerstone of the professional chess world. With a $2 million prize fund and a reach spanning four continents, the tour is often described as a “well-oiled machine”. In an exclusive look at the tour’s history, CEO and Executive Director Michael Khodarkovsky […]
Strategy, repertoire work and modern trends: five current ChessBase products provide fresh inspiration for training and tournament practice. From Ivan Sokolov’s structural middlegame understanding to Isaac Garner’s practical repertoire ideas, as well as compact solutions against the London System and data-driven Powerbooks, the result is a versatile selection for modern chess training — well-founded, practice-oriented […]
Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave became the first co-leaders of the Super Chess Classic Romania after winning in round two. Keymer punished Bogdan-Daniel Deac’s kingside weakening, Vachier-Lagrave outplayed Alireza Firouzja in a Najdorf Sicilian, and Praggnanandhaa ended Javokhir Sindarov’s 53-game unbeaten streak in classical chess. Fabiano Caruana v. Anish Giri and Jorden van […]
In 1983, 21 years after Wolfgang Uhlmann’s victory over Mikhail Botvinnik at the 1962 Chess Olympiad in Varna, a German player once again managed to defeat a reigning world champion. In the first round of the International Mephisto Chess Tournament in Hanover, Wolfram Hartmann, then a 27-year-old law student from Bamberg, achieved one of the […]
All five games ended drawn in the first round of the Super Chess Classic Romania, though several players had chances to grab full points. Alireza Firouzja missed the clearest opportunity against defending champion Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (pictured), while Fabiano Caruana failed to make the most of an extra pawn against Jorden van Foreest. Wesley So v. […]
Simpson’s in the Strand has reopened with a nod to its origins as a chess venue, a detail explored by Harry Wallop in The Times. Wallop’s article uses the London restaurant’s history to examine a wider revival of over-the-board chess, from social clubs and café events to rising sales of physical chess sets, and considers […]
The second event of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Chess Classic Romania, which is taking place on 14-23 May in Bucharest. Nine regular tour players, all elite GMs with 2700+ ratings, are joined by wildcard Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov and Anish Giri are the top seeds. | Follow the action […]
Wadim Rosenstein came into prominence when he organised the first edition of WR Chess in 2023. He then came up with the idea of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Teams – an event that has become a mainstay in the chess calendar. In recent times, if you follow Rosenstein on his X account, the […]
The ChessBase Opening Encyclopedia 2026 is one of the company’s flagship products alongside the Mega Database and the ChessBase database program – currently ChessBase’26. For years, these programs have formed part of the essential toolkit for everyday chess work. From the very beginning, the Opening Encyclopedia has played a key role by providing a fast […]
Four days, thousands of rapid and blitz chess games, international and national participants such as Maghsoodloo, Pranav and Blohberger – the 2026 Grand Prix at PlusCity in the Austrian town of Pasching is once again set to become one of Europe’s biggest chess festivals. Anyone who wants not only to think chess, but to experience […]