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! | […]
The African Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship began in Stellenbosch, South Africa, with 26 school teams from 22 countries competing for places in the Grand Final. The opening day featured two rounds, an unconventional ceremony centred on messages from young players and outreach activities at Paul Roos Gymnasium. The event, […]
FIDE has decided that the Best Creator category at the inaugural FIDE Excellence Awards will be named The Daniel Naroditsky Best Creator Award. The dedication comes as the chess world continues to honour the memory of Daniel Naroditsky, known to friends and fans as Danya, who passed away in October 2025 – a loss still […]
Three full days! What if, out of those 72 hours, you play chess for 67 hours? Would you be able to survive? This was the question posed to all the players as the WR Chess World Record Marathon kicked off in Lima, Peru at the Sheraton Hotel. Some of the best grandmasters from South America […]
Indian Grandmaster Leon Luke Mendonca has never been shy about letting people into his world. Long a familiar face at the ChessBase studio, the 20-year-old from Goa has spent recent years building a genuine chess résumé, headlined by his surprise victory in the 2024 Tata Steel Challengers. Now the man who became India’s 67th grandmaster […]