For twenty years, Harika Dronavalli was a fixture of every Indian team that walked into an Olympiad hall. Board one, board two, whatever the assignment, she was there, absorbing the pressure that comes with playing for a country rather than just for herself. So when the Indian squad for the Chess Olympiad 2026 was announced […]
Category Archives: News
The two-part FritzTrainer series “King’s Indian – A Complete Repertoire for Black” by Grandmaster Felix Blohberger is devoted to one of the most dynamic and at the same time complex openings in modern chess: the King’s Indian Defence. Lukas Köpl examines the series with regard to its structure, content, didactic quality and practical relevance.
Warning: this is a long read. Two weeks ago I wrote a piece on the increase of computer power in the last 50 years. A number of readers wrote me letters discussing my findings and commenting on what I had said. Then I asked myself: what does AI, what do ChatGPT and its colleagues think […]
Wesley So won the Sinquefield Cup for a third time (and for a second year in a row) after defeating Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in tiebreaks. The pair had finished the classical event tied on 5½/9, before two rapid draws sent the contest to Armageddon. Praggnanandhaa missed several winning chances with white, allowing So to hold the […]
Étienne Bacrot and Sophie Milliet were crowned French chess champions, winning their ninth and seventh national titles, respectively. The 2026 edition of the French Championship took place from August 7 to 16 in Vichy and featured 16-player knockout competitions in the Open and Women’s sections, as well as several side Swiss tournaments. In the main […]
In this episode of Svitlana’s Smart Moves, Svitlana Demchenko explains how to work with candidate moves and build a more reliable thinking process at the board. Using several practical examples, she shows how comparison, calculation, prophylaxis and piece improvement help narrow down the right choices in critical positions. Special attention is given to knowing when […]
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu caught Wesley So in the lead of the Sinquefield Cup with one round remaining after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 27 moves. So drew Sam Sevian, leaving both players on 5/8. Vincent Keymer and Javokhir Sindarov are half a point behind after scoring wins on Tuesday, with Sindarov’s victory keeping his hopes of reaching […]
IM Andrew Martin presents a complete White repertoire after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, with the Evans Gambit as its aggressive centerpiece for tactically minded players up to around 1800 Elo. Volume 1 covers the key lines, attacking ideas and traps of the Evans Gambit, while Volume 2 provides practical answers to the Petroff, Philidor, Two Knights […]
With his FritzTrainer “Calculation Training”, Robert Ris tackled one of the most important topics in chess back in 2018: how to calculate correctly – and clearly struck a chord. Several more courses on the subject followed. Jochen Schwarz has taken a closer look at these courses and presents an overview.
Dear chess friends! We’ve got another great offer for you: this week (until August 23rd, 2026), you can get up to 30% off all Fritz Trainer courses by Robert Ris and Felix Blohberger!