There has been some movement at the top of the world rankings. Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana both lost rating points at the Candidates Tournament. As Nakamura’s losses were more significant, both players dropped below the 2800 mark. In May, however, Caruana gained four rating points and caught up with Nakamura. As a result, Caruana […]
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Wesley So is still the sole leader at Norway Chess, despite losing the Armageddon decider to Gukesh Dommaraju after saving a draw in the classical game. He now leads by 2½ points, as Alireza Firouzja, his closest pursuer, suffered a second consecutive classical loss, this time against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Magnus Carlsen, meanwhile, gained ground by […]
Grandmaster Amin Bassem takes on the Swindler on GM level and quickly guides the game into a strategically rich King’s Indian structure. Throughout the game, Amin demonstrates deep positional understanding, carefully evaluating dynamic imbalances and resisting tempting material gains when they would strengthen Fritz’s active pieces. After a tense middlegame battle full of subtle decisions, […]
Wesley So took the lead at Norway Chess after beating Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in round six, while Alireza Firouzja lost his long-held first place following a defeat against Magnus Carlsen. Vincent Keymer scored his first win of the event by defeating world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. All three classical games were won by the player with the […]
Chess can be read alongside Egyptian ideas of order, judgement and self-discipline. Beginning with senet and its symbolic links to the afterlife, the text follows the later arrival of shatranj in Islamic Egypt and considers how the chessboard became a useful metaphor for ethics, strategy and human limits. These connections are treated cautiously, avoiding claims […]
Divya Deshmukh scored a win with black in her classical game against Zhu Jiner in round five of the Norway Chess Women tournament. Deshmukh overtook former sole leader Bibisara Assaubayeva in the standings. Assaubayeva herself drew against Anna Muzychuk and lost in Armageddon. Deshmukh leads the field with 8½ points, followed by Assaubayeva on 8 […]
Wesley So and Gukesh Dommaraju won their classical games with the black pieces in round five of Norway Chess, beating Magnus Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu respectively. Alireza Firouzja kept the sole lead after drawing his classical game against Vincent Keymer and then winning the Armageddon decider. So is now his closest pursuer, while Gukesh moved […]
In this episode of The Underdog, Robert presents a game from the 25th European Women’s Chess Championship 2026 in Batumi, Georgia. As he has done in several previous episodes, the featured game is not from the opening round but from round four. The talented Armenian player Polina Kobak faced IM Stavroula Tsolakidou of Greece, one […]
What do a teenage endgame played almost blindfolded (in every sense) in 1977 and a 239-move grandmaster game from the Czech Extraliga in 2016 have in common? In Part 6 of this series, Valery Golubenko combines personal memory, endgame tablebases, and hard logic to show how easily won positions can turn into marathon absurdities – […]
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn took the sole lead at the European Women’s Championship in Batumi after defeating Elmira Mirzoeva to reach 5/5. The 15-year-old Ukrainian WFM, seeded 76th in the 165-player field, has now scored four consecutive upset wins. Oliwia Kiolbasa from Poland and Gulenay Aydin from Türkiye stand half a point behind, while an 11-player group […]