Category Archives: News

Pepe Cuenca takes Temuco title ahead of Diego Flores

The third edition of the Temuco International Chess Tournament brought together a strong international field in southern Chile for nine rounds of classical play. After six days of competition, José “Pepe” Cuenca of Spain and Argentina’s Diego Flores finished level on 7½ points. Cuenca claimed the title on Sonneborn–Berger tiebreaks, having led the tournament early […]

Inaugural Pia Cramling Cup successfully held in Stockholm

The FIDE Commission for Women’s Chess co-organised the inaugural Pia Cramling Cup in Stockholm, combining a new women’s rapid tournament with a DGT Board Operator Certification Seminar during the Rilton Cup. Held in collaboration with Pia Cramling and the Stockholm Chess Federation, the event brought together players and professionals from several countries, highlighting both competitive […]

Review: All new releases in December!

ChessBase 26 is certainly the highlight among the November releases, but the other databases also offer a wealth of study material. There are many new options to explore, as well as in Harald Schneider-Zinner’s checkmate course, which combines a book with an online course. Finally, there are also new installments of Karsten Müller’s Endgame Academy […]

Tata Steel Chess: Keymer, Erigaisi and Niemann score in eventful first round

Round one of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee began after an unusual delay provoked by protests outside the playing hall. In the Masters, decisive games followed uncharacteristic early blunders, with Hans Niemann, Vincent Keymer and Arjun Erigaisi all scoring with the white pieces. Later in the day, world champion Gukesh Dommaraju […]

Svitlana’s Smart Moves – The Fake Sveshnikov Sicilian

Svitlana introduces the “Fake Sveshnikov,” an unconventional Sicilian where Black mimics familiar Sveshnikov structures but deliberately deviates with early …e5 and …Ne7 to sidestep typical pins and seize dynamic counterplay. The episode walks through White’s main setups (Bg5, Be3, Bd3, c3, c4), showing recurring Black ideas like sacrificing a pawn, rapid development, dark-square pressure, and […]

Tata Steel Chess – Live!

The 88th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament is taking place from 17 January to 1 February and once again features the traditional structure of parallel Masters and Challengers tournaments, each consisting of 14 players competing in a single round-robin. Round one sees world champion Gukesh Dommaraju playing black against one of the four […]

World Champion loss against Underdog – The Underdog

Gukesh, the World Chess Champion, endured a difficult 2025. Still, he produced a convincing win against Magnus Carlsen and finished tied for first at Tata Steel Chess, ultimately losing the blitz tiebreak to Praggnanandhaa. At the World Blitz Championship in Doha, he suffered a stunning upset against underdog Sergey Sklokin (2407), where an extraordinary endgame […]

Saint Louis Chess Club announces 2026 invitational tournament schedule

The Saint Louis Chess Club has unveiled its 2026 tournament calendar, outlining a full season of elite events in the United States and abroad. Anchored by an expanded 30,000-square-foot home campus, the schedule includes established fixtures such as the American Cup, Sinquefield Cup and U.S. Championships, alongside international stops on the Grand Chess Tour. | […]

Chess on the beach: An initiative by the Argentine Olympic Committee

The Argentine Olympic Committee has launched “Olympic Beach”, a nationwide summer programme that brings organised sport and Olympic values to Argentina’s coastal and riverside locations ahead of the Santa Fe 2026 South American Games. Running throughout January across eight venues, the initiative combines free sporting activities, youth engagement, environmental actions and federation-led events, including the […]