Chess News

The FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand elected Timur Turlov as President and Viswanathan Anand as Deputy President, alongside a new group of vice-presidents and senior officials.

The 12th Judit Polgar Global Chess Festival took place at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, with critical thinking as the central theme of its 2026 edition.

Gymnasium No. 50 of Minsk won the European Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Schools Team Championship in Tsaghkadzor, completing the eight-round event with a perfect match score.

Jonathan Speelman turns 70 today, 2 October 2026.

Russia is hardly known for treating people in general, and political opponents in particular, with restraint.

Chris Ward looks at two very different Dragon games, one from club level and one from the very top of the chess world.

The 2026 U.S. and U.S.

Chess is currently banned in Afghanistan.

Arne Kähler shares impressions from the final moments in Samarkand: the start of the crucial matches Uzbekistan–Ukraine and India–Hungary in the last round, a blitz game against seven-year-old Uzbek talent Mukhammadyusuf Bakhramov, scenes from the press r…

The results of the Chess Olympiad in Uzbekistan brought notable changes to the rankings.

In this Olympiad special of The Underdog, Robert Ris presents seven remarkable upsets from both the Women’s and Open sections, chosen not only for the rating differences but also for the instructive chess behind them.

He has been elected FIDE President.

Arne Kähler sets off by golf cart from the entrance gate to the exhibition area at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.

It’s once again time to think about aesthetics in ChessBase´26 training: Have you ever noticed the “Style” option?

"Yesterday, in one of the most horrifying terrorist atrocities in history, the World Trade Center in New York was destroyed..."

ChessBase´26 is amazingly versatile and often surprisingly user-friendly — as the first 29 parts of this tutorial series have already shown!

Chess players, mark your calendars.

In a 15-minute video, Demis Hassabis, one of the central scientists working on artificial intelligence, tells us why he worries about AI going rogue.

As you have noticed, this form of chess is becoming increasingly popular.

The Sinquefield Cup is taking place on 10-20 August at the Saint Louis Chess Club.

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.

A few weeks ago this great chess organiser and sponsor passed away at the age of 57.

We're planning the next chapters of ChessBase and we want input from the people who actually use it, before we decide what to build first.

A year ago problem composer Werner Keym issued a challenge: compose a study in which White is winning – but one that can be shifted and mirrored vertically and horizontally, with all vertically shifted and mirrored positions drawing, and all horizontally…

In the early 1980s, as a fledgling TV journalist, I did a report on the fastest computer in the world.

The Biel International Chess Festival is taking place on 11-24 July.

Svitlana looks at Max Euwe, one of the most underrated world champions in chess history.

In this episode of ChessBase Tips for Beginners, we look at layout customization and show how to arrange the panes in the single game window to create a more comfortable workspace.

In this episode of The Underdog, Robert Ris presents a spectacular upset from the Asian Esports Chess Cup, where a young Thai player (Pakornnarong Liukasemsarn) defeats super-GM Andrey Esipenko despite an enormous rating gap.

Do you know the powerful training tool in ChessBase´26?

The Lyon Olympique Échecs club has just sent out an alert to 17,500 chess players and 2,500 other contacts.

In the comments on Part 5 of the series, readers pointed out that this was not a “master game” (as stated on the Guinness page), since Arsović had an initial rating of 2200 (which by today’s standards may correspond to a rating of 1400), while Nikolić’s r…

It isn't easy to weave Sotheby’s, Queen Isabella of Spain, Fischer-Spassky 1972, Michael Caine and a vigilante killer into the same article.

Looking for an interesting over-the-board chess tournament to play, attend, or simply watch?

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.

Kicking off the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first of three speed chess events, which is taking place on 5-9 May in Warsaw.

The TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament is taking place on 1–7 May in Malmö, Sweden.

Were you able to handle the four rook endgame studies we showed you recently?

Preparations are fully underway for the FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2026 in Hong Kong from 16 to 22 June.

The Candidates Tournaments form the final qualifying stage of the FIDE World Championship cycle.

It should be clearly emphasized that the longest chess game of all time can only arise by chance.

Two months ago Valery Golubenko played what may well have been one of the longest chess games ever seen, measured by number of moves, under the rather restrictive conditions of modern chess life.

Praful Zaveri is the founder of Indian Chess School, where he has trained more than 5000 students.

Success in world-class chess is built long before the game begins.

Wilhelm Steinitz had lost his World Championship title to Emanuel Lasker in 1894, but he still retained the right to a return match.

Were you able to solve the challenge positions we gave you last week?

Who is your favourite chess player – of all time, from the history of chess?

"Many players use ChessBase, it is the most popular chess software by far, writes GM Iniyan Pa.

The chess world has undergone a significant transformation in recent years.

What is the secret of becoming really good at chess?