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  • The World Team Rapid Chess Championship is taking place on 17-19 June in Hong Kong. The tournament is played as a 12-round Swiss open (4 rounds per day), with six-player team matches. Elite GMs Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Viswanathan Anand, alongside female superstars Ju Wenjun, Bibisara Assaubayeva and Alexandra Kosteniuk are among the participants. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 8.00 CEST (2.00 ET, 11.30 IST) | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
  • A true Hamburg tradition: since 1958, Hamburg's Right Alster Bank has played against the Left Alster Bank! Yesterday, 3,744 pupils gathered on Hamburg's Rathausmarkt to take part in the world's largest school chess competition. This year, the opening move was made by Schools Senator Ksenija Bekeris together with Francesca, 10, and Thore, 10, from the Windmühlenweg Primary School. In the end, the Left Alster Bank won for the fourth time in a row, albeit by a relatively narrow margin, with 951½ points to 920½. That takes the overall score across all years to 40–22 in favour of the Left Alster Bank. This year, the team from Wielandstraße School took home the large challenge cup. | Photos: Nils Rhode
  • Dragon Chilling emerged as the sole leaders after day two of the World Team Rapid Championship in Hong Kong, reaching 14/16 match points after eight rounds. The all-Chinese team remain unbeaten, while Team MGD1 climbed to second place with a strong run that included a win over WR Chess. Barys also deafened WR Chess and moved into contention, as they stand in sole third place a point behind Team MGD1. WR Chess' Magnus Carlsen suffered two defeats on Thursday. | Photo: FIDE
  • Imagine a passion that stays with you through every chapter of life. A passion that is there when you are a child discovering the world, when you are searching for direction, when life suddenly becomes uncertain and when you are trying to find your way back again. For Bhavesh Vyas, that passion is chess. It became a source of comfort, connection and hope through some of the most challenging moments of his life, including a battle with cancer at the age of 22. Read on to discover how chess helped Bhavesh navigate life's toughest challenges and find joy again.
  • 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 rating was only 15 points higher. Now in Part 7 the author examines the remaining “competitors” to the Gorkov–Golubenko game for the title of the longest game by number of moves.
  • 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. But that is exactly what John Henderson does, in this piece that appears in the June issue of CHESS magazine. He tells us how the vast collection of chess memorabilia of GM Lothar Schmid, considered to be the largest and most important of its kind in private hands, went under the hammer recently at Sotheby’s in London. You will not believe the prices they received.
  • Looking for an interesting over-the-board chess tournament to play, attend, or simply watch? There are plenty being staged all over the world, and we will bring you regular overviews of the most interesting of them. We do this in cooperation with MyChess.events, a global platform that helps players discover upcoming events, check dates, venues, formats, prize funds and registration details. In our selection we highlight selected events from around the world that may interest players, coaches, parents and chess fans.
  • 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. Vincent Keymer and Fabiano Caruana enter the final round tied for first place, while Javokhir Sindarov, Wesley So and Jorden van Foreest stand a half point back and still have chances of taking the title. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting two hours earlier than usual, at 13.00 CEST (7.00 ET, 16.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
  • 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. Ahead of the final day of action, Hans Niemann is the sole leader, with Wesley So standing close behind, at a mere half-point distance. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 12.00 CEST (6.00 ET, 15.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes
  • The TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament is taking place on 1–7 May in Malmö, Sweden. World number one Magnus Carlsen heads the field, as he faces ambitious opposition that includes Tata Steel Masters winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and rising star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who recently became the youngest player to ever cross the 2700 rating mark. The event is an eight-player single round-robin. Follow the games live starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST) | Photo: Peter Doggers / Official website