ChessBase

• A Game That Outlasted the Day

  A month ago Valery Golubenko played what may well have been one of the longest chess games ever seen, measured by number of moves, under today’s rather restrictive conditions of modern chess life. It began in the morning and was finally stopped by the rules as the sun was setting.

• TePe Sigeman 2026 in May: Carlsen and Abdusattorov headline lineup

  World number one Magnus Carlsen is set to return to classical tournament play at the TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament, scheduled for 1–7 May in Malmö. The Norwegian will face a compact but ambitious field that includes recent Tata Steel Masters winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and several leading young talents. Played as an eight-player round-robin, the long-running Swedish event once again combines established elite names with emerging contenders. | Pictured: Carlsen and Abdusattorov at the Paris leg of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam | Photo: Lennart Ootes

• Scottish 15-year-old Frederick Gordon crowned British Rapidplay Champion

  Frederick Waldhausen Gordon of Scotland produced a striking late surge to win the 2026 British Rapidplay Championship in Peterborough, defeating top seed Gawain Maroroa Jones in the decisive final-round encounter. The two-day Swiss event attracted 228 participants, including seven grandmasters. Maroroa Jones and Shreyas Royal shared second place, while Trisha Kanyamarala, Harriet Hunt and Bodhana Sivanandan were declared co-winners of the British Women's Rapidplay title. | Photo: Ife Olayinka

• Emil Sutovsky: Candidates plans unchanged amid regional tensions

  With the Candidates Tournament set to begin later this month, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky has addressed concerns about security, travel logistics and organisational preparations in an interview with Sagar Shah. While acknowledging regional tensions, Sutovsky stressed that plans for the event in Cyprus remain unchanged, with contingency measures in place and close coordination with local authorities. | Pictured: Sutovsky at the 2024 World Corporate Chess Championship in New York. | Photo: FIDE / Rafal Oleksiewicz

• Liang scores 6-4 victory over Nakamura in training match

  Hikaru Nakamura was defeated 6–4 by Awonder Liang in a three-day training match in Saint Louis held as preparation for the Candidates Tournament. After two drawn classical games, all eight encounters in the rapid and blitz sessions ended decisively, with Liang ultimately prevailing. The match provided Nakamura with competitive practice ahead of a demanding event, for which several of his future rivals have recently been active. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

• Can you handle pawns?

  Were you able to solve the challenge positions we gave you last week? Were you able find the way to promote the pawns to win? Today we bring you all solutions, with very instructive video explanations by Jared Modica, a chess content creator from Austin, Texas. He shows us how to solve tatical lines of play, and how to handle pawns in endgames.

• Chess Olympiad: Cloud power for your national squad

  Success in world-class chess is built long before the game begins. With the "Federation Package", developed specifically for national federations, players and coaches gain access to the complete professional ChessBase software, the world's largest chess database, and powerful cloud analysis – at a price that provides up to five times more computing power than individual solutions! A long-term investment that will measurably enhance the performance of the entire team.

• News on the 1896 Schiffers vs Steinitz Match

  Wilhelm Steinitz had lost his World Championship title to Emanuel Lasker in 1894, but he still retained the right to a return match. That rematch was scheduled to take place in Moscow at the end of 1896. Before that, however, Steinitz played a training match against Emanuel Schiffers. Join us on a brief journey back in time to Rostov-on-Don in 1896.

• Endgame Challenge Solutions

  Were you able to solve the challenge positions we gave you last week? Were you able to defeat the diagrams, which defended tenatiously? Today we bring you all solutions, with very instructive video explanations by Jared Modica, a chess content creator from Austin, Texas. He shows us how to solve tatical lines of play, and how to handle pawns in endgames.

• Most attractive chess players

  Who is your favourite chess player – of all time, from the history of chess? Whose games do you enjoy the most? Is it one of the greats from the 19th century, the world champion legends of the twentieth? Or is it a player who is still active? Tell us your choices – and we will compare them with what a chess AI chooses, after evaluating millions of games.