ChessBase

• World Youth Chess Championships conclude in grand style

  The FIDE World Youth Chess Championships 2026 concluded in Montesilvano, Italy, with six new champions crowned across the under-14, under-16 and under-18 categories. The event brought together 758 players from 84 countries and produced several close finishes, including titles decided on tiebreaks and by final-round results. Azerbaijan, whose players won two individual gold medals, received the Best Federation Trophy ahead of Canada and Poland. | Photos: Mark Livshitz and Niklesh Jain

• ChessBase´26 – Tips for beginners, part 21: Maximum Training Effect with the Power Tool "Replay Training" (Part 1)

  Do you know the powerful training tool in ChessBase´26? It's called "Replay Training"! This great feature lets you actively go through games move by move—sharpening your strategic and tactical understanding in a targeted way. Whether under time pressure or not, the choice is yours. Train in a realistic setting, get instant feedback, and systematically improve your play—whether you're a beginner or an ambitious tournament player. In this tutorial, we'll guide you step by step through how Replay Training works. Let's get started!

• Larry Christiansen: 70 years, a lifetime in chess

  Larry Christiansen is one of the finest players in the history of American chess. He was US Champion three times, represented the United States at nine Chess Olympiads, where he won a number of medals. In the Bundesliga, he played for SG Porz for many years and was once the league's top player with 12 points from 13 games. Today he turns 70. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Austin Fuller

• Bilel Bellahcene and Shahenda Wafa are the 2026 African chess champions

  Bilel Bellahcene and Shahenda Wafa won the African Chess Championship titles in Jwaneng, Botswana, both prevailing on tiebreaks after close finishes. Bellahcene defended his open title after sharing first place with Bassem Amin on 7½/9, while Wafa claimed her fourth continental crown after tying with her sister Shrook in the women's section. Banele Mhango and Sasha Mongeli completed the podiums with bronze-medal performances. | Photos: African Chess Confederation

• Lima: Faustino Oro defeats José Martínez 4-2 in rapid and blitz match

  Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro, 12, travelled to his rival José Martínez's home city, Lima, and beat him at his own game - speed chess. Faustino and José played a six-game match: two rapid encounters and four blitz game. The final score was 4-2 Oro's favour. | Photo: ChessBase India / Amruta Mokal

• Anastasia Corotcova vs. Mikhail Tal (Level = Strong Club Player)

  Anastasia Corotcova challenged the virtual version of Mikhail Tal in Fritz 21, hoping to experience the legendary attacking style that made the former World Champion famous. After gaining a promising position, she and Arne Kaehler struggled to find a series of critical defensive moves, allowing Tal’s relentless sacrificing attack to take over. The game was full of tactical fireworks and captured the feeling of facing the real “Magician from Riga,” making it an entertaining and memorable experience.

• Surrealists and chess

  The Lyon Olympique Échecs club has just sent out an alert to 17,500 chess players and 2,500 other contacts. The message reads: "Surrealists and Chess – for €40, help us save a 19th-century workshop right in the heart of Lyon!" A support committee has been set up, which comprises writers, poets, painters, photographers, gallery owners, doctors, politicians, lawyers, bankers and more. Now it's time for the chess community to join.

• A Game That Outlasted the Day (7)

  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.

• Under the Hammer

  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.

• Upcoming tournaments and events

  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.