The 2025 US Chess Championships are taking place on 12-24 October at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Each tournament is a 12-player single round-robin with a classical time control. Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hans Niemann are the highest-rated players in the open, while Carissa Yip, Alice Lee and Tatev Abrahamyan head the women's field. | Follow the action live starting at 19.00 CEST (13.00 ET, 22.30 IST)
Last Sunday, the family of 29-year-old American grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky announced his passing. No cause of death was given. Now, a major controversy has broken out: former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is being accused of harassing Naroditsky with suspicion of cheating. It is far too early to come to any conclusion in this matter, but the story has been splashed over international straight newspapers and channels.
Vincent Keymer raised his live Elo rating to 2771.7 with his third victory in three games at the European Club Cup in Rhodes. He is currently fourth in the world rankings, just ahead of Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, who he will play against in the fifth round of the European Club Cup. | Photo: Gerd Densing
After four rounds of the European Club Cup in Batumi, Alkaloid (pictured, right), Novy Bor and SuperChess share the lead in the open section with perfect 8/8 match points. Limhamns from Sweden have emerged as the surprise contenders after defeating MTK Budapest. In the women's event, Cercle d'Echecs Monte Carlo are the sole leaders with a flawless 8/8 record, followed by Tajfun SK Ljubljana, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica and Crvena Zvezda two match points behind. | Photo: Patricia Claros
Did you find the only move in this very famous study, composed almost exactly a century ago, that allows White to draw? It looks like the stupidest move one could make – move the king to a square that takes it further away from the black pawn and blocks the promotion of his own pawn. Problem expert Werner Keym selected six studies in similar style for you to solve. Here, today, are the solutions.
Today, his family announced the death of Daniel Naroditsky. The talented American grandmaster was an active online player and streamer, as well as a popular commentator. He would have turned 30 on 9 November. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Take a look at this position. In order to have any winning chances, White must clearly move his rook. There are nine squares it can safely occupy, but only one retains the win. Can you find it? Today we have four problems that will challenge your endgame skills. Try to solve them by moving pieces on our interactive diagrams. The video solutions will be provided in a week.
The ninth and final round of the European Team Championships will determine the medal winners. In the Open Ukraine and Azerbaijan fight for victory, in the Women's Tournament Poland is in the lead, but Ukraine and Germany can still hope to win. | Watch the games live with video commentary. Start: Around 10:00 CEST.
Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665) was a French mathematician who made pioneering contributions to analytic geometry, calculus, optics, and probability. He is best known for Fermat's Last Theorem, which famously remained unproven for over three centuries. Then, thirty years ago (in 1995), the mathematician Andrew Wiles published the comprehensive proof. In his book "Chess Stories" mathematician Prof Christian Hesse, told us how he applied Fermat's final conjecture to chess.
Already in the second round of the famous Hastings tournament of 1895, two of the favourites faced each other in a tough and complex battle. After just thirteen moves, the game had reached a semi-endgame with two rooks and two minor pieces each. Lasker held the pair of bishops, but it was Chigorin with the pair of knights who emerged victorious in the end. The game made history, and its course has been interpreted very differently over time. We invite our readers to join us in the search for new insights.
You may have seen it before. In this very famous position, composed almost exactly a century ago, it is White to play and draw. Which do you think is the stupidest move White could make. Right, that is the solution – it is the only move that saves the game. Problem expert Werner Keym illustrates this in a book which he has made available, as an eBook, to everyone, free of charge. Here are some excerpts to give you a taste. You can play them out on the diagrams we provide.
Some time ago, we invited our readers to help us unravel a long-standing mystery in the famous game Botvinnik–Boleslavsky, played in 1943 (during World War II!). The response was overwhelming, and in a relatively short time, we reached a conclusion: Boleslavsky could have held the balance – a draw was within reach – despite Botvinnik’s claim in his (usually precise!) commentary that his position was winning.