6/11/2026 – Vaishali Rameshbabu remains on the fast track: after gaining the right to challenge Ju Wenjun in a match for the World Championship title, the young Indian grandmaster won the rapid chess event of the WR Women's Chess Tour in Tokyo. The blitz tournament was won by the experienced Kateryna Lagno. Both earned 15 points towards the tour standings. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/11/2026 – Two decisive games in round four of the UzChess Cup left Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and Shamsiddin Vokhidov tied for first place on 2½/4. Vokhidov joined the leaders after scoring his second win in a row, defeating Nikolas Theodorou. Nodirbek Yakubboev also won, beating early leader Mukhiddin Madaminov with the black pieces to return to a fifty-percent score. | Photo: Official website

6/11/2026 – The UzChess Cup is a fantastic event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The third edition has a fantastic line-up and shows an enormous amount of fighting chess and decisive results. It's classical chess, the time control is normal, and chess fans around the world get what they the hope for. After four rounds, Abdusattorov, Erigaisi and Vokhidov are in the lead. Our Game of the Week is the surprising and entertaining win by Mukhiddin Madaminov against Ian Nepomniachtchi. Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

6/10/2026 – 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.

6/10/2026 – In this volume of Adrian Mikhalchishin’s Master Your Technique series, the focus is on developing tactical awareness and practical attacking instincts, especially through concepts like checks, double attacks, exposed pieces, and sensing hidden attacking opportunities before they fully appear on the board. Mikhalchishin explains how modern chess is driven by constant pressure and activity, showing that strong players often succeed not by immediately winning material, but by building dynamic threats that eventually overwhelm the opponent. Through instructive examples from grandmaster and student games alike, the course teaches how tactical alertness, active piece play, sacrifices for initiative, heavy piece coordination, and precise endgame technique all combine into a complete practical chess understanding.

6/9/2026 – At just 15 year of age, Anastasiia Hnatyshyn became the surprise winner of the Women's European Championship. However, looking at the Ukrainian's career so far, her success is not quite so surprising. She began playing competitive chess at the age of seven and has already played in over 200 tournaments. A portrait. | Pictured: Sabrina Vega, Anastasiia Hnatyshyn and Olga Badelka | Photo: European Chess Union