9/20/2026 – The United States continued their strong start in the Women’s Chess Olympiad, reaching 15/16 individual points as ten teams are now tied for first on 8/8 match points. Alice Lee leads the Americans with a perfect 4/4, while her teammates Carissa Yip (pictured) and Tatev Abrahamyan have perfect 3/3 scores. Like Lee, five other players from the co-leading teams have also won all four of their games. Sunday’s fifth round features key clashes between the leaders. | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

9/20/2026 – The leading group in the open section of the Chess Olympiad was reduced to eight teams after round four, with China, Uzbekistan, Germany and Armenia still unbeaten on every individual board. Lithuania supplied the main surprise of the day by beating Croatia 3–1. With all eight co-leaders now paired against one another, Sunday's fifth round is set to reshape the top of the standings. | Pictured: China's Wei Yi | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

9/19/2026 – ChessBase has a team on-site at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand. Visitors to the ChessBase stand can find out more about ChessBase for Mac. Arne Kähler and Veronika Exler are also conducting interviews. Svitlana Demchenko has hundreds of databases, Nikita Vitiugov considers himself to be one of the best chefs among chess players, while Gloria Yepez does not enjoy playing blitz! | Photo: ChessBase

9/19/2026 – Baadur Jobava produced a striking tactical win in round three of the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, defeating Finland's Toivo Keinanen in 30 moves. Playing white from an Exchange French, the Georgian grandmaster unleashed 17.Bxh6! and followed it with a series of precise attacking manoeuvres after Black accepted the sacrifice. The game highlighted Jobava's trademark tactical sharpness, and was analysed in full by GM Daniel King. | Image: Daniel King's Power Play Chess YouTube channel

9/19/2026 – The Master Class series combines biography, a collection of games and Fritz Trainer material on a chess legend in a multimedia format. Several authors contribute to each volume, presenting the master in their respective areas of expertise. Jochen Schwarz, a club player from Bremen, has followed the Master Class series since its first volume and has taken a look at the latest edition, devoted to Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen. He also compares it with earlier volumes in the series.

9/19/2026 – Argentina and Iran produced the standout results in round three of the Women's Chess Olympiad, defeating higher-seeded Ukraine and France respectively. Both joined a 20-team leading group on 6/6 match points. Poland recorded their second 4–0 victory of the event, while India, Kazakhstan and the United States also remained perfect with comfortable wins. | Pictured: Candela Francisco (Argentina) facing Anna Ushenina (Ukraine) | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

9/19/2026 – The top ten teams in the open section of the Chess Olympiad all remain perfect after round three, although several were pushed hard by lower-seeded opposition. The United States, Germany, the Netherlands (pictured), Hungary and Armenia all won by 2½–1½, while 11th-seeded England were held by Lithuania. Singapore and Kyrgyzstan produced the biggest team upsets, defeating Norway and Brazil respectively, as 21 teams moved into round four on 6/6 match points. | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE

9/18/2026 – Our database program – used by everyone, from the World Champion to lowly club players – will now be available for Mac users. The new version has been developed from the ground up: modern, built for fast access to what matters. The official release is November 2026. Register now to make sure you don’t miss the launch of a new era in chess study.

9/18/2026 – A ChessBase team travelled to Samarkand. During the journey, Arne Kähler was already interviewing teams on their way to the event. Nigel Short spoke about ambitious plans that had only come about thanks to an earlier interview with Arne. The ChessBase team met Carissa Yip in Istanbul. Yip had just arrived from the Global Chess League in India. In the travel vlog, the team also shares impressions of Samarkand itself, as well as excerpts from the opening ceremony. | Photo: Emine Yanik

9/18/2026 – It's hard to believe, but after 23...Bg7 in the diagram position the game lasted only two (!) moves. White received a big checkmate gift - and you can unwrap it!

9/18/2026 – Georgia became the first leading team to drop match points in the Women's Chess Olympiad, as the second seeds were held to a 2–2 draw by Montenegro in round two. Alena Skvortsova and Aleksandra Milovic (pictured) scored the Montenegrins' two wins. The Czech Republic were also held by the United Arab Emirates, while Tajikistan and Kenya recorded notable match victories against higher-seeded opposition. | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE

9/18/2026 – All of the top 28 seeds won in round two of the open Chess Olympiad, but several favourites were pushed hard. The United States (pictured), India and the Netherlands all prevailed by 2½–1½, while El Salvador produced the biggest team upset by beating Cuba. Gukesh Dommaraju was held to a draw by Satria Duta Cahaia and slipped below 2700 on the live rating list. | Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz / FIDE