7/28/2026 – The Ragozin Defence is one of those opening systems that are very popular in modern tournament chess. It combines solid classical elements with dynamic ideas. For those looking for active and dynamic play against 1.d4 without taking any significant risks, Grandmaster Surya Ganguly has created a high-class Fritz trainer in "Reinventing the Ragozin". The course impresses not only with its modern repertoire against the Queen's Gambit Declined in impressive depth, but also with valuable insights into the modern opening preparation of current top players. Lukas Köpl has taken a close look at Ganguly's Fritz trainer.

7/28/2026 – WR Chess stages a USA v. Uzbekistan team event in Miami Beach on 27–28 July, bringing together ten leading grandmasters in a rapid and blitz Scheveningen format. After the first day of rapid chess, Team USA have a 5-3 lead over Uzbekistan. On Tuesday, eight rounds of blitz will decide the winner of the match. | Follow the games live starting at 19.00 CEST (13.00 ET, 22.30 IST)

7/28/2026 – Team USA took a 5–3 lead over Uzbekistan after the rapid section of the WR Chess match in Miami, winning two of the four encounters played on Monday. Levon Aronian was the leading American scorer, while Nodirbek Abdusattorov produced Uzbekistan's best individual result. World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov defeated both Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez, but lost to Aronian. The teams are set to play eight rounds of blitz on Tuesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / WR Chess

7/28/2026 – In a press release, FIDE just announced that Geneva will host the 2026 FIDE World Championship match between reigning champion Gukesh Dommaraju and challenger Javokhir Sindarov from November 25 to December 15. The announcement ends months of speculation over the venue and brings the title match back to Switzerland for the first time since Kramnik and Leko met in Brissago in 2004. At just 20 years of age, Gukesh and Sindarov will contest the youngest World Championship match in chess history.

7/28/2026 – The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle recently examined Russia's influence within the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Chess Federation was sanctioned, but through Russian FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich it maintained a foothold within the organisation. However, Russia's influence is now in decline.

7/28/2026 – Good knight bad bishop: Sometimes bad bishops can work wonders: Black to move and draw.

7/28/2026 – And eleven-year-old British chess player has become the youngest girl to defeat a grandmaster rated above 2600, breaking a 38-year-old record previously held by Hungarian all-time great Judit Polgar. Bodhana Sivanandan defeated a French grandmaster rated 2628, and the international news media went wild over this extraordinary feat. Bodhana is a special member of the ChessBase family and will most likely play in the Hamburg Bundesliga team.

7/27/2026 – Andy Woodward retained the US Junior Championship after finishing unbeaten on 6½/9, while Zoey Tang successfully defended the US Girls' Junior title with 7½/9. Both tournaments were held at the Saint Louis Chess Club, where Woodward edged Abhimanyu Mishra in the final round and Tang took control after defeating early leader Rachael Li in their direct encounter. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

7/27/2026 – Last Thursday the current FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has abandoned his candidacy for reelection, after been sanctioned by the European Union. We were informed by ther Chess Federation of Russia that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who had served as FIDE president for 23 years, received their full support as a candidate. And just as we were about to report this story we learn that he is not among the three candidates the FIDE Office received before the deadline. Turbulent times.

7/27/2026 – Vladimir Akopian won his second US Senior Championship in three years after defeating Alexander Onischuk in a playoff, while Anjelina Belakovskaia claimed the US Senior Women's title with an unbeaten 7/8 score. Both events were held at the Saint Louis Chess Club, where Akopian prevailed 3–1 in rapid and blitz games after sharing first place, and Belakovskaia finished a full point ahead of defending champion Natalya Tsodikova. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

7/27/2026 – In the early 1980s, as a fledgling TV journalist, I did a report on the fastest computer in the world. The Cray-1 cost eight million dollars and could do 130 million floating point operations per second. That was enough to calculate the weather, but also to win two consecutive world computer chess championships. How much faster are today's supercomputers? Take a guess – you are definitely not going to get it right.

7/26/2026 – Walther Freiherr von Holzhausen is not among the best-known players of the early twentieth century. Nevertheless, he was a very strong amateur and, above all, a chess problem composer of great importance. As a major in the Prussian Army, the First World War marked a profound turning point in his life.