In September, Samarkand will host the 46th Chess Olympiad. After FIDE was founded in 1924, the first international team tournament was held in Budapest in the summer of 1926, albeit with only a small number of teams. From these modest beginnings, the tradition of the Chess Olympiad developed.

The Biel International Chess Festival is taking place on 11-24 July. Following the Chess960 tournament on Saturday and the rapid chess stage on Sunday, the players in the Masters and Generations Challenge Triathlon face off in the first segment of the classical section on 14-18 July. | Follow the games live starting at 14.00 CEST (8.00 ET, 17.30 IST) | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

The Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters is taking place on 16-22 July as an eight-player single round-robin with a classical time control. In its fourth edition, it brings together a field headed by world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and Alireza Firouzja. Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 11.30 CEST (5.30 ET, 15.00 IST)

In this episode of The Underdog, Robert Ris presents a spectacular upset from the Asian Esports Chess Cup, where a young Thai player (Pakornnarong Liukasemsarn) defeats super-GM Andrey Esipenko despite an enormous rating gap. In a sharp Italian Game with opposite-side castling, Black bravely pushes the kingside pawns, opens the g-file and keeps finding dynamic resources while White misses several powerful attacking chances on the queenside. The game turns into a wild attacking masterpiece, ending with decisive tactics around the white king and a memorable victory for the underdog.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

The second event of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Chess Classic Romania, which is taking place on 14-23 May in Bucharest. Vincent Keymer and Fabiano Caruana enter the final round tied for first place, while Javokhir Sindarov, Wesley So and Jorden van Foreest stand a half point back and still have chances of taking the title. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting two hours earlier than usual, at 13.00 CEST (7.00 ET, 16.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Kicking off the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first of three speed chess events, which is taking place on 5-9 May in Warsaw. Ahead of the final day of action, Hans Niemann is the sole leader, with Wesley So standing close behind, at a mere half-point distance. | Follow the action live with expert commentary starting at 12.00 CEST (6.00 ET, 15.30 IST) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament is taking place on 1–7 May in Malmö, Sweden. World number one Magnus Carlsen heads the field, as he faces ambitious opposition that includes Tata Steel Masters winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi and rising star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, who recently became the youngest player to ever cross the 2700 rating mark. The event is an eight-player single round-robin. Follow the games live starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST) | Photo: Peter Doggers / Official website