World of chess

FIDE loves a rule-change. And this year we're not disappointed as a series of tweaks are made for the upcoming 2025 World Rapid & Blitz Championships in Doha.

Sometimes chess just gives you a nice warm feeling inside. So it was when Bodhana Sivanandan faced U.S. Chess Hall of Famer James Sherwin at the 2025 UK Open Blitz Qualifier.

He argues that only legal consequences will protect the integrity of the game as online chess grapples with a surge in foul play.

World Chess is introducing a new default board — brighter, more familiar, and designed to test how players respond. Some will welcome the change, others may resist it, but everyone will notice. Here’s why we made the switch, and what it means for your next game.

The World Cup is one of the most important events on the women’s calendar. It’s not just about the €50,000 prize fund (though that helps). It’s about one thing: the road to the Women’s Candidates Tournament. The two finalists already punched their ticket. The bronze match? That’s for the last open seat at the Candidates table.

It happened. The BBC finally aired Chess Masters: The Endgame, a highly produced, slightly deranged attempt to turn chess into a hybrid of The Great British Bake Off, Survivor, and The Queen’s Gambit — minus the pills and wigs.

Over the past few weeks, 56-year-old Grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk quietly went 27 games without a loss across three international events — Reykjavik, San Vicente, and Menorca. That’s three tournaments, three time zones, and zero defeats. He beat 2600-rated players. He drew teenage prodigies. He gained enough ELO to return to the FIDE Top 100 for the first time in years. And almost no one noticed.

The world’s most relatable top-10 GM says the game still won’t love him back — even after years of loyalty, stress, and high heart rates.

A teenage grandmaster hit a videographer. He got suspended in the U.S., but now he’s playing again — abroad. Here’s what we got wrong (and right).

The whole point was chaos. Magnus made it feel scripted.

Hans Niemann keeps winning just enough to stay in your head.

Fischer Random was supposed to flatten the field. Carlsen flattened it anyway.

The games are good. The coverage is tranquilized. Someone please call marketing

A light Twitter exchange about a Magnus Carlsen stat turns into a lecture on propaganda, trust, and the soul of modern chess.

In a move to combat the growing scourge of cheating in chess, World Chess (LSE: CHSS) is introducing voluntary polygraph testing as a significant new tool in its anti-cheating arsenal. This initiative, to be added immediately to the list of anti-cheating measures for chessarena.com, the World Chess official gaming platform, follows a high-profile polygraph test taken by former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik.

This is a short guide on how to go back to playing OTB, find opponents, and show emotions when winning or loosing.

We have redesigned the Championship Medal, now it’s meaningful and eternal and signifies exactly what it should: one of the most prestigious sports titles on the planet.

Important features: it’s well-designed, has great features that appeal to non-professionals, has the best chess chat ever, will be available for all chess organizers shortly to broadcast events for free (and even make money with it), and it works.