Chess News

General chess-related articles and information about SparkChess development; this section is for everyone interested in chess.

Grind Like a Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen

The Champions Chess Tour Finals (CCT Finals) was the closing event of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour, run by Chess.com. Eight players met in Toronto from December 9 to December 16. They played for a $500,000 prize fund. The pre-tournament favorite was former World Chess Champion GM Magnus Carlsen. In the finals, Carlsen defeated GM Wesley So to win the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. More 🡢

Over-the-Board College Chess, 2024

Since 1946, the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship (Pan-Am) has attracted college chess teams from North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Since 2001, the top four U.S. schools at the immediately previous Pan-Am qualify for the President’s Cup, also known as the “Final Four of College Chess,” to determine the best U.S. chess college. More 🡢

U.S. Senior Women’s Championship

The first ever U.S. Senior Women’s Championship, an invitational for women 50 and older, was held November 3–5, 2023, at the Berkeley Chess School. The Eade Foundation was its sponsor, with help from US Chess. More 🡢

Jennifer Shahade: Underestimating Girls Who Play Chess

Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, is one of the authors on a New York University study about parents and mentors underestimating girls who play chess. Earlier in Shahade’s career, Shahade asked girls easier chess questions than boys. More 🡢

Barbie: Chess by the Pool

As of August 23, the film Barbie became the highest-grossing movie of 2023 with $1.3 billion internationally. Its opening montage features two Barbies playing chess by the pool. The film’s themes of female empowerment and patriarchy resonate in the world of chess. More 🡢

World Cup 2023: Are the favorites winning?

The FIDE World Cup 2023 takes place from July 29 to August 25, 2023, in Baku, Azerbaijan. In the Open section, 206 players were eligible to take part and 103 were invited to the Women’s section. More 🡢

College chess clashes at U.S. Open

The 2023 U.S. Open ran from July 29 to August 6 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It offered nine-day, six-day, and four-day schedules, which merged in round 7. Two University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) students, Grandmasters David Brodsky and Rahul Srivatshav Peddi, participated. More 🡢

The MUNY Solved Chess

For the chess player at the MUNY’s production, the joys of Chess began even before the show started. Employees of the Saint Louis Chess Club and the World Chess Hall of Fame staffed tables where theatergoers played chess and received promotional chess items. Many attendees were playing chess for the first time, as I found out when I taught some of those beginners the two-rook checkmate. The employees also conducted chess trivia contests and handed out prizes. More 🡢