Chess Base

• FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz

  The opening press conference for the FIDE World Team Rapid and Blitz Championships 2026 took place on June 16 at The Pavilion, The Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel Hong Kong, marking the official start of one of FIDE's most dynamic and spectator-friendly competitions. The event brings together more than 40 teams and over 300 players from around the world, featuring elite grandmasters, top women players, rising stars and amateur participants competing side by side in a unique team format.

• Hong Kong takes centre stage

  Magnus Carlsen makes his Hong Kong debut, alongside American star Fabiano Caruana and other chess super-stars, as the city takes centre stage of the chess world. Carlsen today made his first official appearance in the city, taking part in a press conference for the FIDE World Team Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2026. That begins tomorrow and runs from 17–21 June. The prize fund: €500,000 — and the title of the strongest team on the planet across the sport's two most thrilling formats.

• A Game That Outlasted the Day (7)

  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.