Chess Base

• Carlsen beats Firouzja, claims fifth Speed Chess Championship title

  The Speed Chess Championship concluded in London, with live matches deciding both the title and third place. Magnus Carlsen defeated Alireza Firouzja 15–12 to claim a third consecutive crown, while Denis Lazavik edged Hikaru Nakamura in the consolation match. The event introduced the Daniel Naroditsky Cup, with past and future champions' names to be engraved on the trophy. | Photo: chess.com / Luc Bouchon

• Queens' Online Chess Festival returns in March 2026

  The Queens' Online Chess Festival returns in March 2026 for its sixth edition, offering a free, month-long celebration of women's chess around International Women’s Day. Organised by the FIDE Commission for Women's Chess, the event features a global Women's Open with continental qualifiers and a separate Princesses' tournament for unrated girls. Blitz competitions, titles, training prizes and fair-play safeguards form part of a programme open to players of all ages and levels worldwide.

• ChessBase´26: A Players Guide (5)

  "Many players use ChessBase, it is the most popular chess software by far, writes GM Iniyan Pa. "Yet, not many people are fully aware of all of its features, and fail to utilise most of them. In this guide I have tried to show the features that I think are vital and important so that the user may gain the most out of the ChessBase. I hope it helps them in their development." We are deeply indebted to Iniyan for his remarkable five-part training review.