Stay updated with breaking news from Peter Leko. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Switzerland is a country with a long and rich chess tradition. Living up to its chess heritage and role as a home of the International Chess Federation, the Swiss threw a big party for chess on Sunday, April 7 and celebrated the 100th birthday of FIDE. | Photos: Stev Bonhage
Take a look at this picture. It is not a Hollywood star, but a chess celebrity. Can you recognize him? Capablanca, Nezhmetdinov, Frank Marshall? No, not any of them! The answer is Andor Lilienthal, an extraordinary chess grandmaster, born in Moscow, but moved to Hungary. In his career, he played against ten world champions, and defeated six of them. Retrospect by Himank Ghosh. | Photo: Edward Winter's Chess Notes archives.
“Everyone has been waiting for this chess festival”, writes Alex Winkler in a press release from the organisation of the GRENKE Chess Classic and the GRENKE Chess Open. Six international stars, including Magnus Carlsen and Vincent Keymer, will compete in the Classic, which starts tomorrow, Tuesday 26 March, while over 2500 players will take part in the Open. But last-minute entrants can still take part: the registration is still open!
In the United States and Canada, February is Black History Month, a tradition that began in 1926 and seeks to commemorate important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. A good occasion for US Chess National Master and renowned coach Jerald Times to draw attention to the growing number of successful black chess players and the history of black chess players in the United States. | Photo: Rochelle Ballantyne | Source: <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAAfLLy0VEs">YouTube, Stanford 125, Rochelle Ballantyne</a>
Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Fabiano Caruana respectively to get ahead on the scoreboard in the semi-finals of the Freestyle G.O.A.T. Challenge. Meanwhile, in the consolation bracket, Alireza Firouzja and Vincent Keymer got the better of Ding Liren and Gukesh D. | Photo: Amruta Mokal