Magnus Calrlsen’s disastrous loss to Alisher Suleymenov in Qatar has gone round the world, partly because it was an excellent game but mainly because it was so unusual: Carlsen’s first defeat by such a relatively “weak” opponent since the Norwegian Championship of 2006! Unusual but not really that shocking. Anybody can have an off day, and the truly shocking thing is that Carlsen has managed for nearly two decades to avoid losing at classical chess to such an opponent. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
The fifth edition of the Prague Chess Festival will take place on June 21-30 at the Don Giovanni Hotel in the Czech capital. The Masters Tournament is a 10-player single round-robin with Wang Hao, Sam Shankland and defending champion Pentala Harikrishna (pictured) as the top seeds. The lineup also includes German star Vincent Keymer and David Navara who, like Shankland, has been invited to all five editions of the Masters. | Photo: Vladimír Jagr
Following the rest day, players returned well-prepared to the playing hall in Munich and drew all their games in round 6 of the Women’s Grand Prix. Alexandra Kosteniuk thus kept her 1½-point lead in the standings. Importantly, Kosteniuk’s closest chasers, Humpy Koneru and Nana Dzagnidze, have yet to face the former women’s world champion. | Photo: FIDE / Mark Livshitz
The history of the U.S. Women's Chess Championships contains a wealth of information about chess in America and countless fascinating stories about champions from all walks of life. A groundbreaking work about the U.S. Women's Chess Championships and the 29 women who won the title between 1937 and 2020 has been published by McFarland. Johannes Fischer wanted to know more and interviewed Alexey Root, the author of the book.