Koneru Humpy is one of India’s most accomplished chess players and the country’s first female Grandmaster. She is known for her determination and fighting spirit. She has won the Women’s World Rapid Championship twice, in 2019 and 2024. Humpy is also known for balancing her professional chess career with motherhood and family life. In this interview, she talks about her journey, challenges, motivation, family, and her approach to the game. Photo: Michal Walusza

Are you someone for whom organizing things comes as second nature? Have you already conducted many events successfully at your local chess club, and want to keep going? You might just be the right fit - we at ChessBase India are looking for an event coordinator - someone who can manage the Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club, Temple of Chess and helping us grow our events vertical. Check out the all the details in the article!

Are you passionate about chess? Do you enjoy writing, creating videos, managing social media, or bringing stories from the world of chess to a wider audience? If your answer is "yes," then Hindi ChessBase India has an exciting opportunity for you. Chess is growing rapidly in India, and the Hindi-speaking chess community is expanding every day. Our mission is to bring chess events, tournaments, players, and inspiring stories from around the world to millions of readers and viewers in Hindi.

क्या आप शतरंज के प्रति जुनूनी हैं? क्या आपको लिखना, वीडियो बनाना, सोशल मीडिया संभालना या शतरंज की दुनिया की खबरों को लोगों तक पहुँचाना पसंद है? यदि आपका उत्तर "हाँ" है, तो हिंदी चेसबेस इंडिया आपके लिए एक शानदार अवसर लेकर आया है। भारत में शतरंज तेजी से लोकप्रिय हो रहा है और हिंदी भाषी दर्शकों की संख्या लगातार बढ़ रही है। हमारा उद्देश्य दुनिया भर की शतरंज गतिविधियों, टूर्नामेंटों, खिलाड़ियों और प्रेरणादायक कहानियों को हिंदी में लाखों पाठकों और दर्शकों तक पहुँचाना है। इस मिशन में हमारा साथ देने के लिए हम नए टीम सदस्यों की तलाश कर रहे हैं।

What does it take to teach people how to play chess? Turns out, not a lot! With the help of some volunteers and a few sheets of paper, you too can take chess to multiple people. Sounds too good to be true? ChessBase India and Teach Chess India will help you understand how you can organize the Big Chess Camp in your area, to promote and push the game of chess forward! Read on to know how this works.

ChessBase India has a thriving e-commerce business which involves selling softwares, books, merch and much more. We sell products not just on our ChessBase India website , but also on Amazon , Flipkart and other platforms. As chess continues to grow in India and the world, the number of queries that we get with regards to our products is also growing. We are looking for a full-time person who would be interested to become our customer success manager - give our customers the best possible shopping and after sales service experience. If you think you fit in the role, then do read the article to know more about it and fill in the form.

Indian chess has produced many Grandmasters, including current World Champion D Gukesh and Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh. Every year, more young talents continue to emerge across the country. But away from the spotlight are achievers like Himanshi Rathi and Sanskruti More. They play Braille chess, a format that relies on touch, memory, and deep focus. Their journeys have been shaped by challenges and resilience. They want to bring change and greater recognition to the game they love. Read their story and discover a side of Indian chess that deserves to be seen. Photo: BBC

FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship 2026 has been announced to take place in Weissenhaus, Germany from 13th to 15th February. Six players - Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Levon Aronian (USA), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Vincent Keymer (GER), Arjun Erigaisi and Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) have qualified based on their Freestyle Grand Slam Tour 2025 results. Two additional participants will be selected separately, one by FIDE and one by Freestyle Chess. Freestyle Chess has already nominated Hans Niemann, due to his outstanding performance in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam in Las Vegas. FIDE will hold an Online Qualification Tournament on Chess.com as early as January 14 and 15 to determine the eighth player. Check the press release to know more details. Photos: FIDE

Kazakhstan Chess Federation is pleased to announce the opening of the application process for participation in the Freedom Asian Chess Initiatives (FACI) Project 2026. Freedom Asian Chess Initiatives (FACI) is an international chess project of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation. It is supported by Freedom Holding Corp. and implemented together with FIDE and the Asian Chess Federation. The Project supports the development of chess in Asia by working with national chess federations, improving chess education, supporting tournaments and encouraging international cooperation. FACI helps selected federations through training camps, educational activities, expert support and joint chess initiatives. Graphic: Kazakhstan Chess Federation

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz championship 2025 will take place from 26th to 31st December in Doha, Qatar. All five defending champion - Volodar Murzin, Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Humpy Koneru and Wenjun Ju will return to defend their crown. Total 41 Indians - 28 in Open and 13 in Women will be seen in action including Arjun Erigaisi, World Champion - D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, Pentala Harikrishna, Pranav Venkatesh, Aravindh Chithambaram, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, S L Narayanan, Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, R Vaishali, Vantika Agrawal, Padmini Rout, Savitha Shri B, Nandhidhaa P V, Priyanka Nutakki and others. Photo: FIDE

A move that no one saw coming, FIDE has approved a new World Championship format - The Total Chess World Championship Tour. It will be organized by Norway Chess. The tour will consist of Fast Classical, Rapid and Blitz. Fast Classical time control will be 45 minutes + 30 seconds increment. The time control is similar to football matches and not new to the chess universe. Various tournaments in India and around the world have used similar time controls. The tour will have four events each year. The total annual prize pool will be a minimum $2.7 Million, $750000 for the first three events, $450000 for the Finals and performance bonus. The tour will be aiming to look for the 'Total chess player'. A pilot tournament is planned for Fall 2026 with full championship season to take place in 2027. Photo: Norway Chess

Goa has been named as the host for the FIDE World Cup 2025 which will take place from 30th October to 27th November. World Cup is a knockout event where not only World's best players but the respective country's best players can also face a World-Class player, something that may not happen in other events except Olympiad. A total of 206 players will take part. Out of them, 20 Indians have already qualified via various path. They are - D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Vishy Anand, Nihal Sarin, Iniyan Pa, Raja Rithvik R, Narayanan S L, Pranesh M, Harshavardhan G B, Karthikeyan Murali, Karthik Venkataraman, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Neelash Saha, Diptayan Ghosh, Aronyak Ghosh, Himal Gusain, Lalit Rohith and Vidit Gujrathi. Photos: FIDE