Tarjei J. Svensen is a Norwegian chess journalist who worked for some of the country's biggest media outlets and appeared on several national TV broadcasts. Between 2015 and 2019, he ran his chess website mattogpatt.no, covering chess news in Norwegian and partly in English.
In 2020, he was hired by Chess24 to cover chess news, eventually moving to Chess.com as a full-time chess journalist in 2023. He is also known for his extensive coverage of chess news on his X/Twitter account.
The reign of GM Magnus Carlsen as the king of chess now includes a queen. The Norwegian star has tied the knot with Ella Victoria Malone in a ceremony packed with guests on a sunny winter day in Oslo. The couple exchanged their vows in Holmenkol...
GM Magnus Carlsen is set to begin 2025 with a major milestone as he ties the knot with his girlfriend, 26-year-old Ella Victoria Malone, this weekend, Norwegian media has reported. The Norwegian, fresh from his eighth World Blitz Championship af...
GM Magnus Carlsen has made a sensational U-turn and confirmed that he will participate in the 2024 FIDE World Blitz Championship in New York. The seven-time World Blitz Champion has now received the green light to play with jeans. The announceme...
NBA superstar Victor "Wemby" Wembanyama turned a rainy day in New York City into an unforgettable experience when he invited fans to play chess with him in Washington Square Park on Saturday. The 7'3" (2.21 cm) San Antonio Spurs sensation,...
GM Savva Vetokhin scored an impressive victory in the 2024 Sunway Sitges Chess Festival after cruising through the tournament undefeated and winning 2-0 in the blitz playoff against 22-year-old GM Ido Gorshtein. The teenager's first victory i...
Chess is not the only sport forced to deal with cheating. Now the world of backgammon is rocked by its own scandal. The U.S. Backgammon Federation (USBGF) announced their decision last week, following an investigation into cheating during the 20...
A new conference during the 2024 FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships in New York is set to bridge the world of chess and finance. The event is bound to be a treat for anyone able to afford the $1,000 ticket—or the $5,000 VIP tickets t...
Seventeen-year-old GM Christopher Yoo has been slapped with a one-year suspension from national tournaments following his expulsion from the 2024 US Chess Championship. In a statement to Chess.com, the teenager's father calls the sanction "tough b...
GM Maurice Ashley is establishing a new initiative aimed at nurturing the talents of young chess players from underserved communities in the United States. Ashley has made his move to address the persistent underrepresentation of African America...
Kyla Zhao brings her own experiences to life in her new novel May The Best Player Win, delving into gender inequality and stereotypes, captivating readers within and beyond the chess community. “I just want to remind people that there are ...
GMs Anish Giri and Vidit Gujrathi consider GM Gukesh Dommaraju a big favorite to defeat the reigning World Champion GM Ding Liren. The two friends shared their candid predictions for the 2024 FIDE World Championship, set to begin in Singapore on...
World Champion GM Ding Liren revealed that he considers himself the clear underdog in his title match against his challenger, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, admitting that he is worried that he will lose "very badly." With less than three weeks to the 202...
Forget Peppa Pig and Baby Shark. Three-year-old Anish Sarkar has different idols: chess stars IM Levy Rozman and GM Magnus Carlsen. The prodigy has become the world's youngest-rated player by earning his first FIDE rating, which is 1555. A...
9-year-old British prodigy CM Ethan Pang reached another milestone this week when he achieved an official FIDE rating of 2303, breaking Argentinian star IM Faustino Oro's record as the youngest to pass the 2300 mark and earn the FM title. Pang g...
The year draws to a close, but we're in for a thrilling last couple of months with a number of chess tournaments to look forward to, headlined by the 2024 World Chess Championship. All eyes are on GM Ding Liren and GM Gukesh Dommaraju, who will ...
Indian star GM Arjun Erigaisi achieved a 2800+ rating for the first time on Thursday, joining a celebrated group of players to break the barrier. We knew it was just a matter of time, but on Thursday the moment finally arrived. Arjun joined the ...
Get ready for an exciting event between two generations, as Swedish chess legend GM Pia Cramling goes head-to-head against the Internet's chess teacher IM Levy Rozman in a six-day over-the-board event in Stockholm. The Battle of Generations show...
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has handed GM Kirill Shevchenko a temporary 75-day suspension following last weekend's expulsion from the Spanish Team Chess Championship, where two locked phones were found in a bathroom. The...
17-year-old GM Christopher Yoo expresses deep remorse following his expulsion from the 2024 U.S Chess Championship where he struck a videographer. Update October 21: In a new statement released by Christopher Yoo, he says: I am really sorry fo...
Chess.com has announced an agreement with the founders of Silver Knights Chess, Adam and Daniel Weissbarth, to transition Magnus Chess Academy to them. The deal will see one of the leading scholastic chess coaching providers in the U.S. rebrande...
Mark Crowther, the founder of The Week in Chess (TWIC), single-handedly changed the chess landscape in the 90s and has provided an invaluable free resource for chess enthusiasts and professionals for 30 years. He has no plans of slowing down. Si...
At just 13 years of age, GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus has become the youngest-ever player to record a rating of 2600, demolishing the previous record by close to a year. Upon returning to school in Turkiye, he received a hero's welcome. The Turkish pr...
Move over, record-breaking prodigies like GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, IM Faustino Oro, and WFM Bodhana Sivanandan. Manuel Alvarez Escudero from Spain is 102 years old and celebrates eight (!) decades as a tournament player. He shows no signs of slowin...
Russian and Belarusian chess teams will remain banned, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) decided at the General Assembly on Sunday. Instead, delegates voted in favor of a motion to consider lifting some restrictions for vulnerable groups. ...
Two days before the General Assembly of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) prepares for a possibly pivotal vote to decide whether to lift sanctions on the Russian and Belarusian chess federations, the U.S. State Department has issued a stat...
