5/19/2019 – Our grandmaster columnist JON SPEELMAN reveals an embarrassing mishap at the closing dinner of the London Chess Classic and continues his investigation of games in the "Bryntse Gambit" queen sacrifice in the opening (on move six!) with theoretical contributions from a Polish IM by the name of Wladyslav Krol. Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

5/19/2019 – The two American representatives in the Moscow Grand Prix advanced to the next round on Sunday after dispatching their opponents in playoffs. Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So, the two Americans, beat Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, respectively, in two-game rapid playoffs after their first-round matches had been tied in regulation. They now join the other six players who had already qualified for the second round in mini-matches that will begin on Monday.

5/19/2019 – A day full of exciting chess at the Moscow Grand Prix ended up with six players qualifying to the second round without needing rapid and blitz tie-breaks. Daniil Dubov, Wei Yi, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Radoslaw Wojtaszek secured their spots in the quarter-finals, while Wesley So defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda to tie the score, and Teimour Radjabov signed another quick draw with Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: World Chess

5/18/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radek Wojtaszek won with the white pieces at the start of the FIDE Grand Prix in Moscow, which means Levon Aronian, Wesley So and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will need to push for a win on Saturday if they want to survive the first round. Three match-ups ended with quick draws, while Peter Svidler and Anish Giri accepted the draws offered by Nikita Vitiugov and Daniil Dubov in games that could have easily kept going. | Photo: World Chess

5/18/2019 – In Hengshui, China, the IMSA World Master Championships began. IMSA stands for International Mind Sports Association and in Hengshui some of the world's best players in games such as Go, Bridge, Checkers, etc. meet to fight for money and fame. The chess players challenge each other in rapid and blitz. Day 5 of the tournament and day 2 of the blitz starts May 18th at 13:00 local time (7:00 CEST, 1:00 EDT). Follow the games live, with commentary.

5/17/2019 – 22 years ago Garry Kasparov played an ill-fated match against Deep Blue. There were many interesting visitors at the event in New York, amongst them a young Women's Grandmaster who, in an interview, said: "I don't think it's my place to criticize a World Champion, but ...". She went on to give a frank opinion of Kasparov's strategy. Today Anjelina Belakovskaia, who is doing remarkable work for American chess (and finance), turns fifty. FREDERIC FRIEDEL looks back at his first encounter with her, and the early days of ChessBase Magazine.

5/17/2019 – Friday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! Today: "An Endgame by Tony Miles". All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

5/17/2019 – Black's 20...Qd5! in the diagram just feels right, with a concrete bonus — the game continuation 21.Qxa6? can be directly refuted. Watch the potential of all black pieces!

5/16/2019 – What would you do if you could have a different chess training regimen every day of the week? Beginning Monday with Openings and finishing Friday with Tactics? How should one train to be ready for the next weekend tournament? And where to find different trainers and coaches? CBM 189 is packed with videos by different titled players. It was created with a chess training regimen in mind, and will give you a chance to keep every single chess muscle trained, much like a sort of gym for chess. Reading Chessbase Magazine will be the experience of a lifetime.

5/16/2019 – The rapid section of IMSA chess tournament came to conclusion. Anton Korobov emerged as the sole leader in the open section after a swashbuckling 4.0/4 on Day 2 and a steady 2.0/3 on Day 3 of the event. He won the tournament with a margin of 1½ points! In the women's section it was Alexandra Kosteniuk who dominated the last day with a clinical 4.0/4 sweep to bag the first prize. In this report we bring to you the glimpses of exciting action from days 2 and 3.

5/16/2019 – Today on the Fast & Furious show we will have a look at how White can try to beat the Berlin with sharp play, starting with 5.Re1! The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT) is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows.

5/16/2019 – The Trading Room of the Warsaw Stock Exchange has received yet again the Polish Chamionships. This year, the events are taking place from the 11th until the 19th of May, with the two top finishers in each group getting spots in the Polish Olympiad team. In the Open, Kamil Dragun and Bartosz Sock are sharing first place on 3½/5, while in the Women's Monicka Socko is the sole leader on 4½/5. | Photo: Marek Skrzypczak