4/21/2019 – Live games and commentary by GM Ioannis Papaioannou & IM Can Arduman from the European Women's Championship in Antalya. Play begins at 12 Noon UTC (14:00 CEST / 8 AM EDT) from April 11th to 22nd with a rest day on April 17th (and the last round four hours earlier). In all 130 players are on the starting list but only the top 14 finishers will qualify for the World Cup. The top seeds are Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia, 2534) and Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2513). Official site: eiwcc2019.tsf.org.tr

4/21/2019 – The Grenke Chess Classic runs from April 20th to 29th. Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand head the nine round-robin. Over 60 grandmasters participate in the A-Open tournament. Live games and commentary (from 13:00 UTC / 15:00 CEST / 9:00 AM EDT) with GM Peter Leko and GM Jan Gustafsson. Official site: grenkechessclassic.com

4/21/2019 – Looking for something new to surprise your opponent in your next tournament game? Vidit Gujrathi, a 2700+ grandmaster and one of the brightest young players around, shows you a line that few opponents will expect. And here's the deal: you invest three minutes listening to Vidit, and then you can try out the line, right there in your browser, against an engine that matches the playing strength of you potential opponents. Thirty minutes of training that will get you some extra rating points!

4/21/2019 – All eyes were put on the game that faced young Vincent Keymer against world champion Magnus Carlsen in the first round of the 2019 GRENKE Chess Classic. And they did not disappoint — after over six and a half hours and a host of twists and turns, Magnus defeated the new kid on the block. The rest of the games finished drawn, which makes Carlsen the sole leader in Karlsruhe. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

4/20/2019 – After starting off with two straight wins at the GRENKE Chess Open, Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja decided to forfeit his third round game as his opponent was an Israeli national: FM Or Bronstein (pictured). The laws of Iran forbid Iranian players from playing against Israelis. Had Firouzja played, he would have risked facing sanctions back in his home country. But forfeiting a game also cost him dearly — as ADITYA PAI reports from Karlsruhe — Firoujza seemed to have lost his composure in the next round as he simply left his rook en prise against 1945-rated Antonia Ziegenfuss (pictured). Surely one of the biggest upsets we'll see this year!

4/20/2019 – The Grenke Open began Thursday with over 900 participants in the A-Open. Today, some of the world's best players take centre stage at the Grenke Chess Classic. Round 1 features #1 Magnus Carlsen against #10 Vincent Keymer who's rated 336 points below the World Champion. Live games and commentary (from 13:00 UTC / 15:00 CEST / 9:00 AM EDT) with GM Peter Leko and GM Jan Gustafsson

4/20/2019 – Hot on the heels of the European Senior Championship in Rhodes, the World Senior Team Championship for players aged over 50 and 65 is underway. ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports on the progress of the top-seeded USA team. | Pictured: Captain Alexander Shabalov and Yermolinsky decided to take a few days to be chess tourists in advance of the competition

4/20/2019 – Two straight wins with Black allowed Ukrainian IM Inna Gaponenko to catch up with Alina Kashlinskaya in the lead of the European Women's Championship. Five players are half a point behind, including former women's world champion Anna Ushenina. The co-leaders are paired against each other in Saturday's ninth round. The long event is set to finish on Monday and it is still too early to make any sort of confident prediction. | Photo: eiwcc2019.tsf.org.tr

4/20/2019 – On the FIDE Federations list The Bahamas are on place number 162 and the ten strongest players in the country do have an average rating of 1734. But the island has a striving, charming and strong chess community as diplomat and chess fan TED CROSS found out. | Pictured: The Old Fort Bay Club on the Bahamas | Photo: Old Fort Bay Club

4/19/2019 – Ding Liren, Anish Giri and Yu Yangyi are back in Shenzhen, as the trio has participated in all three editions of the six-player double round robin. Pentala Harikrishna is returning to the Chinese city after having played in 2017 but not in 2018, while the newcomers are Dmitry Jakovenko and Richard Rapport. After three rounds, Giri is the only player on a plus score. Harikrishna fell victim to Anish in round two but bounced right back the very next day. | Photo: cca.imsa.cn

4/19/2019 – After White's 49.Rd7 in the diagram position Black must find the right move with his attacked knight h7 to clinch victory. 49...Nf8 or 49...Ng5. What would have been your choice against a reigning World Champion?

4/19/2019 – The 2019 edition of the European Senior Championships for men and women over 50 and over 65 was played between the 6th and the 14th of April. The organizers decided to reschedule the event earlier than initially announced, which complicated some of the logistics. Elena Fatalibekova, Tatiana Grabuzova, Jens Kristiansen and Zurab Sturua took home gold medals. The Amateur Championships for players U-1700, U-2000 and U-2300 took place concurrently. | Photo: Official site