US Ch: Xiong beats the champ

3/23/2019 – The main attraction of the third round was Jeffery Xiong's win over defending champion Sam Shankland at the US Championships in Saint Louis. The 18-year-old not only claimed a big scalp but also got his name on top of the standings after a dream start. Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez also won and are now a half point behind him, together with Wesley So. In the Women's, Jennifer Yu took down Irina Krush to keep a perfect score. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

A trip to Saudi Arabia

3/23/2019 – The 1st Hail Rapid Chess Tournament for men and women took place from the 15th to the 18th of March in Hail, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It gathered more than 200 participants from 18 countries. Wang Hao took clear first in the men's tournament while IM IRINA BULMAGA won the women's tournament and sends her reflections. | Photos: KSAchess Twitter

U.S. Championship Round 3

3/22/2019 – The U.S. Chess Championship and U.S. Women's Chess Championship will take place for an eleventh time at the Saint Louis Chess Club from March 20th to April 1st. Sam Shankland is the defending US Champion in the Open, and world number two Fabiano Caruana is the top seed. The Women's Championship features Irina Krush as the top ranked player. Live games and commentary from 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET, 14:00 EDT). Official site: USChessChamps.com

European Individual Championship 2019 Round 5

3/22/2019 – The 20th European Individual Championship is an 11-round Swiss tournament taking place from March 18th to 29th in Skopje, North Macedonia at the five-star DoubleTree by Hilton, located along the river Vardar. The top seed is Vladislav Artemiev (2736) from Russia. Live games beginning at 14:15 UTC (15:15 CET, 10:15 EDT) Official site: eicc2019.mk

US Ch: Wesley So's endgame squeeze

3/22/2019 – In the second round of the US Championships, Wesley So showed flashes of brilliance against Timur Gareyev, giving a master class in the endgame with rook and knight against rook and knight. Just when everyone thought it was a draw, that's when the struggle really began. So now leads alongside Sam Sevian and Jeffrey Xiong. Carissa Yip and Jennifer Yu in the Women's Championship are now the only two players in either tournament to remain with a perfect score. | Photo: Justin Kellar

Deal of the Week: What Grandmasters Do not See

3/22/2019 – An exclusive discount, only until Monday, March 25th! Get the three volume set as a bundle for 83% off the regular price! It's routinely described by the esoteric term "chess blindness." In the series "What Grandmasters do not See", chess trainer and world-class commentator MAURICE ASHLEY strips away from the myth, and for the first time explains why the root of these mistakes is more often based on the psychology of human learning. Here's a peak.

In Fischer's footsteps

3/22/2019 – Would you dare to play 30.Rxf7 in the diagram position? The 11th world champion did, a good omen — but can you walk the talk following Black's reply 30...Rc1+ then?

European Ch: A long list of leaders

3/22/2019 – Four rounds into the European Championship and we no longer find any perfect scores. Dutch GM Lucas van Foreest was one of the players with 3 points after as many rounds of play, but he lost on Thursday to top seed Vladislav Artemiev. The remaining undefeated players all drew, creating a 19-way tie on 3½. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ annotates highlights of rounds three and four. Pictured: Benjamin Gledura (right) is one of the leaders, GM Vincent Keymer (left) is only on 50%. | Photo: Patricia Claros

Carlsen and Giri campaign for racial equality

3/21/2019 – "Breaking a rule in chess to change behavior in life." World Champion Magnus Carlsen and GM Anish Giri team up in a social campaign dubbed "Move for Equality" in honour of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The pair shot a brief video in Oslo on Tuesday for the promotion.

Fast and Furious: The Big Janowski

3/21/2019 – Today's topic: The Janowski Variation (3...a6) of the Queen's Gambit Declined, live at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET 1 PM EST) The live show 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.

US Ch: Xiong to early lead

3/21/2019 – There was one winner in the Open opener: 18-year-old GM Jeffrey Xiong (pictured), who turned the tables on the bold play of the ever-eccentric Timur Gareyev. All other games were drawn. In the Woman's group, however, not a single game ended in a split-point! Krush, Zatonskih, Wang, Yu, Feng and Yip, therefore all reached 1.0/1. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Vitiugov hopes the best is yet to come

3/21/2019 – Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov recently won the 1st Prague Masters in the Czech capital — one of his best results to date. Afterwards he sat down for a brief interview to recap the success and look ahead to a full 2019 chess calendar that will include the FIDE Grand Prix and presumably the Grand Swiss too. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

Game of the Week: Back to Batavia

3/20/2019 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET, 2 pm EST). On this week's show: Wrapping up the Batavia tournament in Amsterdam. The live show 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.