6/18/2018 – Samuel Isenegger was a Swiss chess composer who worked as an editor of the "Schweizerische Schachzeitung" (the Swiss Chess Newspaper). Udo Nouverne explores one of his most famous compositions, and how different authors made the same mistake when reproducing it in their collections. | Pictured: A painting by Paris Bordone, c. 1540

6/17/2018 – John Chernoff sets chess and financial data to music, and sent Jon a collection of annotated games for review, replete with tactics, sacrifices and one very big 'oops' moment! Just a reminder — 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!

6/17/2018 – The second weekend of June saw Slovenia's second largest city, Maribor, host a series of chess activities. First, Alexei Shirov took on six promising Slovenian players in a clock simultaneous exhibition. At the same time, a match faced two very strong historical figures in the chess world, Alexander Beliavsky and Evgeny Sveshnikov. The weekend also included an online match against a club from Shanghai, a blitz tournament and the final match of a league of cadets. | Photo: Lena Uranjek

6/17/2018 – Pentala Harikrishna won the CEZ Chess Trophy this Saturday after defeating David Navara in a 12-game rapid match. The Indian scored three wins in the final games to overcome the one-point advantage Navara had amassed before the last day of play. It was a great result for the hastily invited Harikrishna, who replaced Ding Liren at the last minute. | Photo: Prague Chess Society

6/16/2018 – In the Belgian city of Leuven, the "Your Next Move Rapid & Blitz" ended today with the victory of the American Wesley So. His score in the rapid tournament, which ended on Thursday, gave him a substantial lead in the overall standings. But a bad run of form in the blitz saw his lead melt away to zero, and set up an exciting if somewhat unlikely final round that saw So — but also his closest rivals Sergey Karjakin and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — all lose. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/16/2018 – Tuesday, June 12th, the Grand Chess Tour 2018 starts in Leuven, Belgium, with a combined rapid chess and blitz tournament. Ten world-elite players will compete over five days that will certainly deliver an entertaining spectacle. The prize fund is $ 150,000, with $37,500 for the winner. Live games and commentary from 14:00 CEST (8:00 AM EDT). | Photo: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

6/16/2018 – The first of two days of blitz in Leuven finished with Wesley So still in the lead, despite his losses in the final two games of the day. Sergey Karjakin was the star of the day, getting four wins and no losses to reduce So's advantage to only 1½ points. Levon Aronian won four and lost two and is tied with Karjakin in second place. The tournament concludes tomorrow with nine more rounds of blitz. | Photo: Spectrum Studios / Grand Chess Tour

6/15/2018 – While this DVD is dedicated to an opening repertoire for Black, we can also catch a glimpse into the grandmaster's mind. We are treated to a show where pawn structures, relationships between pieces and pawns, and middlegame plans come alive through the words and explanation of a top GM. Yannick Pelletier guides us beyond the mere memorization of moves and lines, directly into the land of strategy and planning. DAVIDE NASTASIO says it definitely has a certain 'je ne sais quoi'.

6/15/2018 – The inclusion of the new Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) version of Komodo has had many users surprised, confused, and even describing it as a gimmick. However, its value is not to be underestimated, and it allows the astute user to find resources the very best engines are completely blind to. GM Karsten Mueller has helped illustrate this with some finely chosen examples in the following article. Read on to see what makes Komodo MCTS so special!

6/15/2018 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! (Normally) Friday's at 15:30 CET (9:00 AM EDT) it's all about Tactics!

6/15/2018 – Following 27...Nxc4 28.Nd5 Nb2 from the diagram, Black's knight is threatening two major pieces. Can you see already here how White turns the tables — or rather the fork — after that?

6/15/2018 – Peter Svidler defeated Yu Yangyi in a rapid and blitz match played this week in Shenzhen, China. Svidler dominated the rapid section, which awarded two points per win, while Yu Yangyi recovered his form towards the end and won the last three blitz games to avoid a massive wipeout. | Photo: sports.sina.cn