11/25/2020 – The knockout stage of the Skilling Open is about to begin after eight participants qualified from a 16-player single round robin preliminary stage. Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura topped the standings on 9 out of 15; Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Levon Aronian finished a half point behind; while five players tied on 8 points, with Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri advancing to the quarterfinals. | Photo: Levon Aronian

11/24/2020 – Day 2 of the preliminaries at the Skilling Open saw Anish Giri keeping the sole lead by scoring five draws in a row. Three players stand close behind, while the race to reach the knockout is fierce, with some big names — e.g. Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin — currently not in the top half of the standings table. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/22/2020 – Vahap Sanal obtained his second consecutive Turkish Chess Championship on Saturday in Kemer, a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province. The 22-year-old was the rating favourite and duly dominated the field by scoring five wins and four draws in the 10-player single round robin. IM Melih Yurtseven finished the tournament in style, winning three in a row to get sole second place. | Pictured: Cem Kaan Gokerkan (3rd), Vahap Sanal (1st) and Melih Yurtseven (2nd) | Photos: Official site

11/20/2020 – Since 2005, fan favourite Vassily Ivanchuk has played ten times at the Capablanca Memorial. Playing in Cuba seems to bring out the best of the Ukrainian genius, who won the event no fewer than eight times, including the most recent edition in 2019. We look back on his two most dominating performances, in 2005 and 2007, when he scored +6 and +7 respectively.

11/17/2020 – The 2020 Turkish Championship is taking place in Kemer, a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province on the Mediterranean coast. The event is a 10-player single round-robin. Defending champion and rating favourite Vahap Sanal is leading the standings table on 4 out of 5. Kivanc Haznedaroglu is in sole second place after beating women’s national champion Ekaterina Atalik. | Pictured: Vahap Sanal facing Ataberk Eren in round 4 | Photo: Official site

11/12/2020 – The last of ten “Chess Classic” events played in Mainz took place on August 6-8 at the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre in the German city. An 11-round open tournament with a rapid time control was the main event. Gata Kamsky kicked off with nine consecutive victories and went on to secure first place with draws in the final two rounds. Vugar Gashimov, Levon Aronian and Evgeny Bareev finished a half point behind.

11/8/2020 – An online blitz tournament was organized on Friday in memory of Yuri Sergeyevich Razuvaev, an enormously respected figure for his work as a coach and an author, besides his great accomplishments as a player. Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Tomashevsky finished in the top two places at the 8-player single round robin, and played a final 2-game match to decide the winner — Kramnik won with black and drew with white to take first place. | Photo: Alina l'Ami / Tata Steel Chess

11/7/2020 – Alexander Donchenko is on the verge of winning the Tegernsee Masters 2020, as he currently stands 1½ points ahead of his closest pursuer with two rounds to go. Nonetheless, due to Vincent Keymer’s withdrawal, the leader has a bye round on Saturday. The one player with realistic chances to catch up with Donchenko is Matthias Bluebaum, who will be paired up against Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu on the weekend. | Photos: Sebastian Siebrecht

11/6/2020 – After twenty years as the world’s highest-rated player, Garry Kasparov decided to quit chess and go into politics in March 2005. His last event was the now legendary Linares Tournament. Kasparov had a one-point lead over Veselin Topalov going into their direct encounter in the last round — Topalov won that game, but Kasparov nonetheless won the tournament, as he had a better tiebreak score (more wins with black). | Photos: Nadja Wittmann

11/3/2020 – Starting October 31 until November 8, the Tegernsee Masters tournament is taking place near the shore of Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria, Germany. The event is a 10-player single round robin with 5 German players and 5 international players hailing from the Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, India and Belgium. Unfortunately, Vincent Keymer withdrew from the tournament after finding out one of his classmates tested positive for Covid-19. | Photos: Sebastian Siebrecht

10/30/2020 – By scoring two quick draws on the last day of competition, Wesley So secured first place at the 2020 U.S. Championship. The Filipino-born grandmaster had a great run from start to finish and took home the $40,000 first prize after obtaining a remarkable 9/11 score. Jeffery Xiong also had a great performance, finishing in sole second place on 8½, while Ray Robson took third place after collecting 7½ points.

10/29/2020 – Wesley So continues his amazing run at the 2020 U.S. Championship, played online this year on October 26-29, as he has a one-point lead going into the last two rounds after having scored 8 points in the first nine rounds. Despite his great performance though, there are still two players who have chances to catch up with him on Thursday — Ray Robson and Jeffery Xiong, both currently on 7/9. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/27/2020 – Wesley So scored three wins in as many games to take the sole lead of the 2020 U.S. Championship. Ray Robson and Jeffery Xiong are sharing second place a half point behind, while Sam Sevian is the only other player with a plus score, currently in sole fourth place with 2 out 3 points. The tournament, taking place online, is a 12-player single round-robin. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/25/2020 – Irina Krush won her eighth national women’s title on Saturday after scoring a perfect 2 out of 2 on the last day of action to edge second-place Carissa Yip by a half point in the standings table. 17-year-old Yip, born in Boston, is the youngest female player to ever defeat a grandmaster. Dorsa Derakhshani finished in sole third place.

10/23/2020 – On the second day of action at the online U.S. Women’s Championship, Irina Krush scored 2½ out of 3 to take the sole lead of the event. Krush was not the only player to collect 2½ points on Thursday, as Dorsa Derakhshani and Carissa Yip achieved the same score to join the chasing pack a half point behind the leader. Meanwhile, Annie Wang, who was in the lead after day 1, lost three in a row and is now two full points behind Krush in the standings. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

10/17/2020 – The 2020 Altibox Norway Chess tournament came to an end on Friday. Magnus Carlsen had secured tournament victory with a round to spare, but finished the event with a loss to Levon Aronian. 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja came in second place thanks to a final-round win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda. In the only matchup that went to Armageddon in round 10, Fabiano Caruana defeated Aryan Tari. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/16/2020 – Magnus Carlsen has secured first place at the Norway Chess Tournament with a round to spare after beating Alireza Firouzja in classical chess. The youngster first gave his opponent chances from what seemed to be destined to end in a draw; Carlsen then made a mistake and the position was balanced again; and finally Firouzja blundered horrible in a king and pawn endgame to lose the game. Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana won in Armageddon. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/14/2020 – With two rounds to go after the rest day, two players still have realistic chances to win the tournament — Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja. Firouzja was leading the tournament before round 7, but lost in Armageddon against Fabiano Caruana on Tuesday, while the world champion collected 3 points by beating Aryan Tari in classical chess. Carlsen now has a one-point lead over his 17-year-old colleague. Firouzja and Carlsen will face each other on Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes