8/1/2020 – Both Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi won the first sets of their semifinal matchups in three games (each set consists of four rapid games and an Armageddon in case of a tie). Carlsen defeated Peter Svidler, while Nepomniachtchi beat Anish Giri. The semifinals are played to the best of three sets. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/28/2020 – With two rounds to go in the preliminary stage of the ‘Legends of Chess’ online tournament, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi have already secured their spots in the four-player knockout phase. Anish Giri climbed to third place with a 2½:½ victory over Ding Liren, while, among the veterans, Vishy Anand and Vasyl Ivanchuk played enterprising chess to defeat Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik respectively. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/27/2020 – Magnus Carlsen leads the preliminary stage of the ‘Legends of Chess’ tournament after a smooth victory over Ding Liren. Ian Nepomniachtchi is in second place — the Russian defeated Viswanathan Anand in Armageddon on Sunday. Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler also won in the sudden-death decider, while Anish Giri got the better of Peter Leko 2½:1½. | Photo: Justin Kellar

7/26/2020 – Ian Nepomniachtchi caught up with Magnus Carlsen in the standings table of the ‘Legends of Chess’ online event by defeating Peter Svidler 3:1 while Carlsen managed a win in Armageddon over Vasyl Ivanchuk. Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko and Anish Giri also won in round 5. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/25/2020 – World champion Magnus Carlsen is the sole leader of the Legends of Chess online tournament after four rounds with a perfect score. Ian Nepomniachtchi is trailing by a point, while Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik complete the top 4 in the standings table — let us not forget that the preliminary stage, being played at the moment, serves only to decide which four participants move on to the semifinals. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/24/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Peter Svidler have won all three matches they have played so far in the ‘Legends of Chess’ tournament without ever going to tiebreaks. On Thursday, Carlsen was repeatedly in trouble against Peter Leko but managed to win nonetheless, while Svidler defeated former co-leader Boris Gelfand. In the clash of former world champions, Vladimir Kramnik beat Vishy Anand after winning a memorable first game with black. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Vasyl Ivanchuk also obtained victories. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

7/23/2020 – In the second round of the Legends of Chess online tournament, Ian Nepomniachtchi beat an out-of-form Ding Liren 2½:½ after getting a stunning win in game 1; current world champion Magnus Carlsen defeated former world champion Vishy Anand; Boris Gelfand got the better of Vasyl Ivanchuk; Peter Svidler beat Peter Leko in a closely-contested encounter; and Anish Giri took down Vladimir Kramnik. None of the matches went to Armageddon. | Photo: Niki Riga

7/22/2020 – Magnus Carlsen picked up where he left off in the last tournament of his own series, as he convincingly defeated Anish Giri in the first round of the ‘Legends of Chess’ tournament. The biggest surprise of the day came from Boris Gelfand, who obtained a clean victory over world number three Ding Liren. Besides Carlsen and Gelfand, Peter Svidler was the one other player to win without needing tiebreaks. | Photo: Ritvo Photography

7/2/2020 – Magnus Carlsen beat Ding Liren twice with black on Wednesday to secure a spot in the final match of the Chessable Masters. Meanwhile, Ian Nepomniachtchi levelled the score in his matchup against Anish Giri thanks to a 2½:1½ win in the second set. Carlsen’s opponent in the final will be decided on Thursday. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

6/28/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi won their quarterfinal matchups with the equivalent of a 6-1 6-1 victory in tennis, needing only three games in each set to knock out Fabiano Caruana and Vladislav Artemiev. On Saturday, Carlsen showed precise play to beat Caruana in game 2 and saw his opponent crash and burn in the third encounter. Meanwhile, Nepomniachtchi was tactically superior in the positions that arose from Artemiev’s offbeat opening choices. | Photo: Justin Kellar

6/26/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi needed no more than three games to defeat Fabiano Caruana and Vladislav Artemiev in the first mini-matches of the Chessable Masters quarterfinals. Carlsen was ruthless against Caruana’s haphazard play in games 1 and 2, while Nepomniachtchi defeated Artemiev twice with the white pieces and showed good technique to hold a draw with black. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/24/2020 – Anish Giri, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana reached the quarterfinals of the Chessable Masters. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov were eliminated from the competition — ‘MVL’ lost four in a row on Tuesday while Radjabov played well but could not recover from his subpar performance in the first half. Caruana is set to face Magnus Carlsen in the most anticipated matchup of the quarterfinals. | Photo: Austin Fuller

4/30/2020 – The seventh round of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational saw world numbers one and two, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, losing to Ding Liren and Anish Giri respectively. Carlsen played some dicey openings against Ding and, despite equalizing in the middlegame, made critical mistakes in three of the four rapid games. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura also won. The first semi-final between Caruana and Nakamura will be played on Friday. Round-up show by IM Lawrence Trent. | Photo: Official site

4/24/2020 – The third round of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational concluded on Thursday. Ian Nepomniachtchi inflicted Anish Giri's third straight match loss without tiebreaks, while Ding Liren took down Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in Armageddon after their four rapid encounters ended drawn. With four rounds to go, Magnus Carlsen is the sole leader of the event. Round-up show by IM Lawrence Trent. | Photo: Official site

4/22/2020 – Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi won their round-two matches in sudden death at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. Both of them did it after winning their fourth rapid encounters on demand. Caruana defeated Ding Liren, while Nepomniachtchi took down Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. With two rounds completed, Caruana is sharing the lead with Magnus Carlsen on five points — incidentally, the co-leaders will face each other on Wednesday. Round-up show by GM Yannick Pelletier | Photo: Official site

4/19/2020 – Round one of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational concluded on Sunday. Three players are sharing the lead with 3 points each after scoring match victories without needing a tiebreaker. On day two, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated an out-of-form Anish Giri, while Fabiano Caruana won the fourth game of his match-up against Ian Nepomniachtchi after the latter missed some chances in the previous drawn games. Round-up show by Lawrence Trent | Photo: Official site

3/30/2020 – French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who jointly leads the now suspended 2020 Candidates is back in Paris. After an eventful fortnight, that included a surprise call to the event, the consequent last-minute scramble for a visa, an impressive performance at the tournament and returning home after passing through an empty airport. In an exclusive interview with Dhananjay Khadilkar, MVL, as he is popularly known, speaks about his surreal experience. | Photos: Lennart Ootes/FIDE

3/27/2020 – Grandmaster Daniel King originally planned to be in Yekaterinburg, but instead reflects on Vachier-Lagrave's lead-tying win, and a famous line from Bobby Fischer. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

3/25/2020 – The FIDE Candidates Tournament is getting very interesting and IM Merijn van Delft takes a look at the highlight of the day. | The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 3 PM EDT).

3/23/2020 – Ian Nepomniachtchi goes into the second rest day of the Candidates Tournament leading by a full point after beating Ding Liren with White on Monday. The only other player with a plus score is Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who held Wang Hao to a draw. Anish Giri defeated Kirill Alekseenko in a game that lasted over seven hours, while Alexander Grischuk had to be precise to split the point with Fabiano Caruana. Expert analysis by GM SAM SHANKLAND and IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/22/2020 – The 2020 Candidates Tournament has a sole leader for the first time, as Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Wang Hao with the white pieces in round five. The three other games finished drawn. Kirill Alekseenko and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave entered a sharp Najdorf which ended in a repetition, while Anish Giri could not make the most of the very promising position he got against Fabiano Caruana. Expert analysis by GM ELSHAN MORADIABADI and IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/17/2020 – The long-anticipated Candidates Tournament kicked off with two surprising results, as both Ding Liren and Anish Giri lost with the white pieces, against Wang Hao and Ian Nepomniachtchi respectively. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave v Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Grischuk v Kirill Alekseenko were hard-fought games that finished drawn, with Grischuk going into his usual extreme time trouble. Video round-up by GM SIMON WILLIAMS and GM BORIS GELFAND analysed the all-Russian clash. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

3/5/2020 – In less than two weeks the Candidates Tournament 2020 will begin in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Eight of the world's best players fight for the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen in December and in his Candidates Preview on YouTube Daniel King takes a close look at all eight candidates. In his most recent episode he wonders how Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is unpredictable but knows how to put pressure on his opponents, might fare in Yekaterinburg. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

1/1/2020 – Happy New Year! World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads into 2020 with a 50 Elo point lead in the classical ratings and a 45 point lead on the rapid list. Yet, despite winning the recent World Blitz Championship in a playoff over Hikaru Nakamura, the American clings to a 13 point margin atop the world blitz rankings. Alireza Firouzja, who gave both a run for their money in Moscow, is now #1 on the Juniors rankings. | Photos: Amruta Mokal / Jingda Chen on Unsplash