8/31/2019 – A promising young star is already leaving his mark in Belgian chess. 13-year-old Daniel Dardha won the 2019 national championship in Charleroi — a ten-player single round robin — finishing ahead of three grandmasters to become the youngest ever Belgian chess champion. FABRICE WANTIEZ tells us about Daniel's background, as chess has been part of his family for quite a while ago already.

8/17/2018 – The Bruges Masters (or Brugse Meesters in Flemish, if you prefer!) ran from August 12th to 16th in the picturesque Belgian town known for its old-fashioned streets, peaceful canals, world-class chocolate and — once a year — an international open chess tournament. This year's winner was GM Oleg Korneev, the 49-year-old Russian who now lives in and plays for Spain. Korneev stormed through the field winning all of his games before acquiescing to a draw in the final round. | Photo: Meri Grigoriyan

4/25/2018 – The World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened across the street from the Saint Louis Chess Club in September, 2011, has long boasted of having the "world's largest chess piece" outside its front door. King ‘Kong’, as it was known, was massive and many doubted the record — officially sanctioned by Guinness World Records — would ever be broken. But in 2014, St. Louis were bested by a small town in Belgium! Now they've taken the record back. | Photo: Austin Fuller

7/3/2017 – It was all Magnus Carlsen in the last two days as he overcame a three-point deficit, trailing Wesley So, who had performed superbly in the rapid games, to win the Grand Chess Tour tournament in Leuven with a full three-point lead. His blitz performance of 3018 Elo over 18 games says it all. Wesley So came in second, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took third. Enjoy this illustrated report with analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

7/2/2017 – With a performance rating in excess of 3000 Elo, Magnus Carlsen's blitz skills not only allowed him to bridge the three-point deficit after the rapid games, but to finish with a full three-point lead and run away with the Leuven tournament of the Grand Chess Tour with 25.5/36. Wesley So was able to at least secure clear second with 22.5/36, a half-point ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with 22.0/36. Express report.

7/2/2017 – With a three point lead over Magnus Carlsen after the rapid games, and two over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So had to have though it would at least carry him over until Sunday. However, he could not have predicted the Magnus Carlsen Show that lasted throughout the day, with the World Champion in scintillating form, finding inspired and many-times clear best moves grandmasters might find challenging even in classical games. Full report by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

7/1/2017 – With Wesley So winning the Rapid game phase, opening up a two-point edge over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and a three-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, the question was whether they might catch up with him in the blitz phase. The World Champion answered in emphatic fashion as he blew away the field with 7.5/9 on day one of the blitz phase, and already caught up with So in the combined scores. Express report.

7/1/2017 – Day three showed no big surprises as far as the winner was concerned, with World no. 2 Wesley So winning the Rapid stage of the Leuven tournament with 14.0/18, two points ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who lost his final round game against Levon Aronian, and three points ahead of Magnus Carlsen, who stands at 11.0/18. There will still be 18 blitz games to follow over the weekend, so the event is still very much undecided. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

6/30/2017 – Day Two was very much a repeat of the previous day, with Wesley So repeating his stellar performance and increasing his lead to two points over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen, the top performers in the previous event in Paris. The games have been all quite exciting with nearly three-quarters ending in decisive results. Here is the illustrated report with GM analysis.

6/29/2017 – Day One of the Leuven stage of the Grand Chess Tour, held in Leuven, Belgium, was already a significant departure from Paris, which ended just days before. Whereas World Champion Magnus Carlsen had run away with the Rapid stage, while Wesley So, the world no. 2, had displayed tepid form, things took an about face on Day One in Belgium. Wesley So was in superb form, scoring 2.5/3, including a convincing win over Magnus Carlsen himself. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

6/19/2016 – It was an incredibly hard-fought nine rounds of blitz in which only Levon Aronian managed squeak ahead of the rest by half a point with 5.5/9, allowing him to take clear third in the combined standings with 15.5 points. Carlsen, So, Nakamura and Kramnik all scored 5.0/9 leaving Magnus Carlsen still in clear first with 17 points, trailed by Wesley So with 16. Illustrated report.

6/18/2016 – If day one of the rapid games in Leuven was full of surprises, day two was no less so, though thankfully not due to record numbers of blunders. Vishy Anand started the day with a win, but after two losses lost the lead as he was caught up by Wesley So. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen showed he was back and managed to win the rapid phase after a fabulous 4/4. Illustrated report.

6/18/2016 – It was an unusually nervy first day at Leuven, Belgium, as the world elite came to bump heads once more. In this stage, Anand takes the place of Fressinet as he returns from a win at Leon. To say nothing went as expected for other players would be an understatement, with Nakamura starting with three losses, or Carlsen blundering a piece to Hikaru in just 12 moves! Large illustrated report.