12/9/2019 – Ding Liren defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the match for the title at the Grand Chess Tour in London. The Chinese star dominated the confrontation from start to finish, securing first place after the rapid stage. In the battle for bronze, Magnus Carlsen got the better of Levon Aronian despite blundering mate in the first encounter of the day. The world champion was the biggest earner in this year's tour nonetheless, collecting a little over USD 300,000 throughout the series. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/8/2019 – Ding Liren won the 2019 Grand Chess Tour final match against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by taking the first rapid game and drawing the second. The Chinese ace won their second classical game on Saturday to take a sizeable lead into the final day. World Champion Magnus Carlsen finished in third place after closing out his match against Levon Aronian in blitz! Live games and commentary from 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET, 9:00 EST).

12/8/2019 – Magnus Carlsen's last classical game of 2019 almost ended in defeat, as he was about to lose his (now) 107-game undefeated streak against Levon Aronian in the match for third place of the Grand Chess Tour finals. Meanwhile, in the fight for the title, Ding Liren obtained a nice win with White over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The British Knockout Championship took place alongside the GCT finals — Michael Adams won the event after beating David Howell in the final. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/7/2019 – Two long and exciting games kicked off the final stage of the Grand Chess Tour in London. Ding Liren had a large advantage but could not convert it into a win against a resilient Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while Magnus Carlsen defeated Levon Aronian with the white pieces to get ahead right out of the gate in the match for third place. The duels continue on Saturday, starting two hours earlier than usual. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/5/2019 – Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are the finalists of the GCT closing event of the year, as they overcame Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen at the rapid and blitz phases of the semis. While Ding won almost unopposed, Vachier-Lagrave only managed to defeat the world champion in overtime — five draws were followed by an exchange of blows that led to the playoffs. Vachier-Lagrave won a wild game out of a Sicilian Najdorf and drew the last 10-minute game to get match victory. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/4/2019 – Two more draws were signed on Tuesday at the Grand Chess Tour semi-finals in London. Magnus Carlsen once again looked to surprise Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the opening, to which the Frenchman responded with cautious play. Meanwhile, Ding Liren found himself in an inferior position in his game with White, but Levon Aronian was not in physical conditions to push for more. Rapid and blitz games will decide the finalists on Wednesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/3/2019 – Two very different draws set the GCT semi-finals in motion at the Olympia Conference Centre in London. Levon Aronian played it safe with White against Ding Liren as he did not feel well after a bad night's sleep, while Magnus Carlsen decided to challenge Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a rare line of the Sicilian Najdorf. The draw signed by the world champion and the Frenchman was as memorable as it was complex. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

12/2/2019 – The Tata Steel Chess India 2019 was held from November 22nd to the 26th, 2019 in Kolkata, India. It was truly a trailblazing event being the strongest tournament ever to be organized on not just Indian but Asian soil. IM SAGAR SHAH reflects on the ten things that according to him made the Tata Steel Chess India special. A photo / video retrospective.

11/27/2019 – Tata Steel Chess India, the penultimate event of the Grand Chess Tour 2019, came to an end with Magnus Carlsen showing his best ever GCT performance, scoring 27 points out of a total 36. He will be joined by Ding Liren, Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the tour's final event the London Chess Classic starting next week. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you the detailed report of the action on the final day from Kolkata.

11/26/2019 – The penultimate tournament of the Grand Chess Tour, the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz in Kolkata, features World Champion Magnus Carlsen and some of the world's best chess players. Live games and commentary from 7:30 UTC (8:30 CET / 2:30 EST). | Photos: Grand Chess Tour

11/25/2019 – Magnus Carlsen performed at an astronomical Elo of 3027 at the Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Rapid. He scored 15.0/18, with six wins and three draws. According to Magnus, this was his best performance ever in rapid format. He gained 36.8 Elo points, taking his rapid rating to 2885. He also overtook MVL and thus became World no.1 in rapid. Hikaru Nakamura took the second spot with 11.0/18 and Wesley So was third. The tournament has not yet ended of course — we've moved to the blitz section with 18 more rounds to be played. The cumulative score of both the formats will determine the winner. A detailed day three report from the National Library in Kolkata.

11/24/2019 – Magnus Carlsen does not cease to impress. This time it was not just on the chess board! He was called as the guest of honour along with Vishy Anand to open the day two of the cricket test match between India and Bangladesh. In between rounds four and five, he entertained one and all with his football skills. Last but not the least, he was an absolute monster on the board as he completely outplayed Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri. His last game for the day was a draw against Vidit Gujrathi. Magnus now has a lead of three points with 10.0/12. He is followed by Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. In this report we bring to you detailed analysis, pictures, videos from the National Library in Kolkata.

11/23/2019 – Chess is spread all over the city of Kolkata! Amidst the hoopla of the opening ceremonies, IM SAGAR SHAH managed to do a small quiz with the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Erwin l'Ami. The quiz dealt with the best games of Anand's chess career (because the players were in India and Vishy will turn 50 in a few days!) and the players had to guess Anand's best move and also the opponent in the game. Magnus Carlsen impressed one and all with his memory! Check out how he and the others fared!

11/13/2019 – With the Superbet Rapid and Blitz in the books, the race for the Grand Chess Tour finals in London is becoming clear. Sergey Karjakin, by virtue of tying with Aronian for first is out of the running. Since Vachier-Lagrave is finished with his tour events, Viswanathan Anand is looking to qualify for London, and 6th place in Kolkata should be enough to close the gap. The new Chess960 World Champion Wesley So will be there too. Can you guess what is veiled with blue velvet below?| Photo: Shahid Ahmed

11/11/2019 – Levon Aronian only finished in 5th place with 10 points from 18 games in this weekend's blitz tournament, but when combined with his 10 points in the rapid, his total tally tied him for first place with Sergey Karjakin, who won the blitz portion jointly with Le Quang Liem scoring 11/18. In the resulting playoff, Aronian scored a full point in the second game to snare the overall victory in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

11/10/2019 – Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin surged in the final day of blitz to finish joint first in the overall standings in Bucharest. Aronian won a two-game rapid playoff to be declared the winner of the Superbet Rapid & Blitz. Live games and commentary from 13:00 UTC (14:00 CET, 8:00 AM EST). | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

11/9/2019 – With an Elo rating of 2670, the Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov is currently number 68 in the classical world rankings. However, he is ranked sixth in the world in rapid chess at 2798! Korobov demonstrated his mastery of this format in the rapid portion of the Superbet tournament of the Grand Chess Tour in Bucharest. He finished Day 3 with a two point lead over the field. | Photos: Grand Chess Tour / Lennart Ootes

11/7/2019 – Anish Giri started well among ten world-class players, at the Superbet Rapid Tournament of the Grand Chess Tour in Bucharest: He is in the lead after the first three rapid games with 2½ out of 3, half a point behind them are Vishy Anand, Anton Korobov and Levon Aronian on positions two to four. | Photos: Lennart Ootes, Grand Chess Tour

10/7/2019 – An editorial from CHESS Magazine's executive editor IM MALCOLM PEIN announcing the 11th London Chess Classic, the latest news from Chess in Schools and Communities, thoughts on the FIDE calendar, and the standings of the Grand Chess Tour.

8/26/2019 – The spell of draws was finally broken but the leading pack became a jumbo five-men crowd as Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi joined them at 4½ points from 8 rounds. While erstwhile joint leaders Fabiano Caruana and Viswanathan Anand drew their mutual encounter after a long fight, world champion Magnus Carlsen waged a spirited battle against Ding Liren but was forced to settle for a draw too. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports all action from the venue. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

8/18/2019 – Viswanathan Anand got lucky against Ian Nepomniachtchi when the latter made a one-move blunder and lost his rook which resulted in his immediate resignation — the only decisive game of round one of the Sinquefield Cup 2019. Carlsen would like to improve on his forgettable Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz. Nakamura, Giri, So who are fresh for this event will definitely look forward to making an impact. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from the venue. Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/13/2019 – Carlsen started Day 3 of Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz with a loss against Aronian. The World Champion defeated MVL in the final round of the rapid event, however it is MVL who overcame Carlsen in the FIDE rapid ranking according to live ratings. Vachier-Lagrave remained undefeated on the final rapid day by defeating the former World Championship challenger Caruana in the final round. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

7/7/2019 – We saw history in the making, as Magnus Carlsen won his eighth tournament in a row at the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb. The world champion defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from the white side of a Grüenfeld to finish in clear first place a full point ahead of his closest pursuer with a 'plus five' score. Carlsen's official rating in August will equal his own peak rating of 2882 points — the highest ever achieved. Wesley So finished in sole second place. Express report. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

5/13/2019 – After scoring five wins on the final day of action at the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour in Abidjan, Magnus Carlsen won yet another event, this time by a margin of three and a half points. Tied in second place finished Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura — the latter could have finished in sole second had he not lost from a rather equal position against the champion in the last round. | Pictured: Magnus Carlsen with Côte d'Ivoire's Minister of Sports Paulin Danho | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour