6/12/2019 – Round ten of the Women's Candidates Tournaments in Kazan finished with three draws and a single decisive game — Alexandra Kosteniuk took down Valentina Gunina with the white pieces. Meanwhile, in the crucial duel of the day, Kateryna Lagno could not overcome clear leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, which means the youngster kept her 2½-point lead over her compatriot with only four rounds to go. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

6/11/2019 – Aleksandra Goryachkina has won six games and drawn three at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. In round nine, she defeated Valentina Gunina for a second time in the event, thus getting 2½-point lead over second place with five rounds to go. Anna and Mariya Muzychuk also won and now share third place with 4½ out of 9 points. Kateryna Lagno is still in sole second place, after saving a draw against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/9/2019 – Things are still going Aleksandra Goryachkina's way at the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. The 20-year-old defeated former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in round eight, which means she is now two points ahead of second-placed Kateryna Lagno. Before Sunday's round, Lagno was sharing second place with Nana Dzagnidze, but the Georgian fell on the standings table after losing against Tan Zhongyi with Black. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

6/9/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament reached half-time on Saturday. In round seven, only Valentina Gunina managed to score a full point, as she defeated Tan Zhongyi with the white pieces. This means there were no changes on top of the standings — Aleksandra Goryachkina is still leading, while Nana Dzagnidze and Kateryna Lagno are sharing second place one and a half points behind the youngster. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

6/7/2019 – For a second time at the 2019 Women's Candidates, all four games of a round finished decisively. The results of round six all favoured sole leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, who was losing against her closest chaser, Nana Dzagnidze, but ended up getting the full point after the Georgian faltered by playing too passively. Both Muzychuk sisters won and left the cellar, as did Kateryna Lagno, who now shares second place with Dzagnidze. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/5/2019 – After winning three and drawing one in the first four rounds, Nana Dzagnidze lost for a first time at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament — Alexandra Kosteniuk defeated the Georgian from the white side of an Alapin Sicilian. Aleksandra Goryachkina took this opportunity to leapfrog Dzagnidze atop the standings by taking down Tan Zhongyi. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina and Kateryna Lagno missed winning chances against the Muzychuk sisters. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/3/2019 – All four games favoured White in round three of the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. Both co-leaders — Nana Dzagnidze and Aleksandra Goryachkina — were among the winners, which leaves them on top of the standings with a remarkable 2½/3 score before the first rest day of the event. Meanwhile, Valentina Gunina bounced back from her round two loss and Tan Zhongyi got her first win of the tournament. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/2/2019 – An exciting round in Kazan resulted in two decisive games at the 2019 Women's Candidates. Nana Dzagnidze played bravely with Black and defeated Anna Muzychuk, while Aleksandra Goryachkina took down Valentina Gunina in 92 moves, after the latter stubbornly defended an inferior position for hours on end. Both co-leaders will have the white pieces on Sunday, when round three will be the last one before the first rest day. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/1/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament started on Friday in Kazan. All four games of round one were drawn, but a couple of them could have easily finished decisively. Valentina Gunina faltered in time trouble against Kateryna Lagno, but later showed great resourcefulness to save the half point, while Aleksandra Goryachkina missed a couple of chances against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Anastasya Karlovich

4/14/2019 – No less than twenty-two players share first place on 2½ out of 3 at the European Women's Individual Championship in Antalya. Curiously, though, only four of the top ten seeds are in the large leading group, as some of the favourites have been having a hard time trying to take down lower-rated opponents. It has been a hard struggle so far, and only fourteen players will get a ticket to the World Cup. Eight rounds are still ahead. | Photo: Kasia Selbes Photography / Official site

3/9/2019 – After four rounds, the Russian players in Astana have yet to give up a full point. In the open section, they are alone at the top of the standings, while in the women's they share first place with China — the co-leaders are set to face each other on Saturday. India, United States and England trail by one match point among the men, with the Olympic champions from China far behind on the leader board. | Photo: David Llada / Official site

12/29/2018 – No tie-breaks were needed to decide the winners of the 2018 World Rapid Championships in Saint Petersburg. In the open section, Daniil Dubov arrived in the last round alone at the top of the standings and kept his position after all the top games finished drawn. Meanwhile, Ju Wenjun continued her great run and practically secured first place with a round to spare — will the Chinese manage to win the 'triple crown' of world championships this year? | Photos: Maria Emelianova / Lennart Ootes / Official site

11/4/2018 – The 64-player knockout tournament that will result in a second 2018 Women's World Champion took off on Saturday. The Ugra Chess Academy received yet another strong event and showed the usual high-calibre organisation. The first games of round one left few clear upsets, but did include many results that will very likely produce interesting return matches — games where the clear favourite only got half a point, and close match-ups where one of the players is now in a must-win situation. | Photos: Official site

10/6/2018 – The excitement levels had gone off the charts for the final round of the Batumi Olympiad 2018. The strongest teams were fighting against each other to decide who would take gold. USA and China were pitted against each other in the open section and China and Russia faced off against each other in the women's. The matches ended in 2-2 draws with a lot of drama surrounding them. The tiebreaks favoured China in both the sections and they went home with a double gold! In the Open, the USA took the silver and Russia the bronze while in the Women's Ukraine had to be content with silver, and bronze went to Georgia's first team. Full report from Batumi by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

7/1/2018 – It is hard to name favourites in such a competitive tournament, but having the 31st seed as sole leader after five rounds can be considered, even in this case, a surprise. The young Muscovite Alexey Sarana is heading the field on 4½/5 at the half-time of the Russian Higher League. The women's section has a clear leader as well — Elena Tomilova also won four and drew one to top the standings. | Photo: Dmitry Kryavkin / Russian Chess Federation

3/31/2018 – There were plenty of interesting results this last month, and the Candidates was but one of the contributing factors. There can be no discussion about calling Fabiano Caruana 'Man of the Month', but fascinating moves abound, from the rise of Iranian youth (watch out Batumi!), to Anand's ascension to world no.3 in Rapid. See all, read all, in this month's ratings report! | Photo: World Chess

1/6/2018 – After the "Move of the Year", the "Endgame of the Year", and the "Game of the Year" we now ask you to vote for your chess personalities of the year. To start: Who was your "Female Player of the Year"? Vote here.

12/16/2017 – Both the open and women's Russian Superfinals in St. Petersburg 2017 could not have been more exciting! In the open event, the two St. Petersburgers Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov were in first place with 7 points each after 11 rounds and had to decide the title in rapid chess (two games 15 minutes + 10 seconds). Svidler took his record eighth title, winning both tiebreak games. The same thing happened in the women's tournament: Alexandra Goryachkina and Natalia Pogonina were tied after eleven rounds also on 7 points each and also followed by an exciting rapid playoff, won by the 19-year-old Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

9/27/2013 – Sometimes great is not enough. These are the only words of consolation one can offer Alexander Ipatov, whose great score of 10.5/13, the same by Kasparov and Mamedyarov in the past, was overshadowed by Yu Yangyi's amazing 11.0/13 and 2813 performance. In the Girl's section, 15-year-old Aleksandra Goryachkina took gold and 13-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik was silver. Report, pictures and stats.

4/25/2013 – After years of difficult conditions, the Russian Youth Championship seems to finally have a worthy home in AquaLoo. Over 1300 children, accompanied by parents and coaches, from 75 regions in Russia, came to compete for the right to represent their nation, with Artemiev and Kashlinskaya at the top. One player aspires to be the next Mikhail Tal.