4/29/2018 – The writing was on the wall, and the last round clash between Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren remained somewhat anticlimactic as they drew after just 27 moves. To be fair, Magnus never gave his opponent a chance to liven things up. The one decisive game of the last round was Sergey Karjakin’s win over Veselin Topalov. A great tournament victory for the World Champion with signs of what is to come. | Photo: Shamkir Chess

4/23/2018 – After 15 draws over the first three rounds in Shamkir, Sunday's round saw one of the players finally win a game. Veselin Toplalov wrestled with Shakriyar Mamedyarov in a razor-sharp Open Spanish and thus takes over the sole lead. Plus: David Navara analyzes the Caro-Kann until the end, Anish Giri lets Liren Ding off the hook and Teimour Radjabov explains his strategy with White against World Champion Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

6/4/2016 – In an astonishing round that had to have Gashimov smiling, the final round saw three of his compatriots winning their final games. However, the biggest result was of course Mamedyarov who defeated Giri in a superb rook endgame he played to perfection, right after beating Caruana in the previous round. In a nail-biting playoff, he defeated Caruana and snatched the title. Final report.

6/3/2016 – It was a dramatic penultimate round in which leader Caruana hit an oil slick and lost to Mamedyarov. Things might have gone worse for him had rival Anish Giri managed to win his game against Hou Yifan a piece up, but in the end he failed to convert. Caruana, Giri, and Mamedyarov can all win now, since first place is decided by a playoff in the event of a draw. Round eight report.

6/2/2016 – It was a tough round with a strange twist. Among the decisive results was Mamedyarov's strong win over Safarli, while Eljanov defeated Hou in a long battle up a piece but with technical issues. The game of the round was between the leaders Caruana and Giri, and, just when Fabiano had reached a won position, he needed to find a brilliant coup de grace! Alas! Still, the tournament is not over.

6/1/2016 – It seems that the rest day fueled the fire for some interesting games, but somehow or another none of them finished in decisive results. Caruana was by the far the one with the best winning chances, as he had Safarli against the ropes right from the opening. Yifan also had an edge against Harikrishna but let him go. At the end of the day, we saw five draws.

5/30/2016 – On a normal day, we would be reporting on Anish Giri's fabulous performance: He is on 4.0/5, is gaining enough rating points to put him back to fourth in the world now, yet today is not a normal day. Fabiano Caruana has even more points as he has won again, this time against Radjabov, and has now climbed back to World numero dos!

5/29/2016 – After four rounds, it is beginning to look like a one-man show, with yet another win for Fabiano Caruana as he defeated Rauf Mamedov with black, taking his score to 3.5/4 and his live rating to world no.2 at 2814. Pentala Harikrishna was outplayed by Anish Giri and lost in 27 moves. We bring you a full report of an incredibly important fourth round.

5/28/2016 – Round three was a display of powerplay, with the quickest scored by Caruana as he demolished Hou taking him to sole first with 2.5/3. Harikrishna played an astonishing(ly bad) 12...h6 that was punished very quickly, and though he had to work for it, Karjakin reeled in the point. As to Mamedyarov, he outplayed Eljanov in a queenless middlegame in impressive fashion. The tournament is red hot!

5/27/2016 – There was nothing tepid about the second round with three decisive games and hard battles. The first to win, and the cleanest, was Indian Harikrishna who beat Mamedyarov. Eljanov and Caruana had a balanced battle, but Fabi pressed until Pavel blundered and lost. Karjakin blundered his queen to Giri, and in spite of heroic efforts, lost. All wins annotated!

5/26/2016 – It wasn't the most thrilling start with three draws in which there were never any doubts as to the result. It wasn't all dull though, with a rollercoaster game between Safarli and Eljanov that saw the Ukrainian dead won, then blew it to be lost, and by the time control it was equal and drew. Caruana pressed an advantage against Harikrishna for a long time, but drew. Round one report.

5/25/2016 – The Shamkir super-tournament, also known as the Gashimov Memorial, kicks off tomorrow with an interesting range of players. Despite the absence of two-time winner Magnus Carlsen, the field is star-studded, with big names such as Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Hou Yifan, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and others. We bring you a small preview, the opening ceremony and the schedule of our live broadcast!

4/30/2014 – While the main focus of the chess fans and media was on the top event with Carlsen and Co., it would be remiss to ignore the no less exciting B tournament, which brought together five strong foreign players against five Azeri grandmasters. After a rocket start by Bacrot, Eljanov took over in a key win in round seven, while Motylev also finished strong. Large illustrated report.

4/30/2014 – After starting the tournament with 50% - 2.5/5 - two of them being losses in a row, it was a question in everyone's mind whether Carlsen would recover successfully. He did, and in what way. With a brilliant second half scoring 4.0/5 Carlsen takes Shamkir and crowns himself with a full point lead over Caruana, who kept his second place despite today's loss. Does Magnus do it on purpose?

4/28/2014 – With victories by Caruana and Nakamura the race for first place is very close. Carlsen still leads, but he is only half a point ahead of Caruana, but he is also only half a point ahead of those tied from third to fifth! With Mamedyarov being the only one relegated, the tournament is still truly open to anyone - especially as Carlsen has already shown weakness. Who will take the title?

4/27/2014 – Nakamura-Carlsen. 4. f3 Nimzo-Indian. White outplays Black, wins in the positional battle. Something goes wrong, the tables are turned, Black now has the initiative... and he ends up converting it. No, we are not talking about the Zuerich Challenge game, but the highlight of today's round in Shamkir. Carlsen somehow tricks the American again and, also again, leads solo.

4/26/2014 – The World Champion has recovered quickly from his two consecutive losses by demolishing Mamedyarov. A combination of questionable opening play from the Azeri and very powerful chess from Carlsen resulted in a quick 25-move victory for the Norwegian. The other two games were hard fought draws in endgames; in both,the chances for either side winning were slim. But we did get a Stalemate!

4/25/2014 – With all the excitement with Carlsen and Co. in the Super-GM tournament we have been neglecting the second event that is taking place in Shamkir: the B Group with ten players: the top five seeds are from various countries and the bottom five are all from Azerbaijan. Average rating 2662 (= Category 17). At the end of halftime we bring you games, analysis and player portraits.

4/24/2014 – In something that has not been seen since 2010, Magnus Carlsen has lost two games in a row. Today his loss against Teimour Radjabov allows the Azeri to catapult himself to first place as Fabiano Caruana also lost to another Azeri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. This is Radjabov's first win of the event, the first black victory of the tournament, and at half time an Azeri leads in Shamkir.

4/23/2014 – White held a small edge from the opening, he put his pieces in such a way that his opponent felt slightly uncomfortable until Black eventuatlly made a mistake and the white player finished him off with precision. A typical Carlsen game, but this time it was the World Champion that was on the receiving end. Caruana wins, catches up with Carlsen and they share the lead with 2.5/4

4/22/2014 – The American took out his loss yesterday to Carlsen on Mamedyarov, whom he proceeded to crush swiftly. A pawn hunting expedition turned sour for the Azeri as too many lines were opened against his exposed king, and Nakamura simply did not forgive. Carlsen was better the entire game, but was unable to convert against Karjakin while Radjabov and Caruana tested each other's Gruenfeld.

4/22/2014 – Only two rounds have been played in the Gashimov Memorial, but already Carlsen has taken a full point lead. He played like a machine against Nakamura despite the American's stiff resistance. Karjakin and Caruana drew, as did Radjabov and Mamedyarov, leaving three players with 1.0/2. Carlsen used his two whites to begin the tournament perfectly, and is now 2889 in the live rating list.

4/21/2014 – The Gashimov Memorial tournament began with a visit to the beautiful marble grave of the great Vugar Gashimov. At the opening ceremony many people spoke about their friend, who very tragically passed away in January this year at the age of 27. We have reported already on the A-Group. The first round of the B section saw five fighting draws. Big pictorial with game summaries.

4/21/2014 – The Gashimov Memorial has started in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, with six very strong players, all under 30 years of age. The average Elo is 2780, making it a category 22. In the first round Magnus Carlsen not surprisingly won his game, the other two were drawn. The B group, with ten players, is a category 17 with an average 2662 (more on it later). We bring you extensive analysis of the three Group A games.