2/28/2020 – Current under-14 world champion Aydin Suleymanli was declared winner of the strong Aeroflot Open after getting the best tiebreak score among four players tied atop the standings on 6½ out of 9. Second place went to Rinat Jumabayev, who defeated Alexander Shimanov on Thursday, while former sole leader Rauf Mamedov got the bronze medal. The last player to end on 6½ was Aravindh Chithambaram, who got the better of Sanan Sjugirov in the final round. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

2/27/2020 – A young gun from Azerbaijan caught up with his more experienced compatriot Rauf Mamedov in the lead of the very strong Aeroflot Open. 14-year-old Aydin Suleymanli won three games in a row to reach a 6/8 score and will have the black pieces against the former sole leader in round nine. Eight players are a half point behind the Azerbaijani duo. | Photo: Boris Dolmatovsky

2/25/2020 – Rauf Mamedov is alone atop the standings of the annual Aeroflot Open after six rounds. In round five, Mamedov defeated 12-year-old Indian IM Bharath Subramaniyamin, who came from defeating three strong grandmasters in the first four rounds. Sanan Sjugirov, Mustafa Yilmaz and Manuel Petrosyan are sharing second place, half a point behind Mamedov. | Photo: Boris Dolmatovsky

12/8/2018 – Macedonia's political, cultural and economic centre, Skopje, is hosting the European Rapid and Blitz Championships. Unlike other events, in this case the blitz section takes place first. After eleven double-rounds, Vladislav Artemiev emerged as the clear winner with an astounding 18½/22 score. Ivan Cheparinov and David Navara finished in clear second and third places, respectively. IVA VIDENOVA sent a complete report, which includes a selection of top-level blunders. | Photos: Patricia Claros Aguilar

10/3/2018 – It was perhaps the most hard-fought round of the tournament. Nine out of the first ten matches ended decisively in the open section. We now have a sole leader — USA in the open section. The US team managed to beat Azerbaijan in a thrilling match. In the women's section, Ukraine managed to beat overnight leaders Armenia to take the top spot. They are joined by the Chinese girls. With three rounds to go this Olympiad is excitingly placed with the biggest match today being USA taking on Poland in the open section. Report from Batumi by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

9/28/2018 – The Olympiad in Batumi witnessed its most exciting round as India took on USA. While this was the biggest encounter, the match turned into something pretty one-sided as Fabiano Caruana beat Vishy Anand and took home the match with the score of 2½:1½. The real action was witnessed in the match between Poland and Russia, as the Poles managed to beat the mighty Russian team. The two decisive wins were scored by Jacek Tomczak, who beat Kramnik, and Kamil Dragun, who got the better of Dmitry Jakovenko. A report filled with pictures, videos and GM analysis.

4/28/2018 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads the 5th Shamkir Chess tournament in memory of Vugar Gashimov, being played in Azerbaijan from April 19th to 28th. Live games and commentary from 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EDT)

4/27/2018 – Veselin Topalov has yielded the lead to Magnus Carlsen at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. In their head-to-head encounter, Topalov gave up his queen for rook and bishop, but could not hold the game against the reinvigorated world champion. Ding Liren also came out on top against the floundering David Navara. Is Carlsen's success off the board foreshadowing a Norwegian win in Shamkir? GM Daniel Fernandez annotates all games of round seven. | Photos: ShamkirChess.az

4/25/2018 – Round 6 of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir brought interesting games, but only one win. Anish Giri benefited from a tactical blackout by David Navara, to net his first full point of the tournament. The four remaining games ended in a draw, two without much excitement, but two after an interesting run. | Photos: 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

4/22/2018 – At the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijani, the curious "remis-sery" (to use a cross-language pun) could not be broken in the third round either. The ten top grandmasters have played fifteen games; because none of them was decided, there are naturally also ten "leaders" with 1½ points. GM Alex Yermolinsky reports that things could have changed today round three, which saw the Bulgarian ex-FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov miss a winning chance against Ding Liren. Unfortunately, of the two ways in which Topalov could sacrifice his knight, Topalov chose the wrong one, and Ding could save the game in a draw. | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

4/20/2018 – The first round of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir ended with five draws, and the second round also brought five draws. The most excitement offered the game between Anish Giri and Veselin Topalov but in the end the two players shared the point. | Photos: Shamkir Chess

4/20/2018 – The Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan began with five draws. The top game between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Magnus Carlsen was rather unspectacular. The best chances for a victory were held by Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren, but at the crucial moment against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Ding lacked a killer instinct. | Photo: shamkirchess.az

3/23/2018 – In the European Individual Championship in Batumi, after six rounds the top group has increased to seven players. After his victory over Ivan Saric, Radoslaw Wojtaszek is now the only player rated over 2700 in the leading pack. Friday is a rest day, and the tournament resumes on Saturday at 12:15 CET. | Pictured: Musical chairs on the top board. Benjamin Bok (right) is one of the co-leaders. Ivan Saric (left) is now half a point back | Photos: Official facebook page

11/6/2017 – Azerbaijan beat Russia in Round 8, leaving the tournament to be decided in the final round with both teams plus Ukraine vying for the title. Rauf Mamedov has a remarkable 7½ out of 8 games and has broken 2700 for the first time. Azerbaijan takes a small lead into their match with Ukraine, Germany rocketed to fourth with wins over Armenia and Israel, and will face Russia. GM Daniel Fernandez and IM Lawrence Trent annotate the best games from Rounds 6-8. | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com