3/24/2017 – The Sharjah Masters 2017 was off to a rollicking start with about 180 players competing. While there were many upset draws, the one thing that stood out was the number of no-shows. The biggest upsets of the day were scored by the Indians—Viani Antonio Dcunha, Vignesh NR and Nihal Sarin. Illustrated report with video analyses by Daniel King.

2/28/2017 – Without taking anything away from his last-minute wresting of the gold from the two previous leaders, Alexander Grischuk's win of the FIDE Grand Prix in Sharjah was a bit of a disappointment, not for the result, much less the player, but because of the extremely modest 5.5/9 score required to do so. In many ways, it reflected the very sedate event and its astonishingly high draw rate. Here is the final report with analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

2/27/2017 – Good news or bad news first? The good news is that only one game ended in a short draw, while almost all games were played out to a proper end. The bad news is that only two ended in a decisive result, and it could have been just one. The unquestionable win was that of Pavel Eljanov over Jon Hammer, while the most important was Grischuk's victory over Mamedyarov. Mamedyarov had an equal endgame, but blundered fatally on move 49, and resigned soon after. Full report with analysis by Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

2/25/2017 – One interesting aspect of the FIDE Grand Prix in Sharjah has been some of the extreme opening preparation battles in which neither player shirked the opportunity to test the other. In round seven, two such examples that led to fascinating battles were Ding Liren vs Nakamura, as well as Salem vs Riazantsev. The latter saw Salem win that battle as he emerged with the lead and converted. The top standings are unchanged with two rounds to go. Full report with analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

2/24/2017 – It was the closest of affairs, and Nakamura had to think it was in the bag as he pressed forth with a won endgame against Grischuk, but a late misstep was all it took, and the chance to join the leaders slipped away. Nepomniachtchi made no such mistakes and took down Li Chao to enter the group a half point behind the leaders, while Rapport is back at 50% after defeating Riazantsev. Full report with analysis by Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

2/22/2017 – Although the games were harder fought this round compared to the previous anemic one, only three games out of nine ended in a decisive result. Nakamura seemed to have excellent chances against co-leader Mamedyarov, but in the end drew. Adams bounced back from his bad loss to Mamedyarov yesterday, and overpowered Hammer, while Grischuk and Jakovenko both broke their four draw streaks with wins over Eljanov and Riazantsev respectively. Full report with fascinating analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

2/22/2017 – With breathtaking verve, Mamedyarov went all out against Adams, and scored a powerful win to join MVL in the lead. Most games drew, some with little or no effort to fight, though not all such as Eljanov vs Hou Yifan that went the distance. Li Chao was the other winner of the day, defeating Tomashevsky. Enjoy the illustrated report with analysis by Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

2/20/2017 – Although round three saw the vast majority of the games end in draws, the wild battle between Hikaru Nakamura and Richard Rapport left few doubts any such thing would happen to their game. After a QGD Chigorin, Rapport castled queenside, and the gloves were off! MVL continues sole leader. Illustrated report with analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

2/20/2017 – The Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave showed superb form as he completely outclassed Rapport with black to score a second win. Yesterday's loser Ding Liren bounced back with a win over Saleh Salem, while Mamedyarov was the third winner of the day, defeating Tomashevsky in 37 moves. Full report with analysis by Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

2/19/2017 – It promised to bring levels of excitement and dynamism, and the new format did not disappoint. Three games ended in decisive results, with one hardly a surprise: Ding Liren - Rapport. The game was a mess as expected, and both players sopught to show who was the wilder of the bunch. Adams defeated Salem after he produced super piece centralization, and strangled his rival. Finally, MVL outplayed Li Chao in an endgame to score. Full report with analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

2/18/2017 – The new FIDE Grand Prix cycle is about to start, and the first event will take place in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club, the world’s largest chess club. There are four events in all, but innovating on the previous system of a series of round-robins, this time 24 players in all will participate with 18 in each event playing a nine-round Swiss. Here is all the Opening Ceremony report with all the info.

9/8/2014 – With no big surprises in the last round it was Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun, the long time leaders of the event, that finished at the very top of the field with an excellent 8.5/11, two more points than the big tie for third between Zhao Xue, Batchimeg Tuvshintugs, Harika Dronavalli and Anna Ushenina. Final round report and pictures of the small closing ceremony.

9/6/2014 – The players took the time to visit different touristic parts of UAE in their rest day and prepared themselves for the penultimate round in Sharjah. Batchimeg Tuvshintugs continues with a fantastic tournament and held Hou Yifan to a draw. The Mongolian player only needs a draw for a GM norm. Ju Wenjun's draw with Humpy still keeps her in the lead by a mere half point.

9/4/2014 – With a fantastic and risky game Ju Wenjun was able to vanquish Harika with the Black pieces, leaving her as the sole leader of the Sharjah Grand Prix. Hou Yifan drew against Danielian, which puts her three points ahead of Humpy and with two rounds to go this means that the World Champion is now also the 2013-2014 Grand Prix series Winner. Report of a very well fought round.

9/2/2014 – The two Chinese leaders sat at the board and played a chess game, though not the most thrilling one. After 30 moves they had wiped out most of the pieces and it was obvious that a draw would be agreed. Tuvshintugs continues in hard pursuit and today she took advantage of a blunder of l'Ami when the Mongolian had a worse position. She is currently one point behind the leaders.

9/2/2014 – Both Ju Wenjun and Hou Yifan won their games to continue their streak in Sharjah. Ju Wenjun won cleanly against Muminova, and although the World Champion's game was far rockier she achieved her goal regardless. Tuvshintugs drew her game and is the closest to the leaders, but at 1.5 points away she isn't a a serious threat. The Chinese meet tomorrow for a decisive match..

8/31/2014 – With two very clean games Ju Wenjun, who defeated l'Ami, and Hou Yifan, who did the same with Ushenina, have extended their share lead to a full point over clear third, Tuvshintugs. Also important is that Humpy lost against Zhao Xue, which means that the Indian player is a full three points behind Hou Yifan. This makes it almost certain that Hou Yifan will win the GP series.

8/30/2014 – The players were treated to a wonderful surprise in the rest day in Sharjah. Despite the blistering heat of UAE, with temperatures reaching well over 40 degrees, the participants were taken to see... penguins! Some of the players definitely gained some inspiration from these encounters. At the end of round five, Ju Wenjun and Hou Yifan again lead a Grand Prix. Pictorial report.

8/28/2014 – The level of play varied widely in today's round. Impressive was Hou Yifan's game, as she meticulously nursed a tiny advantage against Koneru Humpy and ended up winning a very important game. On the other side of the spectrum, the game between Ju Wenjun and Danielian went from winning for White, to the contrary, back to a White win, and with this the Chinese is sole leader.

8/27/2014 – With round three over two early leaders have emerged. Harika keeps good pace by drawing Hou Yifan, though to be fair she should have pressed harder in the final position. Ju Wenjun had a lot of patience and defeated Zhao Xue in a long opposite colored bishop endgame. The other boards saw some nice fights, especially Tatiana Kosintseva's sacrificial win against Alina l'Ami.

8/26/2014 – Already after round two it is clear that some players are fighting to win the tournament and others are fighting to stay afloat. All of the Chinese players (the ones that still play for China, at least) are on 1.5/2, a strong score shared by Tuvshintugs and Ushenina. The race is being led by Harika with 2/2, and she faces an important game tomorrow against Hou Yifan.

7/27/2014 – The United Arab Emirates has many landmarks that are famous around the world, including the tallest man-made structure, the Burj Khalifa, the world's biggest mall, the Dubai Mall, and the JW Marriott Marquis, the world's tallest hotel. Therefore it should come as a no big surprise that it is now home to the largest chess club in the world. Big illustrated report.