9/9/2017 – While watching yesterday's tiebreaks of the World Cup, my attention got caught by an endgame played between Richard Rapport and Wei Yi. With impressive ease, Rapport showed an exciting winning plan in a typical scenario "Rook vs Bishop". I consulted my (admittedly rarely used) copy of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and look at this: Rapport's plan was already shown in a game, coincidentally played in Tbilisi, 46 years ago! | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

9/9/2017 – On 9th of September at the start of the third round of the FIDE World Cup 2017, Anton Kovalyov came to the board before the round began. He was wearing his striped shorts, the same one that he had worn while playing rounds one and two. He was asked by ECU President to dress appropriately in accordance with the dress code which was mentioned in the players' contract. Kovalyov left the playing hall before the round began and did not turn up for the game. After 15 minutes, his opponent Maxim Rodshtein was given a walkover.

9/9/2017 – The tiebreak of the second round of the World Cup 2017 witnessed some games going down to the wire. Matlakov and Artemiev won marathon encounters against Andreikin and Radjabov. Ten players rated above 2700 were knocked out from the event in the round two tiebreaks. We bring you many interesting positions and games, as well as video interviews with chess boards which helps you to understand the thought process of all the top players! We started with 128, now only 32 remain in Tbilisi. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/8/2017 – It is a seven-piece ending over which Troitzky once toiled. In the meantime endgame databases have mastered it and can solve billions of non-trivial positions, each in an instant. But can a computer program be taught to generate interesting studies or problems with the given material? KI researcher Dr Azlan Iqbal has instructed his software to try, and it has produced a mate-in-five. We ask our readers: can you do better?

9/8/2017 – Following 22.exf6! Rxe2 in the diagram position it's White to play and win. His first three moves may still be reasonably obvious, but then things get tricky. By the way, Vishy Anand calculated no more than 5 minutes here, reeling off the rest of his moves virtually a tempo. Enjoy!

9/8/2017 – It might be appropriate to call this an end of an era. After nearly two decades, we will not be seeing Vishy Anand fighting for the Candidates as he was knocked out in the second round of the World Cup 2017 by Anton Kovalyov. Defending champion Karjakin did not fare better as his opponent Dubov showed deep preparation which led to a convincing win. Michael Adams is another world class player who was eliminated. Ten players qualified for round three, 22 matches go into the tiebreaks. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/7/2017 – What happens if Carlsen reaches the final? What are the consequences for the players in the Grand Prix, or potential rating qualifiers? A brief history of the World Cup, what's at stake, and what to watch for. We break it down.

9/7/2017 – Back in 1972 it was no trivial task to produce a book very quickly. Especially not a chess book, which required special diagrams for which there were no fonts. When IM and author David Levy came up with the idea of producing a book on the Reykjavik Spassky-Fischer match, and deliver 100,000 copies in New York within 96 hours of the end of the match, that sounded quite outlandish. But he managed to pull it off. It is an interesting fact that Levy and the author Svetozar Gligoric actually knew the final move and result of the match before Fischer.

9/7/2017 – The first game of round two of the World Cup 2017 was a relatively sedate affair. We had seven decisive games out of 32. Magnus Carlsen outplayed Alexey Dreev with the black pieces. When asked whether he was happy with his decision of coming to the World Cup, he said, "For now I think it's a fun tournament!" However, the event was no longer fun for Vishy Anand who slumped to a shock defeat against Anton Kovalyov. We have analysis of many key encounters and video interviews. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/7/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Simon Williams showed the highlights and upsets so far in Round 2, including the surprise upset of Vishy Anand!

9/6/2017 – Twenty-two tiebreak encounters were played on Tuesday at the World Cup 2017. Some matches witnessed a quick end, while some dragged on for hours and hours. A few of the biggest casualties were David Howell and Laurent Fressinet. The longest match was between Baadur Jobava and Ivan Salgado Lopez. It lasted for six games and over six hours. This battle was the epitome of sportsmanship and there is a lot that can be learned from the two grandmasters. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/5/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Simon Williams showed the highlights and upsets of the tiebreaks of round 1. Who did qualify and who goes has to take the flight home? Have a look...

9/5/2017 – Irene Sukandar is not only an International Master, but she also has a Masters in International Relations. She recently returned home to her native Jakarta, after a long multi-country tour through Europe playing in tournaments. Along the way she spent a day in Hamburg, where she stopped by ChessBase HQ and shared some insights into her background and chess training. | Photo: Pascal Simon

9/5/2017 – Endgames with opposite coloured bishops are tricky. Sometimes they are a draw although one side is two or even three pawns up. Sometimes the bishop sacrifices itself to let his pawns queen and sometimes these endgames are a simple win. But you always have to be careful.

9/5/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Yesterday Daniel King showed the highlights and upsets of round 1.2. Who did qualify and who goes into the tiebreak? Have a look...

9/5/2017 – For many chess players, whether pros or amateurs, the summer offers that irresistible combination of relaxation, sun, and chess. The US is littered with opens and events around the country, and a player need only pick an area they want to visit, and see which event will be held there and when. Near Lake Superior, at Barker's Island, the Twin Ports Open was held with several grandmasters visiting. Here is Alex Yermolinsky's report. | Photos: Alex Yermolinsky and Camilla Baginskaite

9/5/2017 – The biggest news of day two was 2015 World Cup hero Pavel Eljanov bowing down to Aleksandr Lenderman with a score of 2-0. The next biggest casualty was former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov. 42 players have qualified for the next round and the same number have been knocked out. 44 players will play in the tiebreaks on 5th of September. It is going to be exciting as we will see some big names like Karjakin, Yu Yangyi, Ivanchuk, Adams etc. in action. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/4/2017 – Boris Spassky, Yury Averbakh, Sergey Karjakin and four-year-old Mikhail Osipov, were the headliners at a glitzy day of chess in the Moscow TV studio Ostankino (www.ostankino.ru) on Tuesday, August 29th | Photo: Artur Terekulov