8/8/2022 – Inspired by Gukesh’s remarkable win over Gabriel Sargissian in round 6 of the Chess Olympiad, star columnist Jon Speelman looked at a few more instances of cross checks and deflections that left a strong aesthetic impression. A beautiful study by the Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is included in the mix. | Photo: Stev Bonhage

8/8/2022 – Uzbekistan defeated the former leaders from Armenia to take the sole lead in the open section of the Olympiad in Chennai. The Uzbek team, led by Nodirbek Abdusattorov, will face India 2 on Monday, with Abdusattorov facing Gukesh in a much-anticipated battle of rising stars. Meanwhile, in the women’s section, Poland inflicted India’s first loss of the event, as Oliwia Kiolbasa scored her ninth victory in a row! | Photo: Stev Bonhage

8/7/2022 – Arkady Dvorkovich has been reelected for a second term as President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was part of Dvorkovich's ticket, is the new FIDE Deputy President. FIDE press release, photo by David Llada

8/7/2022 – With three rounds to go at the Chess Olympiad, Armenia continues to lead the standings in the open section with an undefeated match score. On Saturday, they beat India thanks to a second win in a row for Gabriel Sargissian. The other marquee confrontation of the round saw India 2 shock the US with wins by Gukesh and Raunak. Gukesh defeated Fabiano Caruana to collect his eighth consecutive full point — the 16-year-old is heading for the stars! In the women’s event, India conceded its first draw of the event, and now has a 1-point lead over Georgia. | Photo: Stev Bonhage

8/6/2022 – Team India B, four debutants still in their teens, created the biggest and most sensational upset of the 44th Chess Olympiad today by routing the top seed and star-studded USA Team 3-1. The sensation of the day – and of the entire Olympiad so far – was the performance of Dommaraju Gukesh. The sixteen-year-old had won all of his first seven games, and now faced former World Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana, with the black pieces. So what did the lad do: he outplayed and actually mated his illustrious opponent! You can watch it all unfold in an exciting video report | Photo Stev Bonhage

8/6/2022 – Germany beat Serbia in round 7 of the Chess Olympiad, but only after Vincent Keymer successfully defended an imbalanced position against Aleksandar Indjic. Keymer had a queen against Indjic’s bishop pair and two dangerous connected passers. Zoran Petronijevic sent us instructive annotations to an intriguing endgame battle! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/4/2022 – Going into the rest day at the Chess Olympiad, we have sole leaders in both categories for the first time in the event. Armenia beat India 2 to grab the lead in the open, while India defeated Georgia to keep its perfect score in the women’s tournament. Remarkably, Gukesh, playing for India 2, scored a sixth consecutive victory in Chennai. | Pictured: All eyes on Gabriel Sargissian and Gukesh. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/3/2022 – When dealing with a complex tactic there are usually two outcomes: a leap of intuition leads us to a Eureka epiphany, or we fail miserably, with the engine telling us what the move was, but we remain no closer to knowing how to solve it the next time. Here we analyze a less than obvious solution and how one might reach it through meticulous logic and internal debate.

8/3/2022 – India 2 and Armenia are the only teams that have won all their matches in the open section of the Chess Olympiad. The second squad presented by the locals has four players aged 18 or younger, including Gukesh, who has a perfect 5/5 score after beating Alexei Shirov on Tuesday. In the women’s section, India, Georgia and Romania are sharing the lead on 10/10 match points. The Romanian ladies stunned Poland in the fifth round. | Photo: David Llada

8/2/2022 – Do you find the Sicilian difficult to cope with? Are you afraid to play the Sicilian with White because you do not want to learn a huge amount of variations by heart? Well, Roeland Pruijssers and Nico Zwirs can help. The two Dutchmen have created a complete repertoire against the Sicilian, based on the Open Sicilian. A repertoire that is easy to learn. Only this week: €69.90 instead of €99.90!

8/2/2022 – Despite a searing heat and at least 32 degrees Celsius, the second ever ChessFest was staged by Chess in Schools and Communities in London’s famous Trafalgar Square on Sunday 17th July, with sister events held in Hull and Liverpool. The UK’s largest one-day chess event saw over 10,000 people visit, nearly double the number from last year.

8/2/2022 – But over the board it is often difficult to defend them. In the diagram position White is a pawn down but he can draw. How?