7/27/2021 – Svitlana Demchenko is back to present us her smart moves, especially after playing chess constantly in the last couple of weeks. The 17-year-old WIM left Canada, to travel to Serbia, Sochi, Moscow, and finally to Mykolayiv, Ukraine. She competed in the Serbian Open, and fought hard in the World Cup in Sochi, against a more than 300 rating points stronger opponent. Finally, she is playing a tournament in the Ukraine. Nonetheless, she made some time for a new episode, in which we take a look at her whole travel experience, her World Cup game, and play three blitz games against each other. | Photos: Svitlana Demchenko

7/27/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will of course continue to talk about the World Cup but will also take a short look at the other big tournaments that are currently taking place. The game of the day is Vidit’s smooth win vs Durarbayli as Black, in which the Indian Grandmaster used a lovely little opening novelty. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

7/27/2021 – The week long Festival de Fontainebleau chess tournament which started on 18 July doesn't feature any Grandmasters or International Masters. While the Open section comprises players with ratings under 2000, competitors in the three closed tournaments - each of which has eight players - have Elo ratings ranging from around 1800 to 2200. But what makes this tournament unique is its location and the Covid-19 related health controls that have been put in place here. | Photos: Club d'échecs de Fontainebleau-Avon

7/27/2021 – While the participants in the Grandmaster Tournament are enjoying a day of rest, the open tournaments at the Biel Chess Festival have started. The Master Tournament has an extremely strong field of participants: 27 Grandmasters are taking part, twelve (!) of them with an Elo rating of over 2600, furthermore 13 IM (International Masters) are present. The first round of the Amateur Tournament was also played today, which is completely booked up with 120 participants. | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

7/27/2021 – GM Gregory Kaidanov won the 2021 U.S. Senior Championship title after defeating GM Larry Christiansen in an exciting playoff tiebreak, scoring 1.5 - 0.5 in the two-game rapid match. After a draw in game one, Kaidanov seized his chance in game two, finding a brilliant resource to win an exchange and convert his advantage in the ensuing complications. It was the first national title victory for Kaidanov. | Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

7/27/2021 – Karsten Mueller again enjoys some Endgame Magic and together with his guest Thomas Stark he presents endgame highlights from the Goldmoney Asian Online Rapid Tournament that ended in the beginning of July, and that was won by Levon Aronian - who showed his endgame skills in a very crucial game.

7/27/2021 – Endgames with opposite coloured bishops have drawish tendencies but are also full of surprising tactics. In the diagram position White is a pawn up but Black's bishop seems to have the pawns on the kingside under control. However, White has a way to make his pawns really powerful. What can he do, how can he win?

7/27/2021 – In the open section of the World Cup, 2 players secured a spot in the quarterfinals on Monday, as Sam Shankland (pictured) and Vidit Gujrathi knocked out Peter Svidler and Vasif Durarbayli. Meanwhile, in the women’s tournament, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Tan Zhongyi and Alexandra Kosteniuk made it to the semifinals. | Photo: Eric Rosen

7/26/2021 – Sabrina Vega is the best woman player in the history of Spanish chess. She won the national women's championship six times and represented her country in five Chess Olympiads. In an interview with Tatiana Flores, Sabrina Vega talks about her chess career and how chess can help you to grow and to enrich your personality.

7/26/2021 – Two national champions were crowned on Sunday, 25 July, as both GM Hans Niemann (pictured) and IM Annie Wang clinched victories in the 2021 U.S. Junior Championships, both winning $10,000 scholarships in addition to the first place prize. Meanwhile, GM Larry Christiansen won a critical last round game in the U.S. Senior, forcing a playoff tiebreak on Monday against GM Gregory Kaidanov. With their victories, Hans and Annie qualified for the 2022 U.S. Championship and U.S. Women’s Championship. | Photo: Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Crystal Fuller

7/26/2021 – The main event at this year’s edition of the Biel Chess Festival is the Grandmaster Triathlon, in which eight participants play a mix of classical, rapid and blitz chess. The rapid section was played on Sunday, and saw Gata Kamsky getting clear first place with a 5½/7 performance. Nihal Sarin and Maxime Lagarde finished second and third respectively. | Photos: Official site

7/26/2021 – Day 1 of the fifth round at the World Cups in Sochi saw Haik Martirosyan and Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) getting off to winning starts in their matches, as they beat Amin Tabatabaei and Valentina Gunina respectively. The remaining 7 matches in the open section and 3 matches in the women’s category finished drawn. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova