8/28/2021 – The last ‘regular’ tournament of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, the Aimchess US Rapid, begins on Saturday. This is the final qualifying tournament to the grand finale, which is scheduled to start on September 25. The 16-player lineup is topped by Magnus Carlsen, with the likes of Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Wesley So also in the mix.

8/27/2021 – ChessBase Magazine offers a window to the world of professional chess, and it also provides arsenal for the tournament player. This issue offers 456 games from 3 major events, Candidates’ Tournament, New in Chess Classic and the Russian Team Championship. It also includes games annotated by Ian Nepomniachtchi, Boris Gelfand and Anish Giri, to mention a few. The icing on the cake is a tribute to Timman who turned 70 this year, with 25 annotated games. Prof. Nagesh Havanur takes a look. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

8/27/2021 – This week, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at an instructive game in the London System. German GM Alexander Donchenko sacrificed his pawn on b7 to develop a massive initiative. | “Fast and Furious” is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

8/27/2021 – In an exclusive interview with Tatiana Flores, 6-time French women’s champion Sophie Milliet talks about the benefits chess has brought her, some of her most important tournaments and games, her efforts to support female players in chess, and much more.

8/27/2021 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got clear first place at the Sinquefield Cup after all five games finished drawn in round 9 — i.e. none of the chasers managed to catch up with him in the last hurdle. Thanks to his performance in Saint Louis, MVL returned to the top 10 in the world ranking and grabbed second place in this year’s Grand Chess Tour. Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Leinier Dominguez finished a half point back. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/26/2021 – What is it that separates chess from a game like baseball? One answer is “the statistics”. While baseball fans have a dazzling variety of stats to pore over, chess reporting has tended to focus on the individual games and events rather than overall numbers. With a new book on the U.S. Women’s Champions on the horizon, it’s a good time to look at the records of this tournament series. | Pictured: Mona May Karff playing White against Mary Bain at the 1956 Pan American Championship. | Photo: Nancy Roos / Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame

8/26/2021 – The region of Saint Emilion near Bordeaux is renowned for producing some of the world’s finest wines. Hundreds of hectares of vineyards belonging to different domains dominate the landscape. One of these enchanting wine estates was the venue of a rapid chess tournament held on August 22. The 77 participants played the nine-round event in the midst of giant metal tanks and hundreds of wine barrels at the Château Montaiguillon. | Pictured: Maxime Lagarde and Mathieu Cornette | Photo: Thibault Plaire

8/26/2021 – After a quick draw against Mamedyarov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the 2021 Sinquefield Cup, securing clear first place after his closest rivals were unable to catch him in the ninth and final round. MVL is the first two-time clear winner of the event, having also taken first place in the 2017 edition. For his efforts, Vachier-Lagrave earns $90,000 in prize money, as well as a bonus $50,000 for finishing second in the overall Grand Chess Tour. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

8/26/2021 – With all five games drawn on Wednesday, Vachier-Lagrave is leading the Sinquefield Cup, half a point ahead of Caruana, So, and Dominguez heading into the final round. At the same time, American Grandmaster Wesley So has clinched first place in the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, securing a minimum of 7 GCT points from the Sinquefield Cup. He can no longer be mathematically caught in the overall tour standings. For his efforts, So earns the $100,000 first place bonus prize. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/26/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent focuses on the Wood Green Invitational, a 10-player single round robin played in Stafford, England. Ravi Haria impressed by winning the event with a phenomenal 7½/9 score. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here

8/25/2021 – The Spanish Individual Championship took place on August 16-24 in Linares. Eduardo Iturrizaga won the event in his first try, as he switched federations earlier this year. The 31-year-old star from Caracas also won the rapid tournament played before the classical event; Paco Vallejo won the blitz. Among the women, Sabrina Vega won her eighth title with a round to spare. Vega stunned by also winning the women’s sections in both the rapid and blitz national tournaments. | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

8/25/2021 – This week, Merijn van Delft analyses Jeffery Xiong’s victory over Fabiano Caruana from the fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup. The game was fairly messy — an oft-seen feature in modern-day chess. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.