8/15/2021 – Alexander Donchenko won a fifth game in a row on Saturday to join Igor Kovalenko and Narayanan in the shared lead on 6½ points at the Riga Techinal University Open. The German grandmaster will have the black pieces against Kovalenko in Sunday’s final round. The action begins at 10:00 CEST (4:00 ET, 10:00 UTC). Follow the games live. | Photo: Anna Shtourman

8/15/2021 – 18-year-old American grandmaster Awonder Liang collected 3½ points in Saturday’s four rounds to climb to sole first place at the Kramnik Challenge for young stars. Former co-leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov stumbled against Zhu Jhiner and now stands a full point behind, while Vincent Keymer kept up the pace and also scored 3½ points on the third day action — the German grandmaster is in clear second place with three rounds to go. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/14/2021 – Alexander Donchenko won a fifth game in a row on Saturday to join Igor Kovalenko and Narayanan in the shared lead on 6½ points at the Riga Techinal University Open. The German grandmaster will have the black pieces against Kovalenko in Sunday’s final round. The action begins at 10:00 CEST (4:00 ET, 10:00 UTC).

8/14/2021 – Yet another action-packed day at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament saw Hikaru Nakamura grabbing the sole lead before entering the blitz section of the event. Nakamura beat Fabiano Caruana in their all-important direct encounter to leapfrog him in the standings table. The top scorer on Friday was Richard Rapport, who is now sharing second place with Caruana. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

8/14/2021 – Awonder Liang and Nodirbek Abdusattorov leapfrogged Vincent Keymer on day 2 of the Kramnik Challenge to take the lead with seven rounds to go in the online tournament. Liang kicked off the day with three consecutive wins and temporarily grabbed the sole lead, but a loss against Polina Shuvalova in round 8 allowed Abdusattorov to catch up with him on a 6/8 score. | Photo: Eric Rosen / FIDE World Cup

8/14/2021 – In the diagram position, which is taken from a rapid game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Levon Aronian, White used his three pieces to get access to Black's weakened king and to finally hunt it down. What did the World Championship Challenger 2021 play?

8/13/2021 – In this Power Play Show, GM Daniel King takes a look at two wins by Wesley So featuring the same crushing sacrifice, in the same opening, against the same opponent. Apparently lightning does strike twice. | Power Play is on air most Fridays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

8/13/2021 – Lawrence and Arne predict the winners of the Kramnik Challenge, RTU, St. Louis Rapid, and the EIWCC. While doing so, they start philosophizing about how many professional chess players actually love their job. While the elite players can mostly make a living, if they win many chess games in tournaments, thousands of GM's have to struggle their way through chess life. Or not? Is chess a sport so far away from golf or football, that they shouldn't even be compared with each other at all? This, and other interesting topics, are being discussed in the last episode of August. "ChessBase News Review" will continue in September.

8/13/2021 – Fabiano Caruana climbed to sole first place at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament after bouncing back from a loss against Sam Shankland with back-to-back victories over Leinier Dominguez and Wesley So on Thursday. Hikaru Nakamura is in sole second place after drawing all three of his games on day 2. | Photo: Bryan Adams

8/13/2021 – Berlin, the capital of Germany, will be the main host of the 2022 Grand Prix Series. The Series, a part of the World Chess Championship circuit, will run from February to April in a bespoke-designed chess arena. The city was chosen by World Chess, the gaming company that organizes the Series in partnership with FIDE, as well as by chess fans from around the world. | Photos: World Chess

8/13/2021 – Vincent Keymer took an early lead at the Kramnik Challenge after scoring 3½ points in the four rounds played on Thursday. The German star stands a half point ahead of a 3-player chasing pack, which includes Christopher Yoo, Awonder Liang and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Expert analyses by GM Karsten Müller. | Photo: Schach-Bundesliga

8/12/2021 – The 5th Youth Chess Composing Challenge is open to the U23 generation, born no earlier than 01.01.1998. The thematic condition for the Mate in 2 contest is that in the initial position all four bishops, which should be fully involved in the play, must be in the corners of the board. There are examples of problems that more or less fulfil these stipulations, and now young composers are asked to come up with the finest examples.