8/3/2021 – Jan-Krzysztof Duda advanced to the final of the FIDE World Cup and secured a spot in the next edition of the Candidates Tournament by knocking out Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreakers of their semifinal match. Meanwhile, Tan Zhongyi got third place in the women’s event, thanks to a 1½-½ playoff victory over Anna Muzychuk. | Photo: Eric Rosen

8/3/2021 – In his "Weekly Show" IM Lawrence Trent will take a look at the entertaining draw that meant that Alexandra Kosteniuk became winner of the Women’s World Cup. He will also look at other events e.g. the Chessable masters and the Grandmaster Tournament in Biel. | Lawrence's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.Does White have everything under control or can Black break his opponennt’s defences?

8/3/2021 – In October 2010, on the initiative and with financial support of London-based French pianist, composer, singer-songwriter, and chess fan Jason Kouchak, a large chess set was installed in Holland Park in London. Recently, and with a long Corona-related delay, Kouchak celebrated the ten-year anniversary of this event with a few friends. It was not the only public celebration of chess in London this summer: In July, Trafalgar Square saw a big chess festival with references to Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland who was also a big chess fan. | Photos: Julian Paix (if not otherwise indicated)

8/3/2021 – After analysing her first game of the World Cup in the last episode, today Svitlana Demchenko takes a more in-depth look at the second game. The game starts with the Petroff, which is considered one of the most drawish opening choices out there. After most of the pieces have been exchanged, a couple of pawns, two knights and two kings remain on the board. Now the endgame is very difficult for Svitlana. But luckily, we all know, she has some smart moves in her repertoire.

8/3/2021 – Wesley So continued his excellent run at the Chessable Masters and was the clear winner of the preliminary stage with an 11/15 score. There was not much of a fight to make it into the quarterfinals, as all but one favourite had almost fully secured their spots in the knockout with two rounds to go. | Pictured: Hikaru Nakamura | Photo: Amruta Mokal

8/3/2021 – In round 5 of the Grandmaster Tournament at the Biel Chess Festival, Gata Kamsky won with Black against Alan Pichot and extended his lead as his closest rivals Kirill Alekseenko and Nihal Sarin both drew: Alekseenko against Noel Studer, Sarin against Vincent Keymer. In the MTO Master Open the Indian Grandmaster Murali Karthikeyan defended his lead. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

8/3/2021 – In the diagram position both sides have dangerous passed pawns. But it is Black to move and he faces a choice: should he try to stop the white pawns with his king or should he push his g-pawn ahead? What would you do - and why?

8/2/2021 – A draw with white was enough for Alexandra Kosteniuk to claim victory at the first edition of the Women’s World Cup in Sochi. Aleksandra Goryachkina could not create imbalances in her must-win game and ended up agreeing to a draw in a lost position. In the match for third place, Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk drew again and will decide their match in tiebreaks. Meanwhile, in the open section, Sergey Karjakin moved on to the final, where he will face either Magnus Carlsen or Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who will return to the playing hall on Tuesday to face off in rapid and blitz tiebreakers. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

8/2/2021 – In the "Endgame Magic Show #154" Karsten Mueller and his guest Arne Kaehler take another look at endgame highlights from the Goldmoney Asian Online Rapid Tournament that ended early July and was won by Levon Aronian. Karsten and Arne were particularly fascinated by a tactically complicated endgame position in which Nihal Sarin missed a win against Anish Giri. | "Endgame Magic" is on air most Mondays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

8/2/2021 – Wesley So continues to top the standings of the preliminaries at the Chessable Masters after 10 rounds. Levon Aronian and Le Quang Liem had a great second day and climbed to shared second place, a half point behind So. The last 5 rounds of the preliminary stage will be played on Monday, with half the field set to advance to the quarterfinals. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/2/2021 – After the long lockdown, the chess world is slowly returning to over-the-board FIDE-rated games. However, there are still only a few changes in the current world rankings list. Magnus Carlsen is still clear number one, a position he has been holding for more than ten years now, since July 2011. Number one on the women's list is Hou Yifan, who is 47 points ahead of Aleksandra Goryachkina. The two best juniors are Alireza Firouzja and Andrey Esipenko, number one on the "Girls"-list is Polina Shuvalova, number two Zhu Jiner.

8/2/2021 – Alexandra Kosteniuk took a huge step towards winning the Women’s World Cup, as she defeated Aleksandra Goryachkina with the black pieces on Sunday. The remaining three games played in Sochi — both semifinals in the open and the women’s match for third place — finished drawn. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova