8/1/2021 – While players and enthusiasts took a day off from the highly tense World Cups in Sochi, the online Chessable Masters kicked off with an eye-catching lineup, as 12-year-old GM Abhimanyu Mishra, women’s world champion Ju Wenjun and Indian star Humpy Koneru join the likes of Wesley So and Levon Aronian in the 9-day event. After five rounds, So is the sole leader on 4 points, with a 3-player chasing pack a half point behind. | Pictured: Wesley So and Pentala Harikrishna at the 2019 Riga Grand Prix

7/31/2021 – In a multifaceted column, Siegfried Hornecker looks at a young Austrian chess player who went missing in the Alps and never returned, how geometry on the chessboard is vastly different from a Euclidean two-dimensional plane, a curious episode from the 1951 World Championship match between Botvinnik and Bronstein, and a couple of endgame studies created by women composers. | Pictured: Julius Perlis

7/31/2021 – Sergey Karjakin knocked out Sam Shankland in the only match of the quarterfinals that was decided in a rapid and blitz playoff at the open section of the FIDE World Cup in Sochi. Meanwhile, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured) advanced to the final in the women’s section after knocking out Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk respectively. Saturday is a rest day for both categories. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

7/31/2021 – Two legends met yesterday at the Biel Chess Festival: Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand, both former World Championship runners-up and World Cup winners. With a draw, Kamsky defended his lead in the overall standings. Frenchman Maxime Lagarde is the new runner-up, as the Frenchman defeated Kirill Alekseenko in round 4. | Photos: Official site

7/31/2021 – Rarely was a headline more appropriate - this is a crucial position of one of the most exciting games I have seen recently. In the diagram position White continued with 25.Rxe6 Rxe6 26.exd5 which gave Black a chance to win. Enjoy!

7/30/2021 – In the summer, "ChessBase News Review" with Lawrence Trent will have a couple of breaks here and there. One of them was last week. Back on time, IM Trent takes a more profound look at the Arkhangelsk Ruy Lopez game between Vidit and Duda. Furthermore, Lawrence and Arne talk about The beautiful Fontainebleau chess festival, and the tournament in Biel. They also mention the "winning fist gesture" of Fedoseev, the New York Post article about Karjakin's GM title, and the behaviour of Niemann as a GM.

7/28/2021 – In round 1 of the classical part of the GM Tournament at the Biel Chess Festival three games ended with a decision. Alan Pichot won against Boris Gelfand, Kirill Alekseenko defeated Nihal Sarin and Gata Kamsky won against Noel Studer. Vincent Keymer and Maxime Lagarde drew. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

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