4/19/2020 – In the past few years, the Caro-Kann Exchange Variation 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 has become increasingly popular. And White may well be more ambitious than it might seem! But in ChessBase Magazine #194 Roven Vogel offers Black an exciting antidote to White's set-up: after 6... g6 Black wants to develop his bishop to f5 and castle queenside!

4/18/2020 – The Fischer-Petrosian Candidates match of 1971 in Buenos Aires was the third and final round in the eliminations to determine the challenger for the World Championship 1972. After defeating two top grandmasters 6-0 each, the charismatic American faced former World Champion Tigran Petrosian who was considered to be almost undefeatable. Their match started 2½-2½, and then in game six Fischer scored a superb win that turned the match in his favor. Did Petrosian seal the wrong move, could he have defended to a draw? You can help endgame specialist Karsten Müller with his historical analysis – and win a valuable prize.

4/18/2020 – Locked up at home? No visits to the chess club, no social gatherings? So how about taking part in a giant blitz tournament. It is all virtual on the Playchess server, where you can play against more than a dozen GMs, some of whom are the brightest young super-talents in the world, plus 25 IMs, WGMs and WIMs who have confirmed their participation so far. There is a prize fund of Rs. 10,000. Watching and playing is free of charge. Make this a Saturday full of chess!

4/18/2020 – The Magnus Carlsen Invitational kicked off with two stellar match-ups. The world champion traded blows with Hikaru Nakamura and won the Armageddon decider to get two points for the overall standings table, while Ding Liren defeated Alireza Firouzja without needing a tiebreaker. There was no lack of drama, as a small technical glitch and an intervention by the arbiter distracted Nakamura — the American grandmaster was understanding and accepted defeat. Round-up show by Yannick Pelletier. | Photo: Official site

4/18/2020 – Mexican writer Juan José Arreola was a master of brief subgenres, such as the short story, the epigram, and the sketch. He was also a huge chess fan. In this interview by JAVIER VARGAS PEREIRA from 1997, Arreola, with his usual wittiness, talks about why he devoted so much time to the game, explaining that "poetry and chess are impossible for man, they are beyond his reach". | Photo: El Universal México

4/17/2020 – The Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb is a round-robin with 18 players but if you want to finish at the top being too peaceful is the wrong strategy. After all, you need to score against the weaker players. In round 9 Viktor Kortschnoi (pictured), Tigran Petrosian and Vlastimil Hort, who all still have a chance to win the tournament did not play brilliancies but showed a professional approach to win their games. | Photo: Viktor Kortschnoi at the Chess Olympiad Leipzig 1960 (Archive)

4/17/2020 – In today's Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King presents a game by Mir Sultan Khan, the Indian player who was virtually unknown when he came to London in 1929 but quickly became one of the world's best players. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, Noon EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

4/17/2020 – Bobby Fischer started the tournament in Rovinj/Zagreb with 6½/7 and seemed to be unstoppable. But in round 8 he suffered a sensational loss against Vlatko Kovacevic who surprised the American in the opening and continued to outplay him convincingly. This is Fischer's first loss since his defeat against Efim Geller in Skopje 1967. Fischer still leads the tournament with 6½/8 but Svetozar Gligoric is only half a point behind. | Photo: Vlatko Kovacevic

4/17/2020 – In the diagram position, White's knight jump 13.Nc6! was answered by 13....Qc5 and now the trade of queens was inevitable. But how would you trade the queens?

4/17/2020 – Thirty years ago, because of health risks, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) banned smoking at its events. Since handshakes spread the coronavirus, should FIDE ban them when in-person chess tournaments resume? WIM Alexey Root considers the history and the future of smoking and handshakes.

4/17/2020 – The fourth edition of the M-Tel Masters Tournament in Sofia saw Vassily Ivanchuk getting sole first place with a stunning 8 out of 10 score. The Ukrainian genius finished 1½ points ahead of Veselin Topalov, who had won all three previous editions. Ivanchuk kicked off the tournament with five straight wins and, after scoring one more victory in the second half, ended the event with a 2977 Tournament Performance Rating. | Photos: Europe Echecs

4/16/2020 – After one loss and five draws former World Champion Vassily Smyslov (pictured) won his first game at the Tournament of Peace in Rovinj/Zagreb. He defeated Borislav Ivkov. Bobby Fischer continues to show why he is the world's number one: he won with Black against Theodor Ghitescu and now leads the field with 6½-½. | Photo: Dutch National Archive