10/24/2018 – Thanks to Norwegian social media guru Tarjei Svensen you can read highlights of a recent hour-long podcast with World Champion Magnus Carlsen being interviewed (in his native language) by two of his closest friends. | Photos: Alina l'Ami Players.Chessbase.com

10/24/2018 – They both won with the white pieces and are now the co-leaders of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament — Arkadij Naiditsch took down Pavel Tregubov's French Defence, while Wang Hao converted a superior endgame into a win against Erwin l'Ami. On top board, Jeffery Xiong held Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a draw, and now both of them are part of the six-player chasing pack. Meanwhile, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik won their games and took a bye for next round. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

10/23/2018 – Exactly 100 years ago today, on October 23, 1918, one of the most famous games in history was played. (Even Wikileaks founder Julian Assange knows about it!) Frank Marshall, one of the world's strongest players at the time, had prepared a very special opening for his game against future world champion Jose Raul Capablanca. Charles Higgie has analysed this game in considerable detail. After studying his explanations you can try playing the Marshall Attack against an engine that matches your skill level. It's fun and can do wonders for your tournament results. | Photos: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

10/23/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. The is streamed live, free for all, and will be available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders. This week Lawrence's focus is the ongoing Chess.com Isle of Man International.

10/23/2018 – The third round of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament left six players tied on first place with a perfect 3/3. From the top-10 rated players, only Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in this group, while the biggest surprise amongst the leaders is 48th seeded Pavel Tregubov, who beat Hrant Melkumyan with the white pieces on Monday. Names like Giri, Kramnik, Anand and Nakamura are not even at the chasing pack on 2½, as all of them stand a point behind on 2/3. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

10/23/2018 – Bishops are fast and can quickly run across the whole board. But sometimes this is not enough to escape a powerful rook.

10/23/2018 – English FM Charlie Storey joins Karsten for his look at endgame practice. This week's show is live at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC; 9:00 AM EDT) and FREE to watch on-demand (for a limited time)!

10/22/2018 – Are you after a solid opening, but one which leaves room for new exciting ideas, adaptable to the style of the player using it? Many amateurs and professionals alike have included surprise weapons in an opening repertoire to be used from time to time, without the fear of running into a computer-generated novelty. The London System can produce sharp attacks on the kingside (especially if Black is caught unawares) and also great positional fights on the queenside. DAVIDE NASTASIO examines the advice of GM Nigel Davies. | Photo: Andreas Kontokanis CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

10/22/2018 – HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" explores the grassroots movement to reenergize chess in America when a new edition of the show debuts on Tuesday, October 23rd. Soledad O’Brien (pictured) interviews Saint Louis Chess Club founder and patron, Rex Sinquefield who confesses to being a "passionate addict" who has sunk nearly $50 million dollars into the sport.

10/22/2018 – The second round of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament left only eighteen players with a perfect score in a field of 167. It has been difficult for the favourites to beat their nominally weaker opponents in the first days of play, although none of them have actually given up full points. On Day 2, Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave won their games on the top boards, while Anand had another tough game that finished on a good note, as he saved an inferior rook endgame against Robert Hess. | Photos: John Saunders / Official site

10/22/2018 – The 22nd edition of the traditional "Schaaktoernooi" started over the weekend in the Dutch town of Hoogeveen. 82 players participate in the Open where the top seed is the Egyptian Grandmaster Bassem Amin. But there are also two matches on offer, typically featuring rising stars and veteran players. This year Samuel Shankland (USA) meets Peter Svidler (Russia) and Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) is pitted against Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands). The tournament director is GM Loek van Wely. | Photos: hoogeveenchess.nl

10/21/2018 – It is with sadness that we relay news of the passing of Dato' Tan Chin Nam on Oct 21st 2018 at the age of 92. He was involved in supporting the development of chess in Malaysia as well as in many other countries across Asia. In remembrance of his contributions to chess as well as to many other areas (e.g. the restoration of the famous Queen's Victoria Building (QVB) in Sydney, the development of Mid Valley City (which is still today ranked the 8th largest shopping mall in the world), horse racing, etc, EDWIN LAM (pictured with Dato' in 2008) offers his 2006 article "Grand Maitre de Succes" published in Australian Chess magazine.

10/21/2018 – The main section of the Chess.com Isle of Man International Tournament attracted 164 players, with the first round featuring the typical big rating gaps in all boards. However, unlike in other open events, we saw many of the underdogs drawing their higher-rated colleagues. The elite player that got closest to a defeat was Vishy Anand, who managed to recover and defeat his young compatriot Raunak Sadhwani. | Photos: John Saunders / Maria Emelianova / iominternationalchess.com

10/20/2018 – In the United States, there are many weekend tournaments, thanks to the efforts of many independent tournament organizers nationwide. Some of these tournaments provide significant prize money, over USD $12,000, and the chance to play against strong master level players. Georgia-based DAVIDE NASTASIO recently spoke to one such veteran organizer, Walter High, and sent this brief interview along with annotated games from the North Carolina Open.

10/20/2018 – A full century after the Doomsday Worm had erased all the world’s electronic records, British scientists discovered, excarvations in the suburbs of Hamburg, Germany, evidence of the existence of a game that was popular in the 20th century, and of the existence of a legendary champion of the game. We have a transcript of a lecture held in Oxford in 2147 by Prof. Eduard Sommer, which we quote in this spoof article by John Nunn. It also contains two remarkable puzzles.

10/19/2018 – Legendary artist and chess player Marcel Duchamp died in France 50 years ago this month. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of his collaboration with composer and music theorist John Cage, in a unique piece played on a hybrid chess board / musical instrument, and called "Reunion". It was avant-garde in its day and still feels novel in digital recreation today. | Pictured: Duchamp and John Cage at the Ryerson Theatre in Toronto, March 5, 1968 | Photo: Eldon Garnet / World Chess Hall of Fame

10/19/2018 – Which side would you favour after 57.R1b7 in the diagram position? Three moves to find for Black and White, then we'll take stock together. Have fun!

10/19/2018 – Any of the top teams could have won it, but Mednyi Vsadnik ended up ahead at the European Club Cup in Porto Carras. Valerenga arrived in the last round as sole leaders but barely one point ahead of the four-team chasing pack — the eventual champions from Saint Petersburg defeated Carlsen's squad and edged AVE Novy Bor on tiebreak criteria to take home the gold medals. In the women's section, Cercle d'Escacs de Monte-Carlo finished first thanks to Anna Muzychuk's win on top board. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com