9/26/2019 – The play-offs of the quarter-finals at the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk showed how much knock-out events are about keeping one's head together, as Levon Aronian and Nikita Vitiugov were eliminated after blundering horribly from completely winning positions. While Maxime Vachier-Lagrave knocked Aronian out in the second rapid game, Yu Yangyi and Vitiugov decided their match-up in Armageddon. GM YANNICK PELLETIER reviewed the highlights of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/25/2019 – The World Cup is in focus, and IM Merign van Delft looks at Grischuk's win over Leinier Dominguez, before both said goodbye to Khanty-Mansiysk. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is live this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

9/25/2019 – Alexander Grischuk and Ding Liren sat opposite each other in the fifth round of the World Cup 2019. The game was followed with great excitement by chess players all across the world. In their first game, after 13 moves, Grischuk made a move that led the engines to give an evaluation of nearly -3 points. Online kibitzers went wild, criticizing the players. IM SAGAR SHAH reflects on whether this is an unfortunate trend. | Photo: FIDE

9/25/2019 – Ding Liren and Teimour Radjabov won with White on Tuesday to qualify to the FIDE World Cup semi-finals in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Chinese arrived in Siberia as the favourite and eliminated Alexander Grischuk, while Radjabov got the better of Jeffery Xiong, who came from getting impressive match victories over Giri and Duda. Yu Yangyi v Nikita Vitiugov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave v Levon Aronian finished drawn and will be decided on tiebreaks. GM DANNY KING recapped the highlights of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/24/2019 – Continuing on last week's theme, IM Lawrence Trent analyses a game from the winner of the Women's Grand Prix in Russia, won by Indian GM Humpy Koneru. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's White to move. | Lawrence is live and free on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

9/24/2019 – Even apparently simple pawn endings can be tricky.

9/24/2019 – The scores of the four quarter-final matches at the FIDE World Cup are tied, as hard-fought draws were seen on all boards on Monday. Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi did not shy away from shedding material while playing Black against Alexander Grischuk and Nikita Vitiugov; Levon Aronian had a very slight edge in his white game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; while Jeffery Xiong and Teimour Radjabov signed a 'correct' draw after 30 moves. IM LAWRENCE TRENT reviewed the highlights of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/23/2019 – A grab bag: GM Simon Williams selects exciting examples from professional practice for fun and knowledge. Watch for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

9/23/2019 – Humpy won the Skolkovo leg of FIDE's 2019 Women's Grand Prix by making a draw in the final round against reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun. The Indian ace won her first major championship since returning to competitive chess in the Batumi Olympiad of 2018. Humpy finished at 8.0/11, gained 160 Grand Prix points and received EUR €15,000 for winning the tournament. Humpy, who is currently world number 3 among women by rating, behind Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun, has just about every accomplishment in her bag except the World Championship title. | Photo: David Llada / FIDE

9/23/2019 – The highlight of the round four play-offs at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk was Jeffery Xiong's victory over Jan-Krzysztof Duda, in a match-up that was only decided in the blitz phase after the players repeatedly exchanged blows in riveting encounters. Ding Liren, Alexander Grischuk, Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov also advanced to the quarter-finals. The eight survivors need two more match wins to get a spot in the next Candidates Tournament. | Photo: FIDE

9/22/2019 – Jon surveys the World Cup agony and ecstasy and asks for your help setting the future direction of the column with a 60-second questionnaire for which you can win an autographed DVD. | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

9/22/2019 – It was an action-packed day in Khanty-Mansiysk, as Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong bounced back from losses; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nikita Vitiugov drew to get 1½:½ victories in their matches; and Yu Yangyi managed to win after having drawn game one, thus reaching the quarter-finals. Also noteworthy was Ding Liren's stubborn defence against Kirill Alekseenko — the top seed drew the underdog, which means the match will be decided on tiebreaks. IM LAWRENCE TRENT recapped the action of the day. | Photo: FIDE