7/6/2019 – The Nordic Championship, a tournament in which players from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland crown their champion, is played every two years. This year Norway hosted the event and Frode Urkedal, with a rating of 2566 currently number 4 in Norway, won the event and now has the right to start in the World Cup. Holger Blauhut reports about the tournament and muses about the mentality of the Norwegians. | Photos: Bjørn Berg Johansen

7/6/2019 – Magnus Carlsen still leads the Croatian leg of the Grand Chess Tour, as both he and his only chaser Wesley So got half points in round nine. Carlsen and Levon Aronian played a remarkable, precise 49-move draw while Wesley So was on the brink of defeat but miraculously survived against Ian Nepomniachtchi. The only winner of the day was Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who defeated Vishy Anand with the white pieces. Round ten will see the deciding match-up between Carlsen and So. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/5/2019 – In the U.S. there's a new U.S. Senior Invitational starting soon, but as a warm-up GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY travelled to Illinois for the U.S. Senior Open. He and fellow former U.S. Champion Joel Benjamin were the top seeds, but 62-year-old GM Dmitry Gurevich, also a four-time U.S. Champion, scored a clutch last round win to finish in sole first with 5½/6. "Yermo" also snagged an annotated game from U.S. Junior Open winner IM Christopher Shen. | Photos: Alex Yermolinsky

7/5/2019 – The 32nd edition of the "Magistral Ciudad de León" will take place this weekend, with the main event — a four-player knock-out tournament — starting today, July 5th. This year's participants are Vassily Ivanchuk, Parham Maghsoodloo, Nihal Sarin and Jaime Santos. Besides the GM event, an open tournament, a blitz event, a scholastic meeting and many other chess-related side activities kicked off on Thursday. | Photos: Archive

7/5/2019 – In view of the coffin nail f6, the only hope for Black's king in the diagram position is based on his defending knight on e8. White to play. Say no more!?

7/5/2019 – In consecutive days, Magnus Carlsen defeated two players from the elite he had never managed to take down in a classical game ever before. After beating Ian Nepomniachtchi on Wednesday, he got the better of Ding Liren in round eight of the Croatian Grand Chess Tour. Second-placed Wesley So also got a win, though, which means Carlsen still has a mere half point lead in Zagreb. Meanwhile, Anish Giri inflicted Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's third defeat of the event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/1/2019 – In this Simon Says we take a look at the seemingly new fashion of top players pushing 'Harry' the h-pawn. We use a number of examples from the recent Grand Chess Tour action but also look at some other famous examples of this warrior of a pawn being used. Watch live for free starting at the usual time: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

7/1/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for July2019 with a focus on the outcome of the Women's Candidates tournament won by 20-year old Russian phenom Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured). In blitz, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has taken the #1 spot away from World Champion Magnus Carlsen thanks to his Norway Chess blitz win. And 58-year old GM Igors Rausis continues his improbable climb up the raking list by bashing much weaker players. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

7/1/2019 – A wild round was followed by a quieter one in Zagreb, as five games ended in draws, with most of them not living up to the level of excitement seen on Saturday. Only Ding Liren defeated Anish Giri to bounce back to 50% in the standings table. The other highlight of the day was Levon Aronian not managing to convert a big advantage — which emerged from brilliant play in the early stage of the game — against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Ian Nepomniachtchi defended well against Hikaru Nakamura and still leads. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/30/2019 – Chess is more affordable than racing. Chess ratings are more highly-regarded than Driver Database ratings. The highest-rated women chess players have proportionally more opportunities than the top-ranked women drivers. In this second of two articles, WIM ALEXEY ROOT explores what racing can learn from chess. She also interviews and plays two in-person blitz games with a race car driver, Kory Enders, who aspires to be a grandmaster. | Photo: Louis A. Reed Jr.

6/30/2019 – There were no decisive results in round four of the Croatian Grand Chess Tour, but not for a lack of trying. Most notably, Magnus Carlsen vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Anish GIri were wild struggles which could have gone either way. Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana also fought hard, while fortune continues to smile on Ian Nepomniachtchi, who was in a difficult position against Sergey Karjakin but ended up taking home the half point and still commands the standings table. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/29/2019 – When on May 26th 2017, in Netanya, a man died during the preparations to celebrate his 80th birthday, the jubilee turned into a memorial for one of the greatest study composers from Israel. Many chess composers have an endless love and passion for chess, but he also had it for raising other young talents. | Photos: Arves.org