8/18/2019 – Viswanathan Anand got lucky against Ian Nepomniachtchi when the latter made a one-move blunder and lost his rook which resulted in his immediate resignation — the only decisive game of round one of the Sinquefield Cup 2019. Carlsen would like to improve on his forgettable Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz. Nakamura, Giri, So who are fresh for this event will definitely look forward to making an impact. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from the venue. Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/18/2019 – Seven rounds of the open and women's Russian Superfinals have been completed before the second rest day in Izhevsk. Both tournaments have now sole leaders — Evgeny Tomashevsky is on an undefeated 4½ out of 7 score in the Open, while Olga Girya has taken more of a commanding lead amongst the women with 6 points after seven rounds. Four rounds are still left to go in the Republic of Udmurtia. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/17/2019 – The Nimzowitsch Defence, 1.e4 Nc6, is a lesser-known and by far less popular branch of opening theory from the great strategist Aron Nimzowitsch. Unlike the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which has acquired a reputation as one of the soundest replies to 1.d4, 1...Nc6 as an answer to 1.e4 is generally thought to be one of the least sound replies. The main reason for that lies probably in the fact that Black wilfully blocks his c-pawn as soon as move 1, which more dogmatic players will regard as highly suspicious. There are, however, many other factors besides the mobility of the respective c-pawns, and this video series will explore rather rare, yet fully playable lines for Black.

8/17/2019 – Not just grandmasters, but brothers too! Dimitrios Mastrovasilis tied for first in the Francophone International in Paris this week, a half point ahead of his brother Athanasios. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR chatted with Dimitrios (pictured in jacket) and Athanasios (in the black t-shirt) during the tournament for a glimpse of life in a professional chess family. | Photo: D. Khadilkar

8/17/2019 – The Grand Chess Tour crossed its half way mark with the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz yesterday, and continues with the Sinquefield Cup – one of the only two events with classical time control – tomorrow. Apart from higher point scores up for grabs, this is also the only event where only the 12 players part of the Grand Chess Tour play together, without any wild cards. It also carries a total prize fund of $325000, with a first prize of $90000.

8/16/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be looking through Anand's sublime endgame technique from the Levitov chess week and a spectacular finish from Baadur Jobava from the Abu Dhabi open. Power Play is live most Fridays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

8/16/2019 – It is a new development that will boost Indian chess beyond measure: Vladimir Kramnik, the 14th World Champion, has started to work with six talented Indian youngsters in a training camp that will be held in Chens-Sur-Leman, France. It is the first of four sessions and is sponsored by the Chennai-based company Microsense Private Limited. ChessBase India has played a pivotal role in bringing all of the elements of the camp together. IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal will be accompanying the youngsters.

8/16/2019 – GM Jiri Stocek of Czech Republic scored an unbeaten 7½/9 to win Pardubice Open 2019. He finished a half point ahead of a group of nine players who scored 7.0/9. Top seed Czech no.3 Viktor Laznicka finished second due to a better tie-break score, followed by Sergei Movsesian of Armenia. The tournament was a big success as 16 norms were scored in total. RUPALI MULLICK reports from the venue with photos and interview of the champion.

8/16/2019 – In the diagram position Black's king, though somewhat exposed, doesn't seem to be in mortal danger. Yet after 25.Qg4 Qg3, the game will last only three more moves. Can you imagine what followed?

8/16/2019 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2019 despite losing the first and last game on the final day. Aronian managed to score only 5 points out of the last nine rounds but that was enough to beat Vachier-Lagrave. MVL's only consolation is that he beat Aronian in both of their blitz encounters. Caruana got his much awaited revenge against Carlsen in round fourteen. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Pictured: Aronian on being just informed by fellow Armenian GM Manuel Petrosyan that he has won the tournament. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/15/2019 – In this episode IM Robert Ris will examine the Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 6...♝d6. The live show at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 1 PM EDT) 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. In the diagram, it's White to play and win!

8/15/2019 – English Grandmaster Chris Ward is Karsten's guest today. Live at 14:30 UTC (16:30 CEST; 10:30 AM EDT) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!