The Weekly Show: Carlsen's latest losses

8/13/2019 – Lawrence is LIVE this week talking about the surprising losses of World Champion Magnus Carlsen in St. Loius. Free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian finish Saint Louis Rapid at the top

8/13/2019 – Carlsen started Day 3 of Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz with a loss against Aronian. The World Champion defeated MVL in the final round of the rapid event, however it is MVL who overcame Carlsen in the FIDE rapid ranking according to live ratings. Vachier-Lagrave remained undefeated on the final rapid day by defeating the former World Championship challenger Caruana in the final round. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

Endgame Magic with Karsten Mueller and Qiyu Zhou

8/13/2019 – Canadian FM Qiyu Zhou is Karsten's guest today. Live at 13:00 UTC (15:00 CEST; 9:00 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!

Tricky knights

8/13/2019 – Knights are tricky, and knight endings usually require precise calculation.

Chess is rocking among the Tyrrhenian Sea rocks

8/13/2019 – As summer begins to wane, fans of southern Italy can look forward to a September holiday destination. DIANA MIHAJLOVA offers a pictoral report with annotated games about the Amantea Chess Festival in Calabria, Italy, which was won last year by GM Pier Luigi Basso. It is meant to introduce a little known but rich chess destination that is Calabria. The actual Amantea Chess Festival will resume its activities, as usual, from the next year, but for now, during its traditional term, 9- 15 September, another Calabrese chess historical town, Cutro, in the Amantea’s vicinity, will celebrate a jubilee 25 year of the International Chess Festival ‘Leonardo di Bona’. | Pictured: The rocky Tyrrhenian coast at a sunset: On the outskirts of Amantea lie the enchanting Isca rocks, supposedly described by Homer in the ‘Odyssey’. All photos: Diana Mihajlova

Making a difference in Africa

8/13/2019 – A New York-based chess instructor and entrepreneur reports on teaching chess in Tanzania. After working in corporate America, doing enterprise sales for the likes of Oracle, EVAN RABIN rekindled his interest in teaching children and formed Premier Chess in September 2017, quickly expanding to 58 programs. | Photo: Paul Njau

Simon Says - Highlights and lowlights from my British Championship

8/12/2019 – GM Simon Williams is back from the British Championship, and naturally the tournament is still weighing heavily on his mind. This episode will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. Watch live for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

Aronian leads, Carlsen falters, Caruana shines

8/12/2019 – Rapid rounds four to six at the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz yielded no change at the top of the leader board, but Levon Aronian is now being closely pursued by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who won all three of his games on Sunday. Perhaps even more surprisingly, World Champion Magnus Carlsen lost two more of his rapid games, including to world number two Fabiano Caruana. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

Russian Superfinals: Leaders on plus one

8/12/2019 – The strong national tournaments in Russia started on Saturday. Two rounds of the dubbed Superfinals were played both in the Open and Women's categories, with the leaders in the two events currently on 'plus one' (1½ out of 2). Ernesto Inarkiev (pictured) and Kirill Alekseenko are on top in the Open, while Alexandra Kosteniuk, Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina are sharing the lead amongst the women. Monday is a rest day as the tournament changes venues. Play resumes on Tuesday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Levon Aronian leads at Saint Louis start

8/11/2019 – "The chess world is a better place when Aronian is playing well!" These words of Garry Kasparov in 2015 reverberated on day one of the Saint Louis Rapid 2019 as the Armenian GM went on to score wins against MVL, Karjakin and Mamedyarov. Aronian now leads the event with a 6.0/6 score. Magnus Carlsen suffered a shock defeat against Ding Liren but came back to score two wins. We bring you an on-site report by VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN, with photos, player's quotes and analysis.

Chess calendar: August 2019

8/11/2019 – Three strong opens in Abu Dhabi, Netherlands and Latvia kicked off the month, but the main attraction in August will be coming from Saint Louis, where a Rapid & Blitz tournament and the Sinquefield Cup will take place one after another. Strong national championships in Russia and France are also on the menu. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage.

MVL: "I was very motivated to get back to winning ways"

8/10/2019 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave staged an impressive turnaround by first reaching the final of the Grand Prix in Riga and then followed it up by winning the Paris leg of the Grand Chess Tour. This, after encountering setbacks in Norway Chess and the Zagreb leg of the Grand Chess Tour. In an exclusive interview with DHANANJAY KHADILKAR, the French Grandmaster and World No. 5 talks about the factors contributing to this turnaround and why he will continue to play the Gruenfeld defense. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

Opening the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz 2019

8/10/2019 – It's the next leg of the Grand Chess Tour, IM VENTKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports on the opening ceremony from the Saint Louis Chess Club on the eve of the rapid tournament. Can Magnus Carlsen be stopped? Sergey Karjakin: “My answer may be primitive, but we (all have) to play very well!” Levon Aronian: “I don't think it is about stopping somebody. It is about achieving more points than the person”.

A knight on the rim is...what now?

8/9/2019 – To annoy chess players, orient a board incorrectly or reverse the kings and queens. Claim that a knight on a3 controls the centre, or that Stan Vaughan is a world chess champion. WIM ALEXEY ROOT shares chess sayings (like "a knight on the rim is dim") and songs to move chess players from exasperation to pleasure. Perfect for some Friday Fluff! And if you have any sayings or songs to share, you can win a free autographed copy of Fritz 16!

This weekend: The Russian Championship 'Superfinals' begin

8/9/2019 – The first round of the Russian Superfinals will be held on Saturday, August 10th, in Wotinsk, the Republic of Udmurtia. Vladislav Artemiev and Aleksandra Goryachkina are the favourites. The twelve-player round-robin tournaments are incredibly strong — the Open tournament carries an average Elo rating of 2688! Chess has recently become a compulsory subject in Russian schools, so the pace of Russian players isn't likely to diminish anytime soon. | Photo: Patricia Claros / Eteri Kublashvili

The Power Play Show: Levitov Chess Week

8/9/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be looking through some sharp finishes from the Levitov Chess Week. 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...

Gruenfeld grinder

8/9/2019 – In the diagrammed position White must act fast since his centre is about to be blown apart. What would be your choice?

Michael Adams repeats as British Champion

8/9/2019 – Wrapping up the the 2019 British Championship, GM DANIEL GORMALLY sends his final thoughts, including annotations of the key last round games, and musings on why draw offers should be banned. GM Michael Adams won his seventh British Champion title, undefeated with 7½/9, a half point clear of David Howell. Jovanka Houska was the best female player and thus won her record ninth British Women's Champion title. | Photo: John Upham

Jobava's perfect score at Abu Dhabi Masters 2019

8/8/2019 – Baadur Jobava at one point in his chess career was well above 2700 on the Elo scale and otherwise has managed to keep his rating close to 2700. However, recently his bad form has taken him into the 2500 Elo mark. But that's not his true level! The Georgian GM is showing this at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2019 as he beats one GM after another and is now in sole lead with 6.0/6. Parham Maghsoodloo won the blitz event, while in the exhibition match between Leko and Morozevich, it was the Hungarian who came out on top. | Photo: Rupali Mullick

How Surya Sekhar Ganguly won the Belt and Road Open 2019

8/8/2019 – He was rated 2630, he was the 15th seed, and yet he went on to win the Belt and Road Hunan Open 2019 with a clear half point margin. How did Surya Sekhar Ganguly manage to do it? It is said that a chess tournament has a life of its own. In order to understand a success story, you have to study it from all angles. In this article, IM SAGAR SHAH tells you about Surya's frame of mind during the event, the games that he played, the opponents he faced and how he managed to come out strong and win the first prize of US$50,000. | Photos: Ganguly's Facebook page

The Chelyabinsk Meteorite

8/8/2019 – A meteorite can pass through the atmosphere burning — a fulgent light in the darkness. Igor Kurnosov, who died six years ago today, passed through the chess world like a meteorite, leaving many interesting games in his wake. DAVIDE NASTASIO reviews the book which celebrates a life cut too short. | Photos provided by the publisher, Elk and Ruby

Game of the Week: Ivan Cheparinov vs Wang Hao

8/7/2019 – From the strong Belt and Road Hunan International Open tournament in China, IM Merijn van Delft has selected the game between Bulgarian GM (now playing for Georgia) Ivan Cheparinov against China's Wang Hao. 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 on-demand this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

Nepomniachtchi wins Levitov's birthday rapid

8/7/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi won the rapid chess exhibition tournament — part of what was dubbed "Levitov Chess Week" in Amsterdam — on Tuesday, ahead of Alexander Gríschuk, who came equal on points with 5.0/7. Anish Giri was the only undefeated player and came third with a half point less. | Photo: Zairon CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Shirov the boss in Lund

8/7/2019 – Alexei Shirov showed he can still play, at the 5th CellaVison Cup in Lund, Sweden. He won the tournament with 7 of 8 thanks to better tiebreak score ahead of Kryakvin and Külaots. Pia Cramling took the women's prize with 6 points. The tournament also featured paintings by Mariya Yugina, wife of GM Mihail Marin. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund