2/21/2020 – The Power Play Show returns live this week. Grandmaster Daniel King looks back to a couple of games from Wang hao. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) 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...

2/21/2020 – The "2nd Prague Chess Festival" in the Czech capital ran from February 13th to February 22nd. After an exciting final round in which two key encounters finished decisively, five players ended up tied in first place on 5 out of 9. Vidit and Alireza Firouzja had the best tiebreak scores and decided the championship in a blitz playoff. 16-year-old Firouzja won both quick-play encounters to take the title. Jorden van Foreest got clear first place in the Challengers. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr / praguechessfestival.com

2/21/2020 – Just when it seemed like Vidit would coast to victory at the Prague Masters Tournament, a series of turnarounds left the fight for first place wide open. After getting a completely winning position, Vidit first reached a drawn rook endgame and then lost the thread and the game against David Navara. Meanwhile, David Anton defeated Nils Grandelius with Black and Nikita Vitiugov failed to find a win against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Going into last round, Vidit has a half-point lead over Anton, Vitiugov and Alireza Firouzja. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

2/21/2020 – 27...Kc7!! in the diagram is very cool, especially since the attempt to pin down the black knight on d7 with 28.Qh7 runs into an elegant refutation. Do you see it?

2/20/2020 – Easter is still a bit less than two months away, but it is already clear that the Easter holidays will be a boon for chess fans. From April 9th ​​to 13th the GRENKE Chess Open, the largest open tournament in Europe, takes place in Karlsruhe, Germany. And on Easter Saturday, April 11th, the GRENKE Chess Classic begins — with Carlsen and Caruana leading the field. To get in the mood for the tournament, the organizers have prepared a small video with the highlights of the past years.

2/20/2020 – The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian has been one of the most popular openings for decades. Players of every level like it and it also was an important part of the Black opening repertoire of two legendary World Champions: Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov. GM YANNICK PELLETIER explores the latest theoretical developments.

2/17/2020 – Humpy Koneru comfortably held a draw with White against Harika Dronavalli and claimed first place at the Cairns Cup after Ju Wenjun defeated Alexandra Kosteniuk, the only player who had a chance to catch up with the leader. Ju's victory left her on clear second place, while Kosteniuk shared the third-fourth spot with Mariya Muzychuk. Meanwhile, Irina Krush got her first win of the event and Kateryna Lagno miraculously saved a half point for a second day in a row. | Photo: Austin Fuller

2/16/2020 – The 2nd Cairns Cup in Saint Louis is played from February 7-17. The field is led by World Champion Ju Wenjun, and features most of the world's best women chess players. The tournament winner will receive USD $45,000 from the total prize fund of $180,000. Rounds begin daily at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 14:00 EST) and the games will be broadcast live with commentary by WGM Jennifer Shahade, GM Yasser Seirawan and GM Alejandro Ramirez. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/16/2020 – A sensational win by 16-year-old Carissa Yip over world champion Ju Wenjun was the story of the day in Saint Louis. Humpy Koneru also won and would have got to the final round a full point ahead had Alexandra Kosteniuk not defeated Nana Dzagnidze with the black pieces. So, going into the last day of action (unless a playoff is needed to decide the champion), Humpy is on 5½ out of 8 and Kosteniuk is the only contender a half point behind. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/16/2020 – When two sides play a perfect game of chess, the game more often than not ends up a draw. Today, while all the five games ended up as draws, three of them didn't follow the stated script. Alireza Firouzja exhibited passion and imagination, confusing Nikita Vitiugov with a speculative knight sacrifice to gain a decisive advantage, but made two inexplicable moves to gift the latter a draw. Duda was seriously worse after nine moves, but his opponent Anton failed to find the most incisive continuation, continuing his roller-coaster ride in the tournament. Harikrishna played the forgotten Sozin Attack, and had to soon defend for a while to see out the game to a draw. Markus Ragger was tortured by the exchange down by David Navara for a while before concluding the game in peace, and Nils Grandelius signed a rather tame draw with the tournament leader Vidit, who retains sole lead. | Photo: Official site

2/16/2020 – The English is an opening which can transpose into many others. It is definitely a must for those who want to improve middlegame play, thanks to the huge variety of middlegame themes which can arise from it. One can play very aggressively, or positionally; it's clearly an opening which can satisfy everyone interested in learning strategy and tactics. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is one of the players who has incorporated the English into his repertoire. In this FritzTrainer, IM Lorin D'Costa presents a complete repertoire for White explaining key pawn structures and ideas behind the moves. DAVIDE NASTASIO breaks it down.

2/15/2020 – Ju Wenjun and Humpy Koneru are still sharing the lead of the Cairns Cup after a seventh round in which things could have taken a different path. The only decisive result of the day saw Mariya Muzychuk beating Valentina Gunina — Muzychuk got a much better position, lost her advantage and ended up winning when Gunina overestimated her chances. Meanwhile, Ju Wenjun could not convert a clear advantage, and Humpy saved a half point in a difficult endgame. | Photo: Austin Fuller