4/7/2019 – JON SPEELMAN returns after a week off, with a trio of simul games played by an expert against a Grandmaster. 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!

4/7/2019 – A theoretical battle ended up with Sergey Karjakin showing great technique to take down Vishy Anand in an endgame, thus catching up Magnus Carlsen at the top of the standings. The other winner of the day was Veselin Topalov, who defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from the white side of a Ruy Lopez. Three rounds remain to be played in Azerbaijan, with co-leaders Karjakin and Carlsen set to battle on Monday. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analysed all the games. | Photo: Official site

4/6/2019 – Recently a new book on endgame studies was published, written by IM Yochanan Afek. He belongs to that very rare breed of composition grandmasters, with more studies to his name than we have seen elsewhere. His book is a treasure trove that provides insights into how, on occasion, the games Afek or others have played gave him the ideas for his study compositions. Review by Frederic Friedel.

4/6/2019 – Waskaduwa beach in Sri Lanka is fast becoming the Colosseum of Asian junior chess battles. Now it's hosting the Asian Youth Chess Championships 2019. EDWIN LAM and KK CHAN check in from on site. | Pictured: The tournament hall where 571 kids from around Asia battle wits against one another | Photo: KK Chan

4/6/2019 – The Dubai Open has been a source of excellent opportunities for players all across the world to play in a strong open event for 21 years now. Some of the readers may remember Magnus Carlsen getting his final GM norm at one of the earlier editions of this event in 2004. This year we have 163 players with some exciting talents. After four rounds we have two leaders with a perfect 4.0/4: IM Raghunandan KS (2370) and GM Aleksandar Indjic. NIKLESH JAIN, who is present at the venue, brings you detailed report.

4/5/2019 – The Shamkir Chess 2019 in the memory of GM Vugar Gashimov has a rest day, and so we remember the tournament's namesake. 27-year-old Vugar Gashimov left us on January 11th, 2014. Above his grave is a picture of a position from his game against Daniel Stellwagen from the European Team Championship 2009. What exactly was so special about the game that it deserved a place in Gashimov's grave? Indulge in the drama and excitement of October 30th 2009 and get to know about the most thrilling game of Vugar Gashimov's life. Gashimov's contribution to the game of chess has been mammoth. A tribute to the great player by IM Sagar Shah.

4/3/2019 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen looks determined and focused at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir. After defeating Viswanathan Anand in Round 2, he also won in Round 3, beating David Navara with Black through good technique and energetic play. He is now the sole leader with 2½ out of 3 alone. The second win of the day was provided by Anand who bounced back from his prior day's loss to beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The remaining three games ended drawn. Report and analyses by GMs ARYAN TARI and DANIEL FERNANDEZ. | Photos: ShamkirChess.com

4/3/2019 – April ratings came out like clockwork on Sunday night. Our own internal PlayerBase update — not so much. Apologies for the delay in our monthly tour through the Elo lists. Of special interest on the April list: 28 players from the Top 100 exhibited rating swings of +/- 10 Elo points or more — a rare occurrence. Pictured: Ju Wenjun, David Anton Guijarro, Jan Krejci, winners at the Prague Challengers. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

4/2/2019 – IM Lawrence Trent brings you the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments every Tuesday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT). This week he looks at a game from the Sharjah Masters and discusses the finale of the U.S. Championship. Free to watch on-demand for a limited time with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

4/2/2019 – Age was not on his side, but he made it up for it with his experience. In part II of our interview with Aeroflot Open winner Kaido Kulaots, we check two wins — the first one against Chinese phenomenon Wei Yi and the second one against Denis Khismatullin. Kaido speaks in great detail about his games, going over not just brute chess analysis but also subtle psychological points. His journey towards winning one of the strongest open tournaments in the world the Aeroflot Open 2019 is highly inspiring. Photo: | Kaido Kulaots' Facebook page.

4/2/2019 – Knights like tactics and need a concrete task. And you should take care to give your knights room to manoeuvre.

4/2/2019 – Four out of five games featured big fights in round two of the 2019 Shamkir Chess Tournament. Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin and Ding Liren were the first ones to score in this year’s edition, while David Navara was on the bad side of a draw for a second day in a row, as Veselin Topalov could not make the most of his position. ARYAN TARI provided expert analysis of Carlsen's win over Vishy Anand. | Photo: Official site