10/15/2018 – We are only weeks away from the start of the World Championship in London, where Magnus Carlsen meets his latest challenger, the American Fabiano Caruana, and the fans wait impatiently for this impending train collision. It's a match which a priori promises great emotions and high-quality games because we will witness the indisputable numbers 1 and 2 of the world ranking. Grandmaster Miguel Illescas reflects on AlphaZero and wonders if secret preparation tools could make the difference. | Photo: Peón de Rey

10/15/2018 – Ahmedabad, the fifth largest city in India, concluded its first International Grandmaster Open on October 12th. The ten round Swiss league attracted about 250 participants from more than 15 different countries. Although the field included some strong grandmasters, the event was dominated by Indian youngsters for the most part. At the end of ten rounds, the tournament's top seed, GM Martyn Kravtsiv won the event by defeating the overnight leader IM Vignesh NR in the final round. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/15/2018 – Three rounds have taken place in Porto Carras and six teams still have a perfect record at the European Club Cup. The big match of Sunday was AVE Novy Bor vs. Valerenga — for quite a while it seemed like the Czech team was about to prevail, but Carlsen's colleagues saved the day with two longwinded wins. Meanwhile, Alkaloid and Odlar Yurdu continued with their commanding performances and got big scores yet again. Only four rounds are left in the short team event. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/14/2018 – This week's games are from Polish IM Jan Przewoznik who is rekindling his chess passion and reflecting on his youth, including these games from 1979! 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!

10/14/2018 – In the second day of play in Porto Carras, the big teams once again took down their opponents with little collateral damage. While the real fight between clubs is only about to start, some individual encounters were in the spotlight on Saturday — Magnus Carlsen defeated Vladimir Potkin from an apparently innocuous position and Peter Svidler opened his tournament with a loss against Aleksandar Indjic. Calrsen's Valerenga will play second seeded AVE Novy Bor in Sunday's round. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/13/2018 – Have you ever been in the right place at the right time? That is precisely what happened to DIANA MIHAJLOVA, who reported from the Paris Championship in the midst of a citywide bash: France had just won the FIFA World Cup! The longstanding tournament organised in the ‘City of Light’ was won by the talented youngster Jules Moussard. Let’s dive into the pictorial report filled with anecdotes, places and faces. | All photos: Diana Mihajlova

10/13/2018 – Less than a month before the World Championship match begins in London, Magnus Carlsen flew to Porto Carras to represent Valerenga Sjakklubb at the European Chess Club Cup. The Norwegian expectedly rested on day one, when all the favourite teams comfortably swept their lower-rated opponents by wide margins. Only in the women's section we saw a surprise, as Caissa Italia Pentole Agnolli had to settle for a draw against the Russian SSHOR. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/12/2018 – Kings that go walkabout on a full board are rare but charming. At the Chess Olympiad 2018 in Batumi such wandering kings could be admired in two interesting games. In Mamedov vs Shankland (pictured) the voyage of the king was defensive, in the game Hillarp Persson vs Laurusas, which won the brilliancy prize in Batumi, the white king joined a mating attack against the black king. Both games have historical predecessors. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/12/2018 – Recently we've seen Chess960 being actively discussed as a way to play chess while avoiding opening theory, testing our opponent's mind from the start. However, for the amateur, playing tournaments on the weekend, there are so many possibilities in the opening theory that it is nearly impossible to cover all of them decently. Many already have adopted setups like the London system, or the King's Indian Attack (KIA) so they don't have to study opening theory. Gareyev proposes an attacking alternative in the Trompowsky, a lesser known opening which can oblige Black to think from the first moves while creating plenty of tactical problems. DAVIDE NASTASIO takes a look in this interactive review that encourages the reader to try out key middlegame and endgame positions against an engine. Get your daily training here and now! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/12/2018 – Having traded the enemy fianchetto bishop, White has managed to land the queen on h6 ("a beast on h6"). His first move in the diagram position might be obvious, but can you also guess which piece will become the true hero of his attack? Enjoy!

10/11/2018 – Tomorrow an impressive team tournament gets underway — this year's European Cup — and among those in action will be World Champion Magnus Carlsen who plays for the "Valerenga Sjakklubb" from Oslo. The Elo favourite is the team of "Alkaloid" with an average rating of 2741 and Ding Liren among the players. Another 2800 player, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leads the Azerbaijani team Odlar Yurdu. | Photo: European Chess Union

10/11/2018 – The organisers of the 2019 Altibox Norway Chess tournament have unveiled a new format aimed at reducing the rate of draws. It's either "innovative" or "bizarre" depending on who you ask but is sure to be an interesting subject of debate in the months leading up to the June, 2019, tournament. We explain the new idea and check in on the Twitter reaction. Plus, have your say in our reader survey! | Photo: Lennart Ootes / NorwayChess.no