Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: Nakamura does it again

8/16/2018 – Hikaru Nakamura triumphed at the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz leg of the Grand Chess Tour with a round to spare and landed at the top spot in the overall standings of the tour with 33 points. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored 6½ from the final nine blitz games of the tournament to top the section, just outpacing Shakhriyar Mamedyarov at the finishing line to place himself second in the tour with 25 points. His score of 13½/18 in the Blitz was a whopping three points more than Nakamura, who finished second on 10½. V. SARAVANAN's report includes a full pictorial look at the final day. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

Simon Says — Kasparov's greatest victories

8/16/2018 – In this Simon Says, Simon will take a look at some of Garry's most celebrated chess victories. Simon was not live this week due to some rare technical issues, however, we've consequently made his latest show FREE for all. Enjoy!

Abu Dhabi Masters: Dubov takes the title

8/15/2018 – The race for the title between Daniil Dubov, Anton Korobov and Salem Saleh ended in a deadlock between the three GMs after a nailbiting final round. Due to his better tiebreak, Dubov was declared the winner while Korobov and Saleh were placed third and fourth, respectively. The tournament also witnessed two Indian teenagers, Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi earn their grandmaster titles at its conclusion. | Photo: Abu Dhabi Masters Twitter

Saint Louis Blitz: Vachier-Lagrave climbs in the standings

8/15/2018 – The first day of blitz action in Saint Louis was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman scored no less than five wins (four with Black) to recover after a disastrous third day. Both Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura totalled positive scores and are still sharing the lead, while Caruana won three and lost three and is currently in sole third place. V. SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

Abu Dhabi Masters LIVE

8/15/2018 – The 25th edition of the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival kicks off today at Hotel Dusit Thani, Abu Dhabi. The anniversary event is extra strong this year, featuring five grandmasters with a 2700+ Elo, among them the FIDE Presidential candidate Nigel Short making a brief return to the chessboard amid a hectic campaign season.

Summer chess camp in Maribor

8/14/2018 – Chess enthusiasts from fourteen different countries attended lectures by a team of strong trainers at the end of July in Maribor. The second-largest city in Slovenia hosted the event that included simultaneous exhibitions, a blitz tournament and various outdoor activities. MISA HRENIC sent a report that included impressions by some of the participants. | Photos: Lena Uranjek

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

8/14/2018 – Tuesdays at 18:00 CEST (5:00 pm UK time, Noon EDT) Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com. In his show, Lawrence will be dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from elite chess tournaments. This week features a look at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz so far!

Saint Louis Rapid: Nakamura surges to the front

8/14/2018 – On the third and final day of rapid, Hikaru Nakamura lodged two more wins and a draw bringing his final rapid tally to 12 (using double-scoring), a point ahead of Caruana and equal with Mamedyarov. "I believe in giving my fullest, and for me, that means to be aggressive and letting myself go completely", the American said. Caruana faded after an awful blunder against Dominguez in the first round of the day. V. SARAVANAN breaks down the highlights. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

When precision is needed

8/14/2018 – Rook endings are often drawn. Theoretically. In practice even drawn endgames usually require a lot of precision.

The knights of Africa (part 2)

8/14/2018 – Photojournalist and IM ALINA l'AMI continues her reflection (see Part 1) on the Ivory Coast Rapid & Blitz Invitational, with gorgeous photos and a unique story recounting what the tournament winner, Bassem Amin, calls "the best tournament in Africa". | All photos: Alina l'Ami

German Champion 2018: Rainer Buhmann

8/13/2018 – Saturday in Dresden, the 89th German Individual Championship ended after nine rounds with Rainer Buhmann and Hagen Poetsch on the top of the table. The field was missing many of Germany's top players and Buhmann and Poetsch were the only two grandmasters (nationally numbers 13 and 37 respectively). With a key last round win, Buhmann became German champion with a full point lead. He succeeds German number one, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, who won the tournament in 2017. | Photos: Karsten Wieland

Saint Louis Rapid: A day of typical rapid heartbreaks

8/13/2018 – After an amazing start, Fabiano Caruana kept his cool and drew all his games in the midst of a day filled with turnarounds and missed chances. Four players are now two points behind the leader, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Hikaru Nakamura tallied positive scores on Sunday. V. SARAVANAN reports straight from the Saint Louis Chess Club | Photos: Saint Louis Chess Club / Austin Fuller / Lennart Ootes

Laurent Fressinet: First chess-tennis World Champion

8/13/2018 – Every year, the TC RW Baden-Baden, one of the most traditional tennis clubs in Germany, and the Chess Center Baden-Baden organize a combined chess / tennis tournament. This year it was advertised for the first time as a World Championship. Four grandmasters took part and it was French grandmaster Laurent Fressinet who won the tournament. | Photos: Thomas Marschner

Saint Louis Rapid: Caruana starts with a bang

8/12/2018 – At the start of the 2018 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, all eyes were on Fabiano Caruana, as everybody in the United States is eager to see how he will do in the match against Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano responded in kind by winning all three games in spectacular fashion. He is now the sole leader of the event, which continues until Wednesday. V SARAVANAN sent a full report from Missouri. | Pictured: Fabiano Caruana with Alejandro Ramirez and Rustam Kasimdzhanov | Photo: V. Saravanan

NEW: The Vienna Variation - a reliable and ambitious weapon against 1.d4

8/11/2018 – The Vienna Variation is a particular and independent system of the Queen’s Gambit. It arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4, when black’s capture on move 4 is strongly reminiscent of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. But the Vienna Variation is also inspired by Nimzo-Indian structures while keeping its own character. The main variations usually lead to asymmetrical pawn structures, where Black can hope to get a fighting game.

The Russian diplomatic effort to influence the FIDE election

8/11/2018 – Given the recent history of Russian diplomatic resources being exercised to aid the re-election bids of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, it is not terribly surprising that evidence is emerging of similar official government actions in support of the Russian candidate in 2018, Arkady Dvorkovich. However, in a new development, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin himself has apparently directly intervened in the Kremlin’s global campaign to get national chess federations to support his former deputy prime minister, adding weight to communiqués from embassies which are also surfacing. | Photo: kremlin.ru

Abu Dhabi Masters: Six players lead

8/10/2018 – The first three rounds of the Abu Dhabi Masters saw quite a few upsets, miscalculations and opening debacles. In fact, the top seed of the tournament, Le Quang Liem had to taste defeat at the hands of 17-year-old VS Rathanvel in the very first round. By the end of three rounds only two out of the five grandmasters rated above 2700 have been able to maintain an unblemished score of 3/3. Richard Rapport (2719) is the highest rated among them. | Photos: adchessfestival.ae

Nine-year-old talent gets to stay in the UK

8/10/2018 – The family of a nine-year-old at the centre of a visa battle has been allowed to remain in the United Kingdom rather than be deported to India. Shreyas Royal has spent nearly six of his nine years resident in the UK, and has been tipped as “the best prospect the country has ever seen”, according to Grandmaster Chris Ward. The family had been told they were to leave by September 10th, but with a month to go, they have now been given a reprieve.

The knights of Africa (part 1)

8/10/2018 – The Egyptian GM Bassem Amin won the Invitational Rapid & Blitz event held in Abidjan, July 24th to 30th. We previously reported on the results but now give it the ALINA l'AMI treatment. | Pictured: From left to right: (top row) GM Bassem Amin (EGY), GM Kenny Solomon (RSA), IM Mokliss El Adnani (MAR), IM Andrew Kayonde (ZAM), IM Fy Rakotomaharo (MAD), (bottom row) IM Arthur Ssegwanyi (UGA), GM Slim Belkhodja (TUN), IM David Silva (ANG), GM Mohamed Haddouche (ALG), IM Oladapo Adu (NGR) | All Photos: Alina l'Ami

Double fault

8/10/2018 – Being a piece up, the second player is clearly winning. But from the diagram position he made two mistakes in a row, causing an abrupt end to the game. 28...Bf8? was the first. Can you imagine what followed?

The Panamerican Youth Championship

8/9/2018 – At the Panamerican Youth Championships at the end of July in Santiago de Chile, everything was fine besides the temperatures. The spacious playing all hall of the National Sports Stadium had too few heaters. Heaters you say? But we have record high global temperatures. Yes, indeed, but July will forever be wintertime in Chile! DEJAN BOJKOV reports. | Pictured: (left) Chilean player Antu Amigo Quintana | Photos: Dejan Bojkov

75 years young: Lubomir Kavalek

8/9/2018 – Lubomir Kavalek was born in Prague, but left his country in 1968 and found a new home in the USA. In the 1970s, he was one of the world's best players and also successful as a second and coach, including Bobby Fischer, and a prolific writer with dozens of columns shared on ChessBase over the years. Today he celebrates his 75th birthday. | Photo: (left) Kavalek and (right) World Chess Hall of Fame

Shirov wins Cellavision Cup

8/9/2018 – In Sweden there is currently "Extremadura" (it's been a hot dry summer) and so the T-shirt of Aleyey Shirov was very suitable for the Cellavision Cup in Lund. The recently re-Spaniard played all eight decisive games and won the tournament thanks to better tiebreak score over tied Jonny Hector. Both scored 7.0 / 8. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

Smash the Sicilian with the Smith-Morra Gambit!

8/9/2018 – There is a clear need to revisit one's own opening repertoire from time to time, reinterpreted under a different teacher — this is a must for every competitive chess player. Now here's a chance to add a very sharp opening to your toolkit, whether for blitz, quick time controls or a surprise weapon. Reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO says we can gain an edge over the competition thanks to this video series by International Master Michael Rahal.