11/11/2018 – The Tata Steel India rapid has started in Kolkata. From Friday, November 9th to Sunday the 11th you can get in the mood for the World Championship with a little top-class rapid chess with former Candidates: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and India's top talent, Harikrishna, Vidit, Sarin and Ganguly. Live commentary with IM Lawrence Trent and IM Tania Sachdev. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / TataSteelChess.in

11/10/2018 – Since 1994, the Mediterranean seaside resort Cap d'Agde has organised a set of wide-ranging chess tournaments. This year, four classical events, a rapid tournament and a blitz VIP meeting were in the menu for those interested. The main attraction was the "Grand Prix", which was won by Yannick Gozzoli, who edged Jules Moussard by half a point. The ever-focused Gozzoli (2612) took home 17 rating points and 3.000 Euros. ROMAIN ÉDOUARD sent us a full pictorial report from Occitania. | Pictured: Yannick Gozzoli | Photos: Pierre Textoris

11/10/2018 – The first day of the first super tournament in India was fascinating. Of course, having ten great chess players fighting it out always feels great, but what was even more heartening was the jam-packed crowd. The ICCR auditorium which had a capacity of 200 people was filled to the brim with people waiting outside the auditorium to go inside and view the games. The players held nothing back to entertain the crowd and in the first round itself, Vishy Anand had everyone on the edge of their seats as he fought for 145 moves against Wesley So. At the end of three rounds of rapid chess at the Tata Steel Chess India we have three players in joint lead with 2.0/3 — Harikrishna, Mamedyarov and Aronian. A detailed report from Kolkata.

11/10/2018 – The game started with a daft joke and ended with a draw, but in between chess fans were treated to an intensely dramatic middlegame where Carlsen was on the verge of winning with black while Caruana's clock was perilously close to zero. A remarkable Game 1 which bodes well for the excitement of a hotly anticipated match that the world is watching. Star analysis by GMs YANNICK PELLETIER and JAN-KRZYSZTOF DUDA | Pictured: Actor Woody Harrelson making the first move to start in Game 1. | Photo: Nikolai Dunaevsky / World Chess

11/9/2018 – Do parents name their babies after chess champions? Do you need 10,000 hours of practice to be a chess master? Does chess helps prevent Alzheimer’s? ALEXEY ROOT explores these and other questions. Republished with kind permission of The Conversation. | Pictured: Reigning Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen, left, from Norway, and American challenger Fabiano Caruana face off in the World Chess Championship, which begins November 9th, 2018, in London. | Photo: Matt Dunham/AP

11/9/2018 – Mikhail Tal was born on November 9th, 1936 in Riga, and died June 27, 1992 in Moscow. He probably would have been happy to know that the World Championship match between Carlsen and Caruana begins on his birthday. Tal loved chess and chess fans loved him for his bold, enterprising play and his stunning combinations. He had a very keen eye for tactics — which sometimes best showed in more light-hearted events. Here are two examples to commemorate the birthday of this great player and tactician. | Photo: Ron Kroon / Anefo [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

11/9/2018 – White's unchallenged bishop on f3 is a huge trump and after 14...Qf5 from the diagram position he ... will get checkmated in 5 moves! Pardon?

11/9/2018 – Thursday afternoon, the two players of the World Championship, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana took questions in London from a roomful of journalists from various chess and mainstream media outlets. World Chess broadcast the press conference live on its Facebook page and subsequently added it to YouTube. We have highlights, or you can replay the whole event, plus all the details of the match and how to watch. | Photos: Nikolai Dunaevsky / World Chess

11/8/2018 – Round two of the 2018 knockout Women's World Championship culminated with a handful of upsets, a few fighting matches and a couple of favourites dominating their rivals. Mobina Alinasab, Jolanta Zawadzka, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Alisa Galliamova and Zhai Mo were the surprising winners in this stage of the event. The tension will continue to rise in round three, as the players know that getting through two more rounds will secure them a place in the Candidates. | Photos: Official site

11/8/2018 – Finally! After four rounds with a total of 12 games without a decision, today the damn burst, the knot burst (or choose your own idiom). GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY explains how the two Chinese grandmasters, Ding and Yu, both won, against Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Nikita Vitiugov respectively. Ding extends the streak to 99 games without a defeat. Can he make it 100? | Photos: Quipai.org.cn

11/8/2018 – Such a strong open with such a unique final result (husband and wife winning, with the main prize decided on Armageddon) deserves a second look. Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Alina Kashlinskaya won the event, but there were so many side-stories that it is hard to cover all of it in daily reports. ALINA l'AMI brings us a behind-the-scenes look into one of the most exciting tournaments of the year. Luckily, a laptop mishap only delayed but did not prevent her from filing her (semi-traditional) photo retrospective. | Photos: Alina l'Ami

11/8/2018 – In a day or two, Fabiano Caruana will challenge Magnus Carlsen. Will there be the new World Chess Champion by the end of the month? Commentator STEPHAN OLIVER PLATZ examines some history of the sixth World Champion, chess legend Mikhail Botvinnik, including select games against Capablanca, Alekhine, Reshevsky and Portisch. | Photo: J.D. Noske, Nationaal Archief, von li: Max Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Mikhail Botvinnik and Samuel Reshevsky.