8/23/2018 – In this year's Sinquefield Cup it is completely banned to sign agreed draws. After three rounds with one decisive result per day, the fifth day of play finished with all the games drawn. That does not mean we did not see fighting chess — Magnus Carlsen could not promote a far-advanced passed pawn against Wesley So, while Hikaru Nakamura and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ended up frustrated after drawing a rollercoaster game where both had chances. V. SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Spectrum Studios

8/23/2018 – A twelve-game match between Wei Yi and Ernesto Inarkiev was played in Magas, the capital town of the Republic of Ingushetia. The Chinese defeated the 2016 European Champion 4:2 in the classical section and achieved a 3½:2½ victory in the rapid. Wei Yi demonstrated his tactical talent more than once. | Photo: Amruta Mokal (archive)

8/23/2018 – On August 24th the Superfinals of the Russian Championship will begin in Satka. The Superfinals feature an open tournament and a tournament for women. Both are 12-player round-robin tournaments and both have a strong line-up. In the open tournament Ian Nepomniachtchi is the number one seed, and in the women's tournament it's Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/23/2018 – For more than three decades Wolfgang Uhlmann was East Germany's number one player and in the 60s and 70s he was one of the world's best players. Uhlmann is particularly famous for his handling of the French Defense. After 1.e4 he invariably played 1...e6, no matter how well-prepared the opponent might be. Of course, he contributed a lot of ideas to the French. Conrad Schormann takes a look at one particularly useful and important defensive concept Uhlmann introduced into practice. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/23/2018 – People are predicting a very bright future for Indian chess and one of the main reasons why is Nihal Sarin (the other one is Praggnanandhaa). Nihal became a GM at the age of 14 years, 1 month and 1 day when he achieved his final GM norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2018 with one round to spare. This makes the young boy the 12th youngest GM in the history of the game. In this article, we tell you all about the people who have helped Nihal to become the chess player that he is. At the same time, we analyze two of his most recent games (from 2018) and show you why he is a technical and positional monster. Nihal's restlessness earned him the title of "the boy who never sits"! Well, we have now officially changed it to "the boy who never stops"! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

8/22/2018 – Fabiano Caruana joined the leading pack at the fourth round of the Sinquefield Cup after using a daring novelty against Hikaru Nakamura. With this result, no less than five players are co-leading at the fourth leg of the Grand Chess Tour. Closing on half-time, those still in the run will start taking into account the results they need in order to qualify to the GCT finale in London, adding interest to the event. V. SARAVANAN reports. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

8/22/2018 – 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 summer tournaments roundup!

8/21/2018 – Three rounds have already been played at this year’s Sinquefield Cup. Four different players have achieved a single win to share the lead on 2/3 — the last one to join this group was Alexander Grischuk, who defeated Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces on Monday. V. SARAVANAN tells us about yet another day in the United States’ capital of chess. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

8/21/2018 – In the second part of his comments on the Senior World Team Championships, New-Senior Vlastimil Hort deals with some incidents on the chess board and has picked out and commented on some critical games and positions.

8/21/2018 – The state of Kerala in India is in disarray right now. The flooding has reached catastrophic levels, 350 people have died and more than 200,000 are displaced after losing their houses. In such a situation, the third GM of Kerala, 14-year-old Nihal Sarin, has decided to do his bit to support the people affected by the floods. The young boy will feature on the ChessBase India live show on the 22nd of August 2018 at 8 p.m. to raise funds for the flood victims. It's a call to the chess community to help our brethren in distress.

8/21/2018 – Being well connected helps - a truism that is particularly true for passed pawns in the endgame. But you have to know how to use these connections.

8/21/2018 – Australian Grandmaster DAVID SMERDON is semi-retired from chess after getting married, returning to his hometown of Brisbane to take up a professorship in the School of Economics at the University of Queensland. He still blogs occasionally and recently published a fascinating two-part story about a trip to Kenya, which we bring you with kind permission of the author. | Pictured: Chess players from Alliance Girls’ High School, Nairobi, who sometimes play against their brother school, and they enjoy playing — and beating — the boys. | Photos: DavidSmerdon.com