6/15/2018 – The inclusion of the new Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) version of Komodo has had many users surprised, confused, and even describing it as a gimmick. However, its value is not to be underestimated, and it allows the astute user to find resources the very best engines are completely blind to. GM Karsten Mueller has helped illustrate this with some finely chosen examples in the following article. Read on to see what makes Komodo MCTS so special!

6/15/2018 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! (Normally) Friday's at 15:30 CET (9:00 AM EDT) it's all about Tactics!

6/15/2018 – Following 27...Nxc4 28.Nd5 Nb2 from the diagram, Black's knight is threatening two major pieces. Can you see already here how White turns the tables — or rather the fork — after that?

6/15/2018 – Peter Svidler defeated Yu Yangyi in a rapid and blitz match played this week in Shenzhen, China. Svidler dominated the rapid section, which awarded two points per win, while Yu Yangyi recovered his form towards the end and won the last three blitz games to avoid a massive wipeout. | Photo: sports.sina.cn

6/15/2018 – Wesley So survived the third day of the Grand Chess Tour in Leuven, Belgium, without a loss and won the tournament confidently with 14 out of 18 possible points. Three points behind are Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Tomorrow, the first nine of 18 rounds of blitz are on the program, and So must defend his lead against some legendary blitz specialists like Vachier-Lagrave, Karjakin, Nakamura and Grischuk. | Photo: Lennart Ootes, tournament page

6/14/2018 – Erudite, self-critical, cosmopolitan, Jorge Luis Borges, who died thirty-two years ago today, demonstrated great respect for chess throughout his work. Within the boundaries of his circular worlds, he made way for the sixty-four squares, the pieces that occupy them and the agents that give them life.

6/14/2018 – At the end of the FIFA Council last Sunday in Moscow, the World Football Association announced that it would reform its world ranking for the national football teams. There was much criticism of the previous ranking system and the new formula is based on the chess Elo.

6/14/2018 – After scoring his second GM norm, a couple of months ago at the Heraklion Fischer Memorial in Greece, IM R Praggnanandhaa continued his quest for the GM title at the 1st Schaakweek Apeldoorn closed round robin in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, after a loss in the fifth round, the Indian wunderkind lost even a mathematical chance to reach his goal in Apeldoorn. By now, seven rounds have been played out of which Praggnanandhaa has lost five and won two. We take an in-depth look at his performance so far. | Photo: Henk Vinkes/Schaakweek Apeldoorn

6/13/2018 – Wesley So got off to a good start in the rapid tournament in Leuven, with 5 / 6 (rapid games use double scoring). So maintained his lead on day two, keeping the same rhythm. He won in rounds 4 and 5, in round 6 he played a draw, bringing his point tally to 10 / 12. In second place is Levon Aronian with 8 / 12 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/13/2018 – David Navara plays a match against P. Harikrishna in Prague, starting today. The match will take place over 12 games of rapid chess. Harikrishna was a last minute replacement for Ding Liren after the Chinese GM suffered an accident in Norway. The Chinese Association sends word that their top player will be fine, but he will be out of competition for at least a month.

6/13/2018 – Wesley So had the best start on the first day of the rapid tournament in Leuven and leads after wins over Caruana and Mamedyarov and a draw netting him 2½ points, using traditional scoring. Sergey Karjakin and Levon Aronian trail with 2 points. Rapid game point tallies will, however, count double in the final standings. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/13/2018 – Here's another opportunity to sharpen your tactical skills: twelve positions taken from recent tournaments, for you to solve. As a special service, the diagram boards allow you not only to move the pieces around to analyse — there is also an embedded engine that will actually play the positions against you! That means you can work things out directly on the diagrams in the browser. Plus: you can get products from Chess & Bridge at a discount price!