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

11/5/2018 – Featuring archive photos of Fischer and his co-competitors never before published online, GM ALOJZIJE JANKOVIC takes you through the highlights and the history and previews the 2018 edition. In April 1965, the first Tournament of Peace took place in Zagreb, organised by the representatives of the city together with leading local players. It was a very strong field of 20 players, including reigning World Champion at that time, Tigran Petrosian, competing in a round-robin tournament. Bobby Fischer played in the second tournament of 1970, but after the fourth edition in 1985, the tournament went dark...until now. | Pictured: Bobby Fischer looks towards Teodor Boch (a sponsor) in Zagreb, 1970 | Photo: Erwin Sindik / Croatian Chess Federation

11/5/2018 – In the Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen, six world-class players have played six draws so far. The two top Chinese players Ding Liren and Yu Yangui compete with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Nikita Vitiugov and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. With Monday's draw Ding surpassed the undefeated streak of the great Mikhail Tal! Ding's 96 games without a loss can be considered the best undefeated streak in history, if not (yet) the longest. | Photos: Qipai.com

11/5/2018 – Two out of three games in the first round of the second edition of the Shenzhen Masters were hard-fought draws, as only Nikita Vitiugov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave signed a somewhat lifeless ½-½. Ding Liren kept his undefeated streak by drawing with Black against Anish Giri, while Radoslaw Wojtaszek held his own and even got some chances against Yu Yangyi. Things might quickly heat up in the double round-robin with a very attractive line-up. | Photo: Official site

11/4/2018 – This week Jon examines two games from the top scorer for Sri Lanka in the Batumi Chess Olympiad. As the coach of the team, he was impressed by the play of the youngest member, fifteen-year-old Harshana Thilakarathne (pictured). But continue sending in your own games! 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! | Photo: Panagoda Buddhi

11/4/2018 – The 64-player knockout tournament that will result in a second 2018 Women's World Champion took off on Saturday. The Ugra Chess Academy received yet another strong event and showed the usual high-calibre organisation. The first games of round one left few clear upsets, but did include many results that will very likely produce interesting return matches — games where the clear favourite only got half a point, and close match-ups where one of the players is now in a must-win situation. | Photos: Official site

11/3/2018 – One month from today, and a decade after the inaugural Penang International Chess Open in June 2009, the 10th edition of the Open returns in the Malaysian state of Penang! It is bigger and richer. How much richer? How about USD $12,000 in total prize money! | Pictured (left) Penang has been recognised as a World Heritage site since the year 2008 / (right) Filipino GM Darwin Laylo is one of the registered grandmasters. | Photos: Penang Chess Association