9/17/2018 – Dealing with subjects such as aesthetics and gender is generally prone to criticism. After all, the concepts that are used as bases for analysis tend to compel some degree of subjectivity. Nevertheless, AZLAN IQBAL has been exploring this issue for years. After publishing a controversial article a couple of years ago, he informs us about the improvements made to his original research. The question remains the same: do women play more beautiful chess than men? | Photos: Pascal Simon / Simon Bohnenblust

9/17/2018 – Live and free to watch at 18:00 CEST (16:00 UT, Noon EDT) In this Simon Says I show you a number of fascinating puzzles, which I hope, you are able to solve! Good Luck!

9/17/2018 – The Woodpecker method — a name coined by Swedish GM Axel Smith — is a popular training method to improve your tactical vision and your tactical reflexes. To summarize: when training à la Woodpecker you have a set of training tasks which you work through repeatedly. And with ChessBase, you can easily create databases with sets of training tasks for this purpose. | Image: ChessBase

9/17/2018 – While Levon Aronian is fighting the chess elite in arduous events, his wife Arianne Caoili is engaged in various entrepreneurial and philanthropic initiatives in Armenia. The Australian Woman International Master will cycle through the south coastal region of Cilicia to raise funds on behalf of the Children of Armenia Fund. The biking tour's fundraising will allow COAF to expand its athletic programs for youth living in six villages of Armenia's Tavush region.

9/16/2018 – Although the gold medal in the open section had already been confirmed by Parham Maghsoodloo, the fight for other medals was exciting on the last day of the World Juniors 2018. Esipenko managed to beat Maghsoodloo, but it wasn't good enough for a medal for the Russian. Silver went to Abhimanyu Puranik who beat Aram Hakobyan and bronze to Sergei Lobanov who got the better of Johan-Sebastien Christiansen. In the Girls section, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova drew her last round game which allowed Aleksandra Maltsevskaya to overtake her and win the gold. Tokhirjonova had to be content with silver and bronze to Nino Khomeriki.

9/16/2018 – This week's lovely pair of games are by David Sprenkle an American who was 60 in April. A former Illinois champion, he now lives in Spokane, Washington. One game even reminded Jon of a classic Nezhmetdinov game. 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!

9/16/2018 – The Southeast Asia chess scene has given an important step forward this year, as Laos organised its first international tournament. The landlocked country launched the 'Chess in Schools' program six years ago and has been working towards growing the game's stature. In the first Laos International Open, Armenian GM Karen Grigoryan was declared the winner, while the success of the event prompted the organisers to run a second edition later this year. Update September 21| Photo: Laos Chess Federation

9/15/2018 – (All stories on the World Junior) Live games and commentary from the 2018 World Junior Chess Championship in Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey, September 5th-15th with a rest day on September 9th. Live video commentary by IM Can Arduman, IM Ekaterina Atalik and FM Tarik Selbes.

9/15/2018 – There was almost no intrigue regarding the final results, but the 2018 Champions Showdown was filled with curious highlights and enterprising chess. The main attraction was Garry Kasparov's presence — the 13th World Champion lost his match against Topalov, but finished on a high thanks to a pair of wins in the last rounds. In the other matchups, Nakamura, So, Vachier-Lagrave and Aronian emerged victorious. In terms of entertainment value, the Saint Louis Chess Club hit the mark! | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

9/15/2018 – (Current standings, games and results!) It has been one of the most dominating performances that you would ever see at any strong chess tournament, leave alone World Junior Championships. GM Parham Maghsoodloo from Iran started the tournament as the top seed. He conceded half a point in the sixth round by drawing his game against Alireza Firouzja. But rest of the games he managed to win thereby scoring 9½/10 and winning the tournament with one round to spare. In the Girls section as well, we have the sole leader after ten rounds and she is Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. | Photo: Shohreh Bayat

9/14/2018 – 170 years ago, September 14th, 1848, Adolf Albin was born. Statistics give Albin a historical rating of 2643 for August 1895 and with this rating he would have been the world's number 15 of that time. Today, Albin is mainly known as the namesake of an entertaining line in the Queen's Gambit, arising after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5!? - the Albin Counter-gambit. Another gambit, which Albin liked to play, is named after Alekhine. | Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

9/14/2018 – Another spectacular chess event is ongoing at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Ten world-class players, including Garry Kasparov, compete in rapid and blitz matches in Chess960. Live video and commentary from 20:00 CEST (19:00 UT). | Graphic: Standings after Day 3 / Saint Louis Chess Club