6/16/2020 – While the abrupt and dramatic changes in the world’s lifestyle caused by the omnipresent "you know what" naturally make people rethink important existential questions, like "What is the meaning of life" or "How did this virus shrink my jeans so fast – they fitted loosely just a week ago?!", today I have a chess-specific question, less complex and painful than those other two: why can’t women, in general, play chess as well as men?

6/16/2020 – Mate ends the game but most games are won because one side is material up and the opponent prefers not to drag things out till the bitter end. However, being a whole knight up in the endgame is not always an automatic win.

6/16/2020 – Due to the coronavirus outbreak, pretty much all over-the-board action was cancelled or postponed. Some tournaments decided to compensate a bit by organizing online events. The World Starts Sharjah Online was a six-player double round-robin with participants rated between 2661 and 2764. Top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the tournament convincingly by scoring 7½/10 points. Pentala Harikrishna and Radoslaw Wojtaszek finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

6/15/2020 – In this Simon Says we look at the final of the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown. An event where the two highest-rated players in the world, Carlsen and Caruana faced each other for the title. | Watch for free and on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account). (Normally 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EST).

6/15/2020 – The AVRO Tournament 1938 comes to an end. After 13 of 14 rounds Paul Keres and Reuben Fine have 8.0/13 each and lead the field. In the last round they play against each other. The winner of this game will also win the tournament. In case of a draw Keres is first on tiebreak because he won against Fine in round 7. Transmission of all rounds starts at 17:00 CEST (16:00 UK, 10:00 EST).

6/15/2020 – Do you find the Sicilian difficult to cope with? Are you afraid to play the Sicilian with White because you do not want to learn a huge amount of variations by heart? Well, Roeland Pruijssers and Nico Zwirs can help. The two Dutchmen have created a complete repertoire against the Sicilian based on the Open Sicilian. A repertoire that is easy to learn.

6/15/2020 – Reuben Fine started the AVRO Tournament with 5½/6, but then suffered a setback and scored only 1½ points in the next six rounds. But at the end of the tournament Fine seems to have found his form again and in round 13 he outplayed Alexander Alekhine with amazing ease. The other three games of the round ended in a draw and with one round to go Fine and Keres now share the lead with 8.0/13 each, and will decide the tournament winner in their direct duel in the last round. | Photo: Alekhine and Fine during their game in round 6

6/15/2020 – The final match of the Clutch Chess International was as exciting as can be! Out of the last six games, five were decisive, with Magnus Carlsen getting a clutch win in game 12 to defeat Fabiano Caruana. Caruana only needed a draw in the last encounter to win the event, as he came from scoring an impressive victory in the previous clutch game, but it was not meant to be. Carlsen bagged US$ 75,000 for his efforts. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/14/2020 – In this second instalment of Clutch Chess, the tournament will expand internationally. Eight of the world's top chess players will battle online from Saturday, June 6 - Sunday, June 14, 2020 for an extraordinary $265K in prize money. Replay the games live with engine comments and evaluations starting at 20:00 CEST.

6/14/2020 – After his brilliant win over Capablanca, Mikhail Botvinnik certainly hoped to win the AVRO tournament in the Netherlands, but just one round later the 27-year-old turned in an inexplicably weak performance against Max Euwe (the other ex-world champion in the tournament, left in the picture) and lost a short game. With all the other games of round twelve drawn, Paul Keres remains at the top of the standings table a half point ahead of Reuben Fine, while Botvinnik, with two rounds left to play, is a full point behind the leader.

6/14/2020 – Neural network (NN) engines – Leela Chess Zero, Fat Fritz – have become superbly strong, and provide fascinating positional analysis. However, in order to unleash the full power of the NN algorithms, we must use some kind of GPU accelerator device. The problem is that a compact laptop often can’t sustain the running NN engines and will crash. Here is a super elegant solution to this problem!

6/14/2020 – The first half of the final hardly could have been more exciting, as Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana each collected four points after trading blows in the last four games of the day. The match started with two draws, and from that point each of the finalists scored two wins with white. Game 6 was the biggest thriller — Carlsen got a winning position out of the opening, erred in time trouble, and ended up conceding defeat. | Photo: Justin Kellar

6/13/2020 – The victory of Mikhail Botvinnik (photo) over José Raúl Capablanca in the eleventh round of the AVRO tournament will be enjoyed by many generations of chess players to come. At the outset of the game, the 27-year-old single-mindedly implemented a crystal-clear strategy against the former world champion, based on a central advance; then, he launched the final attack on the king with two brilliant piece sacrifices. In the shadow of this brilliant game, the most important development was almost ignored: Paul Keres secured the sole lead after Reuben Fine conceded yet another defeat.

6/13/2020 – Anish Giri is the best chess player in the Netherlands and is currently ranked number 10 in the world. To show appreciation for Giri, this article has a recipe for a dish that he might like to eat. And, also, an analysis of one of his wins. WIM Alexey Root tells why Giri is the first Grandmaster Chef honoree. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

6/13/2020 – The semifinals of the Clutch Chess International came to an end on Friday. Magnus Carlsen cruised to victory and comfortably knocked out Levon Aronian, while Fabiano Caruana pulled out a remarkable comeback against Wesley So. Thus, the two highest-rated players in the world will face each other in the final, starting Saturday. | Photo: Austin Fuller

6/12/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King makes an excursion into the world of problem chess but the main focus of the session will be a spectacular game by the 2018 World Senior Champion, Vlastimil Jansa. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

6/12/2020 – Take a look at this position. Can White (on the move) win? And if so what must he play? The position looks deceptively simple, but if you are able to solve it in your head, congratulations! Today's challenge is mainly to humans, and we bring you simple-looking positions from which there is a lot to learn. Have fun.

6/12/2020 – In the diagram position White's last move was 14.Qh3 which creates a classical threat ... which Black happily ignored! Can you imagine what happened?