Danzhou Masters: The unfortunate b5

7/30/2018 – Two wins and two draws were witnessed in the fourth round of the 9th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament. Interestingly, the downfall of both losers — Vidit Gujrathi and Jan-Krzysztof Duda — began after they moved their pawn to b5. Bu Xiangzhi kept his tournament lead in the meantime with a draw against Wei Yi in a razor-sharp Ragozin. Going into the rest day, he remains ahead of his nearest rival by half-a-point.

Kandy Chess Fest: An event in Sri Lanka's historical former capital

7/30/2018 – The Kandy International Chess Festival is slated to be held from 6th to 13th August 2018 in the historical Sri Lankan city of Kandy. In its 9th edition this year, the festival will feature a Grandmaster Open and a Blitz tournament. FM Rajeendra Kalugampitiya sends us a report with all the details about the event. | Photo: lankapura.com

Biel: A good day for the Najdorf

7/30/2018 – The Najdorf, one of the strongest Sicilian variations, was definitely a good choice for the players that had the black pieces on Sunday. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was inches away from beating Magnus Carlsen in an exciting game, while Peter Svidler scored against Nico Georgiadis in a very sharp battle. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Danzhou Masters: Bu races past Duda

7/30/2018 – The third round of the 9th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster tournament was a turbulent affair. Bu Xiangzhi took sole lead beating Le Quang Liem after the latter faltered miserably in a Symmetrical English; Vladimir Fedoseev pulled out a draw from a lost position against Jan-Krzysztof Duda; Vidit Gujrathi broke Sam Shankland's undefeated streak of 62 games; while Yu Yangyi managed to eke out a win in a dead drawn position against Wei Yi. Round 3 report.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

7/29/2018 – Among other things this issue includes games from the World Championship Candidates, Grenke and Gashimov Memorial Tournaments. 2295 games (several annotated) with 10 opening surveys from the Caro-Kann to the Queen’s Indian. A collector’s issue. Not to be missed.

Elementary, my dear Watson

7/29/2018 – Some lightweight fare for this month's study column as SIEGFRIED HORNECKER brings you tales from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Raymond Smullyan, perfect for a hot summer Sunday.

Danzhou Masters: Bu catches Duda

7/29/2018 – After having missed a win twice in round one, Bu Xiangzhi had luck smiling on him in the second round as he won in a drawn endgame against compatriot, Yu Yangyi. With this win, he also caught up with the tournament leader Jan-Krzysztof Duda at 1½/2. Meanwhile, the other games of the round finished in sedate draws leaving a field of four players half-a-point behind the leaders.

Bassem Amin wins rapid portion in Abidjan

7/28/2018 – A good final day performance gave rating favourite Bassem Amin the first place at the rapid portion of the Cote d'Ivoire Invitational. The rapid results are added to the scores in the eighteen rounds of blitz that will be played during the weekend, so everything is still up for grabs in Abidjan. Alina l'Ami has travelled to Ivory Coast and sent pictures and video interviews with the participants | Pictured: Dr. Essoh Essis, President of the Ivorian Chess Federation makes the first move in Amin-Belkhodja | Photos: Alina l'Ami

Biel: Mamedyarov sole front-runner

7/28/2018 – Magnus started the Accentus Biel GM Tournament with two wins, but could only draw in the four games that followed. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took advantage of the Norwegian's drawing streak to take the sole lead with a win over Nico Georgiadis. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, like Shak, won with the black pieces and now is in shared third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

Danzhou Masters: Duda the dauntless

7/28/2018 – A brilliant win and an amazing miss were the highlights of the opening round of the 9th Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament. Continuing his great form from the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda registered an emphatic win over Vidit Gujrathi of India to take an early lead in the tournament. Bu Xiangzhi also had good winning chances against Samuel Shankland but messed up quite remarkably and had to settle for a draw in the end. An illustrated report with games.

Dvorkovich: "Hopefully, we will be able to avoid a dirty campaign"

7/27/2018 – Arkady Dvorkovich has been on tour for his electoral campaign and made stops at the Biel International Chess Festival and, a day after, at the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund (where he made the ceremonial first move for the game Kovalev-Kramnik). Macauley Peterson and Georgios Souleidis interviewed him on topics ranging from his plans for FIDE if elected, his connection to the Russian government, Agon, and political campaign wrangling. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

Rooks and knights and an unfortunate king!

7/27/2018 – Black has given a check on b2. Playing 44.Ka4 as White immediately gives one a very uneasy feeling (rightly so!). But the alternative 44.Kc4 also loses. Can you work out why?

Biel: Vachier-Lagrave beats Georgiadis

7/27/2018 – After losing twice at the outset of the event, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave improved his standing in Biel with a victory over Nico Georgiadis. In the clash of co-leaders, Magnus Carlsen could not convert a slim edge against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while Peter Svidler and David Navara also split the point. The tournament reached its half-time and everything is yet to be decided. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

A symbolic retreat: critical remarks about Stefan Zweig's Chess novella

7/26/2018 – Stefan Zweig's novella "Chess", which Zweig wrote during World War II in exile in Brazil, shortly before committing suicide with his wife Lotte, is considered as one of the greatest literary works on chess. It also has been tremendously successful and popular. But Johannes Fischer is not entirely convinced. While he liked the virtues of the book he still has some critical remarks.

Summer, sun, and playchess.com

7/26/2018 – Summer time is holiday time. But not all chess players use their holidays to play in a summer open. If you pursue other interests but still want to keep in shape you might want to turn to the playchess.com WebApp. It offers a good way to play on your iPhone, smartphone, tablet or IPad, etc.
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Biel: Three draws

7/26/2018 – The streak of two decisive games per day finished on Wednesday at the Biel GM tournament, as the players split points in all three boards in the fourth round. Nico Georgiadis finished his bad run by defending a highly complicated position against World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Mamedyarov and Carlsen still lead the standings and will face-off in the fifth round. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival

The Cote d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz Invitational kicked off in Abidjan

7/25/2018 – Amin Bassem leads a field of ten strong chess players from ten different African countries. They are competing at the Cote d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz Invitational, an event that mimics the format used in the Grand Chess Tour. The tournament is organized by the Fédération Ivoirienne des Echecs (FIDEC) and the Kasparov Chess Foundation. Starting today, 90-minute highlight shows will be provided daily. | Pictured: GM Amin Bassem | Photo: Alina l'Ami

NEW: Michael Rahal: Smash the Sicilian with the Smith-Morra Gambit

7/25/2018 – The Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4!) is a great attacking weapon against the popular Sicilian Defence. On move two White sacrifices a pawn for fast development and good attacking chances, and Black can easily fall into one of the many devious opening traps. With this gambit in your opening arsenal you are highly unpredictable and able to deal heavy blows at short notice. Your opponent will have to solve concrete problems from the beginning and can easily be under pressure before move ten!

Ding Liren and Hou Yifan in exhibition matches

7/25/2018 – Nikita Vitiugov defeated Hou Yifan by a 6½-3½ score in a Blitz Encounter in Russia as part of the ongoing Russia-China friendship series of events. Back in China, the injured Ding Liren seems to be making a smooth recovery and is already set to play a match with Veselin Topalov next month. Details on how he's been spending his time, and games from the Chinese League, which he had to miss. | Photo: Vladimir Barsky

Biel: Shak catches Magnus

7/24/2018 – For the third day in a row, two players left Biel's Congress Centre with a win in their pockets. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov inflicted Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's second consecutive loss and now shares the lead with Magnus Carlsen. The other winner was David Navara, who increased Nico Georgiadis' woes with a Black win in 39 moves. Peter Svidler and Carlsen signed a three-fold repetition draw after exploring a complex line of the Najdorf | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

The Weekly Show with Lawrence Trent

7/24/2018 – 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 games from the Xtracon Open!

Biel: Carlsen with the early lead

7/24/2018 – On Sunday, the Accentus GM tournament started in Biel with a few super GMs, including none other than the World Champion himself. Magnus Carlsen had an exciting duel with David Navara, in which Carlsen proved that the queen may be overrated. So far, the World Champion has shown himself in excellent form. On Monday he scored again, this time with Black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Peter Svidler celebrated his first victory, against Nico Georgiadis, and is tied with Mamedyarov for second place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

A free path for the passed pawn

7/24/2018 – Rook endings require precision, rook endings with passed pawns even more. And precision sometimes requires to make moves that seem to be counter-intuitive, paradoxical, like retreating when you want to advance.

Hort stories: Impressions of a new senior (I)

7/24/2018 – The World Senior Team Championships was on Jon Speelman's mind recently, and now it's Vlastimil Hort's turn. Hort was born in 1944 and initially wanted to wait until he reached his eighties before starting to play in senior tournaments. However, friends convinced him to try it earlier and he took part in Radebeul. He enjoyed the time and was happy to meet a lot of old colleagues and friends. | Photos in the report: Karsten Wieland