2/1/2017 – Never has the no.1 spot been so crowded as now since Magnus Carlsen took over. For a while it seemed a matter of time before he established new records and left others fighting over silver. This month he finds himself with not one, but two approaching challengers, with Wesley So making strides at the rate of over 50 Elo in just 6 months and four big wins. We see also Wei Yi in his breakthrough tournament at Wijk aan Zee, and a new prodigy in US chess. Here are the report, stats, and stories.

2/1/2017 – Moldovan GM and trainer Victor Bologan has played the Modern Pirc all his life. It brought him a lot of success – like winning the New York Open 1997, the strongest open of that time, with four wins with Black in the Modern Pirc. "This opening is actually a mixture of the Caro-Kann and the Pirc – very flexible and rich," Bologan says. "By studying it you will definitely refresh your chess brain and get a lot of new ideas." Improve your results with his instructions.

2/1/2017 – In part one of his extensive look at queen sacrifices in top level chess GM Lubomir Kavalek discussed the final move of the World Championship match Carlsen vs Karjakin, Wesley So's queen sac plan against Topalov, and Nezhmedtinov’s famous 12.Qxf6!! sacrifice. Today he shows us Timman's failed queen sacrifice against him, Kavalek, and Caruana's successful 19.Qxf6!! sac against Nakamura at the London Chess Classic. There's a lot to learn and enjoy.

2/1/2017 – The erstwhile leaders decided that this was the perfect time to recharge their batteries and take an unofficial timeout, settling for draws. Topalov sensed opportunity and dared Sutovsky to grab a winning advantage, which the latter did not take allowing the former to sneak into the lead as well. Ju Wenjun celebrated her birthday by creating history.

1/31/2017 – Once again there was an impressive percentage of decisive games amongst the top boards – 14 out of the top 20 – and we now have four players on the leading score of 6/7: Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), David Anton Guijarro (Spain) and Yu Yangyi (China). However, the round belonged to Hou Yifan who stole the limelight with a queen sacrifice par excellence.

1/31/2017 – "The positional exchange sacrifice is one of the most powerful and fascinating strategic weapons in chess," states Sergei Tiviakov on his new ChessBase DVD "The Art of the Positional Exchange Sacrifice". Modern practice supports this claim. In a recent game between Levon Aronian and Anish Giri, played in round 8 of the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Giri misjudged the consequences of an exchange sacrifice by Aronian and lost without much of a fight.

1/28/2017 – After four rounds of the Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017, we have only two players on 4.0/4: ACP President and Israeli grandmaster Emil Sutovsky and Women's World Championship Challenger Ju Wenjun. Emil beat Nikita Vitiugov in a complex Ruy Lopez Breyer, while Wenjun got the better of Sam Shankland in a Benoni. There are 14 players with a score of 3.5/4 including MVL, Adams, Nakamura and Gelfand. We have an illustrated report with photos, videos and analysis sent to us by John Saunders.

1/28/2017 – Again, despite only one decisive game in the top section, it was a day in which much more blood should have been spilled. Giri was clearly winning against Harikrishna, while Adhiban had a winning shot against Carlsen, but it was Wei Yi that simply demolished Karjakin, putting him just half a point behind So. In the Challenger's section, the Texan Jeffery Xiong is unstoppable. Full report with GM commentary.

1/27/2017 – One might argue that Carpe Diem, or 'seize the day' applies to all games and events, but round eleven was defined more than most by those who did and those who didn't. While leader So drew quickly with Andreikin, 17-year-old Wei Yi defeated Karjakin, moving to half a point behind So, whom he plays in round 12. Adhiban almost pulled off a miracle when he had a chance to beat Carlsen, but missed it and drew. Jeffery Xiong defeated co-leader Smirin and is now sole leader in the Challengers. Express report.

1/27/2017 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so.

1/27/2017 – Michael Adams and Nikita Vitiugov are the only 2700+ player with a perfect score at the end of the third round of the Gibraltar Masters 2017. All the elite players who had drawn their games yesterday including Caruana, MVL and Gelfand were able to win. However, Svidler had to once again split the point and on the top board Nakamura was surprised by an excellent exchange sacrifice by G. N. Gopal. We have the full illustrated report from round four rich with analysis, pictures, videos and also information about the team blitz and Governor's visit to the event.

1/27/2017 – Studying and learning from Bobby Fischer's games is an arduous and laborious affair. Although Fischer quit playing chess when he was just 29 years old, the number of high quality games that he had played was already quite high. The Master Class Vol. 1 on the life of Bobby Fischer is a boon for players who would like to delve deeper into the life of the eleventh World Champion. Three grandmasters and an International Master dissect the play of one of the greatest players that the game of chess has ever seen. A review by Aditya Pai.