9/17/2017 – Four semi-final spots were at stake. Three of them have been filled. Levon Aronian drew his game against Ivanchuk after beating him yesterday, while Wesley So and Ding Liren beat Vladimir Fedoseev and Richard Rapport respectively. One remaining spot will be filled by the winner of Peter Svidler and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave encounter. The duo will fight it out in the tiebreaks on Sunday and the winner will take on Aronian. We have photos, analysis and video interviews that will give you a complete feel of round five, game two, from Tbilisi, Georgia.

9/15/2017 – It was a day of three draws and one brilliant game. The two draws between Fedoseev-So and Rapport-Ding were very short. The fight between Svidler and MVL was intense, but at the end they also decided to split the point. It was Levon Aronian who stole the show with a very nice pawn sacrifice in the opening followed by purposeful and dynamic play. Ivanchuk looked completely off-colour and had to resign in 24 moves. We have pictures, Aronian's video explaining his win and in-depth analysis. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

9/15/2017 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! Friday at 3.30 pm CEST it's all about pinned f-pawns!

9/15/2017 – 20...Bxg2 21.Kxg2 Qxd4 in the diagram position initiates a long sequence of moves. What do you think, will Black get the advantage or will White end up on top? Much to calculate for you, but I hope also much fun on the way!

9/15/2017 – Round four tiebreaks saw five matches being played. Four of them were finished in the first two 25'+10" encounter.The winners were Svidler, So, Fedoseev and Rapport. The only match that went beyond the first two rapid games was the one between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alexander Grischuk. In the first 10'+10" game MVL was able to outwit the Russian super GM. In a must-win scenario Grischuk gave everything that he had, and came so close. But MVL showcased virtuoso defence to qualify to the quarter finals! In-depth coverage from Tbilisi. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/15/2017 – Like to earn some extra rating points? Or progress one more round in the World Cup? Last Friday in Tbilisi the young Hungarian GM Richard rapport drew our admiration by flawlessly winning a difficult endgame against Chinese GM Wei Yi. We reported on that fateful game, and now thankfully a top international chess trainer provides systematic instruction on how to play the rook vs bishop ending. First installment from Efstratios Grivas: Modern Endgame Manual.

9/14/2017 – While reading the chess column in The Times, Jonathan Speelman realised that Wolfgang Unzicker might have drawn a famous opposite-coloured bishop endgame. It’s one of a couple of opposite bishop endings ‘The Patriarch’ won by creating passed pawns on both flanks. There's a valuable lesson for you to learn from this article by Jonathan Speelman.

9/14/2017 – We have 16 players in Tbilisi playing the fourth round of the World Cup 2017. Three of them (Aronian, Ivanchuk and Ding Liren) advanced to round five, three of them (Dubov, Giri and Wang Hao) got eliminated, and ten players will play in the tiebreaks. Aronian played the longest game of the day, breaking Dubov's fortress after 91 moves. Ivanchuk drew a winning game against Giri, but it was good enough to make it to the quarterfinals and Ding Liren showed technical superiority to down his countryman Wang Hao. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

9/14/2017 – The Southwest Open is an annual held in Dallas, Texas, over Labor Day weekend (USA). This year for the first time, and International section took place with around 30 strong Masters, IMs and GMs. The young American and newly minted Grandmaster Ruifeng Li was among them, and ended up in shared first with Polish GM Kamil Dragun, who is studying in Texas. Ruifeng sent us this personal account of his exploits. | Photos: James Stallings (Below: WIM Mariam Danelia and unknown photo-bomber)

9/13/2017 – Checking in on World Championship candidates qualification, the twists and turns that have already occurred and are still to come as the drama mounts and the pool of players shrinks. For many potential candidates the World Cup is the only possible route to qualification, but some have multiple paths to follow. Will Mamedyarov and Caruana stay on track despite being eliminated from the World Cup? Who else can join Sergey Karjakin to attempt to overthrow Magnus Carlsen next year? | Player drawings: WorldChess.com/ratings

9/13/2017 – The pre-quarter finals of the World Cup 2017 began with a bang. Vassily Ivanchuk managed to beat super solid Anish Giri and Vladimir Fedoseev showed some fine calcuation to sacrifice two pieces before mating his opponent's king. The other six games ended in draws. The playing hall was now changed to much smaller place. But players didn't really seem to have any issues with it. We have the round four, game one report with anecdotes, and more importantly pictures and videos by Amruta Mokal.

9/12/2017 – Round three tiebreaks saw great excitement. Evgeniy Najer scored the biggest upset of the day, by knocking out Fabiano Caruana. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Li Chao were two more elite players who were sent back home by Baadur Jobava and Richard Rapport respectively. As we enter the round of sixteen, one can clearly see how the tournament is shaping up. The upper half is filled with super-strong players, while in the bottom half Wesley So is the clear favourite to keep advancing. Tiebreak report filled with pictures, videos and more. | Photos: Amruta Mokal