8/20/2016 – 15-year old Jeffery Xiong from the USA became World Junior Champion 2016 with one round to spare. In round 12 of the World Junior U20 Championships in Bhubaneswar, India, Xiong won a smooth game with Black against Paolo Bersamina from the Philippines while his closest rivals Vladislav Artemiev and Gzregorz Nasuta drew against each other and now have 8.5/12. But with 10.0/12 Xiong is 1.5 points ahead of Artemiev and Nasuta and World Junior Champion 2016!

8/20/2016 – Chess variants come in all shapes and sizes. While most involve variations on the actual rules of chess, such as replacing pieces captured (crazyhouse), adding new pieces (Grand Chess), some try to include it under very unusual circumstances such as the famous Chess Boxing. One variant, already running for a few years now, is Diving Chess, played underwater, and in which your thinking time is determined by how long you can hold your breath!

8/20/2016 – “I am living a dream,” exclaimed Wesley So after winning the 2016 Sinquefield Cup, the strongest tournament of his life and one of the year's best. With this victory he took the lead in the Grand Chess Tour. Huffington Post columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek shows us how Wesley handled a sharp Catalan against Hikaru Nakamura, Kavalek also looks at the best game of the event, Nakamura vs Ding, and a geometrical gem by Ulf Andersson from 2012. There's a lot to learn.

8/20/2016 – L’apogée de l’année échiquéenne française est son Championnat de France. Il est rare qu’une fédération soit capable d’attirer une telle attention et de réunir autant de joueurs d’échecs dans les divers tournois qui accompagnent les Nationaux. Des tournois fermés des meilleurs joueurs et joueuses français. Voici les résultats de tous tournois 2016...

8/19/2016 – In round eleven of the World Junior Championships tournament leader Jeffery Xiong played against top seed Vladislav Artemiev. Before the round Artemiev was trailing Xiong by one point and had to win to keep realistic chances for the title. However, Artemiev carefully avoided taking too many risks and after 40 moves the uneventful game ended in a draw. With two rounds to go Xiong now leads with 9.0/11 and is a full point ahead of his closest rivals Artemiev and Grzegorz Nasuta.

8/19/2016 – The Vienna Open takes place from 16th to 23rd August and more than 500 players from over 50 countries start in the nine round swiss, among them 15 grandmasters. Elo-favorite is Markus Ragger, Austria's number one. But there are also a number of talents who want to shine. One of them is ten-year old Jarovir Sindarov from Uzbekistan who has an Elo of 2374. Ragger and Sindarov both had a perfect start and with 3.0/3 they share the lead with 20 other players.

8/19/2016 – After ten from thirteen rounds WIM Janelle May Frayna from the Philippines, seeded as number nine, leads the Girls' World Junior Championship U20 with 8.0/10. Half-a-point behind follows Alina Bivol from Russia with 7.5/8. Five players with 7.0/10 share places three to seventh, among them top seed Dinara Saduakassova from Kazakhstan.

8/19/2016 – 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.

8/19/2016 – In round ten of the World Junior U20 Championships in Bhubaneswar, India, 15-year old Jeffery Xiong scored his fourth win in a row. He beat Polish IM Grzegroz Nasuta with fine endgame play and now leads with 8.5/10. His closest rival is Vladislav Artemiev who won against Iraki Beradze. With 7.5/10 Artemiev is one point behind Xiong and with three rounds to go the direct encounter between these two will probably decide who will become World Junior Champion 2016.

8/19/2016 – The 48th edition of the Dutch Open in Dieren, Netherlands, was won by Sandipan Chanda. He faced stiff competition from Erwin l’Ami and Igor Khenkin, but the Indian grandmaster showed nerves of steel as he won his last round game to take the title by a clear half point. In this article we have some interesting training material for the readers of our newspage. Throughout the report you will be challenged, and at the end of it you are bound to become a stronger chess player.

8/18/2016 – The dynamic 4...Nf6 line of the Caro-Kann (after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4) offers a golden opportunity to throw your opponents on their own resources. Nigel Davies examines both the Bronstein-Larsen (5.Nxf6+ gxf6) and the Tartakower (5.Nxf6+ exf6) systems and shows how the doubled f-pawn gives Black a range of aggressive plans and ideas. 4...Nf6 has been favored by great players such as Alexander Alekhine, Viktor Kortchnoi, David Bronstein, Bent Larsen, Nigel Short and Savielly Tartakower. Others are likely to join them.

8/18/2016 – Alina l'Ami has played tournaments all over the world but admits that "whenever I am asked the nearly-impossible-to-answer question: 'which tournament would you recommend?', my brain turns blank and my eyes start blinking. Besides the fact that we are all different, with a different set of needs and priorities, I'm afraid the perfect tournament doesn't exist at all." But Alina l'Ami liked the tournament in Lund, Sweden, she recently played in. In fact, she liked it a lot. And sent an illustrated report.