7/28/2016 – On Tuesday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored the first win in his match against Peter Svidler in Biel. In their second game with classical time-control Vachier-Lagrave used a small inaccuracy by Svidler to liquidate into a better endgame which he could win. In the "Junior Challenge" Benjamin Bok outplayed Nico Georgiadis in a Benoni. Daniel King talked with the winners and the losers of the day. Video, impressions, games...

7/28/2016 – The Swedish Championships, which took place from 15th to 24th July in Uppsala, were a big chess festival with tournaments for players of all levels and all ages. The "Mästarklassen", the Master Class, a ten player round-robin event, was dominated by Erik Blomqvist. After starting with three draws he decided it was time for action and went on to win all of his six remaining games to become Swedish Champion 2016.

7/28/2016 – The Leiden Chess Tournament was into its tenth year and the organizers decided to spice things up by inviting the Dutch GM Loek van Wely to participate in the tournament. Although King Loek was the strongest player at the event, it was GM Roeland Pruijssers who emerged victorious. In the first part of our report from Leiden we have a lot of interesting game analyses, including comments sent to us by the winner himself. Big illustrated report.

7/27/2016 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, or "MVL", is on a winning streak. After recently winning the grandmaster tournament in Dortmund with 5.5/7 he now has a virtual rating of 2814.8 and is the clear number two in the world. His run continues in Biel. He won the rapid part of his match against Peter Svidler 2.5-1.5 and leads 1.5-0.5 after two classical games. Today, in a live-masterclass with Daniel King, the French Grandmaster answers questions and talks to the public. It starts at 16.30 CEST. Don't miss it!

7/27/2016 – From 17th to 27th July the Armenian Chess Federation organised a ten player round-robin tournament for young grandmasters (Elo average 2629) to give their talents the chance to play against some of today's greatest international talents. After nine rounds Vidit Gujrathi from India and Vladislav Artemiev from Russia shared first place with 6.0/9 each but the young Indian Grandmaster won the tournament on tie-break.

7/27/2016 – Every week ChessBase Magazine author and renowned endgame expert Karsten Müller presents a remarkable or particularly instructive endgame in his blog. A click on the diagram opens a larger board. Test your endgame skills, improve and have fun.

7/22/2016 – In a world that seems to have gone mad, it was yet another act of terror that has almost left us numb after so many in succession. Gunmen had entered the Olympia mall in Munich, killing eight. The laws of probability said that even chess might someday become a casualty and today seemed like that day might have come as a massive chess event took place right there expecting over ten thousand children.

7/22/2016 – Before Bilbao 2016 Magnus Carlsen had never won a game with classical time-control against Anish Giri. But in round nine of the "Masters" in Bilbao he finally did. This win must have been particularly sweet because it helped Carlsen to win the tournament with one round to go. Hikaru Nakamura and Sergey Karjakin drew and so did Wei Yi and Wesley So. Before the last round Carlsen now has 16.0/9 and is full five points ahead of Nakamura.

7/22/2016 – 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.

7/22/2016 – In round eight of the "Masters" in Bilbao Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen drew after only 19 moves. In his video analysis of the game Daniel King wonders whether Carlsen could have trapped Karjakin's queen instead of repeating moves. He also takes a look at the endgame that Wesley So won against Anish Giri - Wesley So's first win in the "Masters" and the only decisive game of round eight.

7/21/2016 – In round eight of the "Masters" in Bilbao Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin played a last time against each before they will meet in the World Championship match in November. However, it was hard to get excited about the game which quickly ended in a draw through a repetition of moves. The games of the other players offered more, particularly the encounter between Wesley So and Anish Giri, which So won after being worse. With two rounds to go Carlsen continues to lead the field.

7/21/2016 – The third international tournament in memory of Gideon Japhet was concluded last weekend. It was the highlight of a spectacular summer chess festivity in Jerusalem throughout the first half of July, starting with the National Cup Games played in the first country’s railway station compound followed by a simul at the foot of the Tower of David. Pictures, videos, and great shots!