2/24/2017 – Harika's woes with the black pieces continued. In the first game of the semi-final clash, she failed to defend reasonably and had to suffer a terrible crash. One can only hope that she makes a comeback in the next game with the white pieces. Meanwhile, a huge accident of epic proportions took place in the game between Kosteniuk and Muzychuk. Report.

2/24/2017 – 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.

2/24/2017 – After the Gibraltar Masters, we have another super strong open tournament on our menu - the Aeroflot Open 2017. With an average rating of 2582 and players like Yu Yangyi, Vitiugov, Inarkiev, Jobava, taking part, it is a tournament that is packed with action. We bring you an illustrated report from first three rounds of the event.

2/23/2017 – There's going to be an extraordinary event in July in Saint Louis: eight American players will face some of the best juniors from around the world – four players under 17, two boys under 14 and two girls under 14 years old. "An extra-ordinary opportunity for the best juniors, both Americans and World, to test their skills and fighting spirit in a prestigious event," said GM Efstratios Grivas, who will be one of the trainers selecting the World Delegation.

2/23/2017 – There was only one tiebreak game. It was Harika all the way. The Indian poster girl stayed true to her style and won the first 25-minute tiebreaker with the white pieces and drew the next game to reach the semi-finals of the Women's World Championship 2017. She is in with the chance to become the first women's world champion ever from India. Illustrated report.

2/22/2017 – Although the games were harder fought this round compared to the previous anemic one, only three games out of nine ended in a decisive result. Nakamura seemed to have excellent chances against co-leader Mamedyarov, but in the end drew. Adams bounced back from his bad loss to Mamedyarov yesterday, and overpowered Hammer, while Grischuk and Jakovenko both broke their four draw streaks with wins over Eljanov and Riazantsev respectively. Full report with fascinating analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

2/19/2017 – Six out of eight games drawn, mostly in a peaceful manner. Among these draws, there were two that actually went very well in black’s favor until the players on the black side decided to call it a day and conceded a draw. All said and done, four players qualified for the Quarterfinals while the remaining eight will fight in the tiebreakers. Illustrated report.

2/19/2017 – It promised to bring levels of excitement and dynamism, and the new format did not disappoint. Three games ended in decisive results, with one hardly a surprise: Ding Liren - Rapport. The game was a mess as expected, and both players sopught to show who was the wilder of the bunch. Adams defeated Salem after he produced super piece centralization, and strangled his rival. Finally, MVL outplayed Li Chao in an endgame to score. Full report with analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky.

2/18/2017 – The third round of Women's World Championship in Tehran saw a rather peaceful day in which ladies at the office tried to play cautiously. With five out of eight games drawn, and some of them being dull and uneventful, three players scored to go to the next round with high hopes. The pervasive theme of these three games was the fact that the winners played the whole game by the book and did not try to do anything eccentric but to execute the known plans of their respective positions, step by step. Here is the illustrated report with GM analysis.

2/18/2017 – The new FIDE Grand Prix cycle is about to start, and the first event will take place in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates at the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club, the world’s largest chess club. There are four events in all, but innovating on the previous system of a series of round-robins, this time 24 players in all will participate with 18 in each event playing a nine-round Swiss. Here is all the Opening Ceremony report with all the info.

2/17/2017 – The common theme in the tie-break games of the second round was as follows: the experienced players managed to keep calm, play the board, and with consistent play, they took their chances and scored in the most crucial moments. After all, in such a win-or-die format, one has to have the stomach and gut for such a nerve-wracking job in order to win. In addition, two thrilling Armageddons would tell us enough. decided in overtime. Here is the report with photos and GM analysis.

2/17/2017 – The monthly British magazine CHESS has been going strong for over eighty years. It is currently published by the Chess & Bridge Ltd., London, and brings its readership all the news from the UK – but also from the rest of the world. It also has interesting sections, like three pages of tactical puzzles taken from games of various recent events. Here's a selection of these puzzles, presented on our interactive JavaScript board – an orgy of tactics.