1/22/2020 – Chinese defending champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia are playing a twelve-game match at locations Shanghai and Vladivostok. Game 11 of the Women's World Championship Match ends in a draw after 40 moves. Defending champion Ju Wenjun is leading 6-5. In the final game on Jan 23, the challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina has White in a must-win situation. Ju Wenjun took the lead with back-to-back wins in Game 9 and Game 10. The second half in Vladivostock starts two hours earlier with games commencing at 5:30 UTC (6:30 CET, 12:30 AM EST). | Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/22/2020 – Fabiano Caruana became the sole leader of the Tata Steel Masters after Magnus Carlsen took down former co-leader Alireza Firouzja in a highly anticipated match-up between the world champion and the 16-year-old. Carlsen is now one of four players trailing the leader by a half point. In the meantime, David Anton and Erwin l'Ami caught up with Pavel Eljanov in the lead of the Challengers. Expert analysis by GMs CONSTANTIN LUPULESCU and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/21/2020 – A journey into a distant and foreign land always begins by choosing a good guide. If one is interested in knowing more about rook vs minor piece endgames, there is no better guide than the latest book from renowned endgame expert: GM Karsten Mueller. DAVIDE NASTASIO is back for an instructive breakdown on his latest stop on the road to chess improvement.

1/21/2020 – The 18th Gibraltar International Chess Festival starts today at the Caleta Hotel on the east side of the Rock of Gibraltar. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov tops the starting ranking list, joined by fellow "2700 club" members Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao, Veselin Topalov, David Navara, Le Quang Liem and Kirill Alekseenko. Anatoly Karpov opened the festival with a simultaneous exhibition. Live games and commentary with GM David Howell and Fiona Steil-Antoni from 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET, 9:00 EST). | Pictured: Mayor of Gibraltar John Gonçalves, made the first move on the top board at the start of the 2020 Gibraltar Masters with top seed GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan. Currently No.8 in the world he played his first round game against 12-year-old Candidate Master Raahil Mullick from India. Photo: Niki Riga

1/21/2020 – First the work then the fun, Karsten welcomes back repeat Endgame Magic guest GM Mihail Marin. Live at 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET; 9:00 AM EST) and on-demand for ChessBase account holders. Don't have an account yet? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

1/21/2020 – Apparently simple pawn endings are often, in fact, surprisingly tricky. Is there a way for White to convert her extra-pawn in the diagrammed position?

1/20/2020 – Escaping the cold Romanian winter, IM IRINA BULMAGA returned home recently from a successful jaunt to the UAE where she shared first with fellow IMs Irine Sukandar and IM Olga Zimina, and GM Monika Socko, each scoring 7 out of 9. It was the tenth such tournament for women in Sharjah. | Photos: Official site: shjwomenchess.com

1/20/2020 – Ju Wenjun took the lead for the second time in the match with just two games before the end of the competition for the Women's World Championship. She defeated her challenger with the black pieces in today's tenth game in a Queen's Gambit Declined, and has excellent chances to retain her title. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/20/2020 – GM Simon Williams wraps up his recent trip to the traditional Hastings Congress over the New Year with a few more highlights. | Watch for free on-demand (for a limited time, or forever with a ChessBase Premium account) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 12 Noon EST).

1/20/2020 – Fabiano Caruana caught up with Alireza Firouzja atop the standings table of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Vishy Anand from a clearly lost position. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladislav Kovalev grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, Nils Grandelius and David Anton joined the four-player chasing pack that stands a half point behind sole leader Pavel Eljanov. Do not miss the thorough analyses provided by GMs DANIEL FERNANDEZ and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/19/2020 – In this week's column, GM JON SPEELMAN, brings you two of his own instructive games against grandmasters, played in a recent weekend of the Four Nations Chess League. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

1/19/2020 – All the rules of chess remain the same, just that both the players cannot castle. How does removing this one rule alter the game? Well, we decided to put this idea to test by getting 13 of the strongest Indian youngsters (average Elo: 2457) and holding the first ever No-Castling chess tournament at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training camp in Chennai. Check out all the games, videos, analysis by IM SAGAR SHAH and some brilliant photos by Amruta Mokal.

1/19/2020 – 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja continues to stun as he defeated Jeffery Xiong to take the sole lead of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest also grabbed full points and are now sharing second place with Wesley So on 4½ out of 7. In the Challengers, only Nihal Sarin got a win in round seven, which means Pavel Eljanov is still first on 5 points. Do not miss the thorough analyses sent by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ and the round-up video by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/18/2020 – With a convincing win in game eight, challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina took the lead in the Women's World Championship match against defending champion Ju Wenjun. After 8 of 12 games, it is now 4½ : 3½ to Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / wwcm2020.fide.com

1/18/2020 – Chilean singer Juga die Prima has enriched the music world with chess motifs and the chess world with her music. On the occasion of their visit to the Munich Chess Foundation, there was an opportunity for an interview. Franziska Kurz spoke to the musician. | Photos: Munich Chess Academy

1/18/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana signed a draw on a day that saw Anish Giri and Daniil Dubov getting wins at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Thus, Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja are still co-leaders on 'plus two' — Fabiano Caruana, Daniil Dubov and Jorden van Foreest are a half point back. In the Challengers, Pavel Eljanov took advantage of a blunder by Max Wardermam to take the sole lead. Expert analysis by GM TIGER HILLARP-PERSSON and IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/17/2020 – Details of the upcoming season of the Grand Chess Tour are out. Ten full tour members and wild cards (TBD). Other than Viswanathan Anand, most of the usual suspects are returning to GCT action — except, that is, the London Chess Classic, which is going it alone this year, no longer a part of the tour that consists of two classical and three rapid/blitz events. Instead of a "Final", the tour culminates with the Sinquefield Cup, held in September. | Image: grandchesstour.org

1/17/2020 – Temur Kuybokarov was born on July 22, 2000 in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. In 2016, he moved to Perth, Australia, with his parents, and since 2018, the year in which he became a grandmaster, he has played for Australia. This year he became Australian Champion. The 19-year-old won the national championship, which took place in Sydney from January 2 to 13, with 9 out of 11.