4/21/2016 – Three top ten players start in the US Championship 2016 and nominally it is the strongest US Championship of all times. But can you really compare today's tournaments with those of the past? Andy Soltis takes a look at previous Championships that were surprisingly strong and concludes that in a historical context 2016 might not be "the strongest ever".

4/20/2016 – After the very lively first round of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger round two was more quiet. Four of the five games ended in a draw though three of them had a number of interesting moments. In the only decisive game of the round Anish Giri fell victim to an ambush Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had prepared in one of his pet lines in the Najdorf.

4/20/2016 – It is always a joy to see Magnus Carlsen in action. His moves are accurate and there is a lot that we can learn from them. In his first round game against Harikrishna at the Norway Chess 2016, the World Champion made a move that reminded Sagar Shah about a game of Botvinnik played in 1941. Using this example as the base, the author delves into the topic of how studying classical games of great masters of the past can help you become a stronger chess player.

4/20/2016 – Lively start in Stavanger at the 4. Altibox Norway Chess tournament. Giri still knows how to win, Kramnik shows his superb strategic understanding and Carlsen steamrolls Pentala Harikrishna with a number of powerful moves. In the end the World Champion could even afford to miss a forced mate. Daniel King shows highlights of the first round.

4/20/2016 – Surya Shekhar Ganguly is the winner of the 16. Bangkok Chess Club Open. After beating Loek Van Wely in the final round Ganguly had 7.5/9 points and shared first place with Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons, who had won against Nigel Short in the final round. But Ganguly had the better tie-break and this helped him to win the tournament.

4/20/2016 – According to our calculations Leonard Barden has been at it for sixty years and seven months – making him the longest running uninterrupted weekly chess column in the world and in history. At 86 Leonard remains hale and his columns are topical and refreshing. And they are always accompanied by a chess puzzle that is great fun to solve. Here are excerpts and links to his recent Guardian chess columns.

4/20/2016 – The Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger saw a lively first round and three players winning with the white pieces: Anish Giri used his tactical chances to win against Pavel Eljanov and Magnus Carlsen steamrolled Pentala Harikrishna. Vladimir Kramnik won against Nils Grandelius by showing patience and good technique. The other two games ended in a draw.

4/19/2016 – Tournament leader Fabiano Caruana drew in round five of the US Championship in St. Louis and this allowed Wesley So, who won a smooth and powerful attacking game against Varuzhan Akobian, to regain the shared lead. Hikaru Nakamura showed tactical acumen against Sam Shankland while Gata Kamsky boldly attacked Jeffrey Xiong but blundered in the end.

4/19/2016 – A lot of people do have a solid repertoire against the main lines but do not know what to do when the opponent surprises them with an offbeat opening. On his new DVD the renowned English grandmaster and coach Nick Pert shows how Black can successfully counter openings such as the Pseudo-Trompowsky, the London Sstem, and other offbeat openings. More...

4/19/2016 – 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!

4/19/2016 – In this second part of her report on the Karpos Open in Macedonia, we are reminded that in spite of the fascinating walk through the city of Skopje through the camera's lens, it is nevertheless a tournament and a good one at that. In first place after nine rounds was the Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev with 7.5/9 followed by eight with 7.0/9. Here is the illustrated report with analysis.

4/18/2016 – The Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger began with a blitz competition, in which Magnus Carlsen showed good form and ambitious chess. The World Champion started with 7.5/8, drawing only against Swedish GM Nils Grandelius. But in the final round Carlsen got a bit careless which helped Anish Giri to beat the winner of the blitz tournament.