7/18/2016 – After six rounds Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was certain to win the Grandmaster Tournament in Dortmund, but four of the eight participants still wanted or had to fight in the seventh and last round. Ruslan Ponomariov and Fabiano Caruana drew in 18 moves, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Rainer Buhmann in 27. Leinier Dominguez Perez tried to beat Vachier-Lagrave but without success. Vladimir Kramnik was the only winner of the round. He defeated Evgeniy Najer with energetic play.

7/18/2016 – Anish Giri seems to be a difficult opponent for Magnus Carlsen. In games with classical time-control Carlsen lost one game against Giri, the others all ended in a draw. That is, the World Champion still has to find a way to win against his younger rival. In round five of the "Masters" in Bilbao, Carlsen came close - but only close - after outplaying Giri from an equal position. But did Carlsen miss a win? Daniel King takes a look.

7/18/2016 – “Professional chess is demanding and success eludes the best. If you study the games in this issue you will know how battles are won and lost at this level.” Those are the thoughts of Prof. Nagesh Havanur on Volume #172 of ChessBase Magazine, which has become the essential study tool of ambitious players. The current issue has 837 OTB games, 115 of which are annotated (by Kasimdzhanov, Marin, Krasenkow, Ftacnik and others). The Telechess section includes 20147 correspondence games, 29 games annotated. And 14 exemplary openings surveys.

7/17/2016 – Like it or not, Magnus Carlsen is the player who provides the greatest entertainment in Bilbao. In round five he played with Black against Anish Giri and managed to create winning chances from an equal position. However, Giri's tenacious defense allowed him to draw. Sergey Karjakin and Hikaru Nakamura played an old line of the Queen's Gambit Declined and after an improvement by White Black quickly forced a draw. Wesley So tried hard to win against Wei Yi but had no success. After five of ten rounds Carlsen leads with 10.0/15.

7/17/2016 – The game between Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So from the fourth round of the "Masters" in Bilbao is puzzling. Carlsen, who had White, opted for a solid Anti-Berlin and showed no particular aggression in the opening. But then his knights suddenly started to dance and Black was in trouble. Carlsen won in 26 moves. Daniel King takes a look at the mysteries of this game.

7/17/2016 – The World Senior Team Championship is a relatively recent addition to the chess calendar. Starting just three years ago, it has grown rapidly and the 2016 edition attracted over 500 players to Radebeul, a suburb of Dresden. A few years ago, FIDE changed the age limits for senior events from a single category of 60+ to two categories of 50+ and 65+. John Nunn, who played on board one for England (and got a silver medal for his 2600+ performance), describes the action, including a remarkable combination spotted by an 83-year-old.

7/14/2016 – In 2007 an Italian study wanted to find out if and how gender affects performance in chess. The result surprises. According to the study women play better if they don't know whether their opponent is a man or a woman. But why is that so? And why is there such a marked gender gap in the non-physical sport of chess? The New York Times wanted to know more about this persistent puzzle.

7/14/2016 – Now into its ninth edition, this annual event is held in a city teeming with furious energy, one that never sleeps. The first three places in the ratings tournament were occupied by Indian player, the "best foreigner" was Russian GM Boris, 2639, in place four. Makes you wonder: which is the great super-power in chess these days? Priyadarshan Banjan's richly illustrated report contains a deadly dangerous song and some devastating advertising puns. Utterly butterly.

7/13/2016 – In round four of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting Dortmund Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won against German grandmaster Rainer Buhmann. Long time Buhmann's Breyer looked solid but then the French grandmaster opened lines with a tricky pawn-break. The three other games ended in a draw: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu could not convert an advantage against Evgeny Najer, Fabiano Caruana found no recipe against Leinier Dominguez' Petroff and Ruslan Ponomariov and Vladimir Kramnik also drew without too much excitement.

7/13/2016 – The first round of the Masters in Bilbao started with a bang. For the first time in his career Hikaru Nakamura won against Magnus Carlsen in a game with classical time control. World Champion Carlsen played too aggressively and an unimpressed Nakamura countered. The two other games were drawn. Wei Yi successfully defended a difficult ending against Anish Giri while Sergey Karjakin and Wesley split the point after some excitement in the middlegame.

7/13/2016 – The sixth round of the 7. Hainan Danzhou tournament was a round of draws. No game had a winner. For tournament leader Ian Nepomniachtchi, who played against Wang Hao, it was his first draw after winning four and losing one game. The table, of course, did not change much: Nepomniachtchi now leads with 4.5/6 but is still one point ahead of Bu Xiangzhi and Wang Yue.

7/13/2016 – Today, 16.00 CEST the first round of the IX Bilbao Chess Masters Final begins, yesterday the opening ceremony took place. The players were presented to the press and the pairings were drawn. In round one Sergey Karjakin plays against Wesley So, Anish Giri faces Wei Yi and Magnus Carlsen plays against Hikaru Nakamura. You can follow the games live and with commentary on the playchess server.