Lopota 09: Close race for second

6/30/2014 – The tournament is interesting again as Ju Wenjun leads the charge by half a point over Danielian and Dzagnidze, the former beat Humpy thanks to a time-trouble blunder and the latter fell to Stefanova in a complex game. Meanwhile, World Champion Hou Yifan keeps racking up rating points as she demolished Muzychuk in less than 30 moves. Her performance: 2875.

Azlan Iqbal: Introducing ‘Chess Constructs’

6/29/2014 – People love brilliancies from chess history – and artistic chess problems. But there is a big gap between the two. Positions from games demonstrate the natural beauty of actual play, while chess problems are highly technical, with little practical relevance. The author of this interesting article suggest an intermediate form, one you can try your hand at – and win a prize in the process.

Free day in Lopota

6/29/2014 – Traditionally in top-level tournaments one or even two days are given for the players to rest. How to use these rest days has been a question in grandmasters' minds for time immemorial. With two rest days in the Lopota Grand Prix the players had time to explore some of the local culture and enjoy some breathtaking sights. Follow Alina l'Ami's beautiful pictorial report.

Kavalek: Carlsen's Trifecta and Tal's Magic

6/28/2014 – Magnus Carlsen's World title wins in classical, rapid and blitz reminds Huffington Post columnist Lubomir Kavalek of a horse and an athlete: the thoroughbred Secretariat and the long-distance runner Emil Zátopek, both triple crown winners in their own fields. Carlsen's style also reminds Kavalek of Mikhail Tal (who died today 22 years ago). Enjoy three wonderfully annotated games.

9th Edmonton brings Ivanchuk and So

6/28/2014 – The 9th Edmonton chess festival, held in Edmonton, Canada, is one of the most important events in the Canuck chess calendar, allowing players to fight for norms often against elite opposition. Although hardly homogeneous in its lineup, the eclectic selection of players does mean chess fans will see the widest possible variety of games, while Ivanchuk and So give master classes.

Hainan Super-GM event in action

6/28/2014 – Boasting some of the top players in China plus Naiditsch and Ponomariov as the invited foreign players, the 5th edition of the Hainan Daizhou super tournament is surely going to be an interesting one. Bu Xiangzhi has taken an early lead by scoring 2.5/3 in the event but he is followed closely by Ding Liren and Naiditsch. Report from a tournament being held in the Hawaii of China.

Lopota 08: Missed Opportunities

6/28/2014 – Only one person took a full point today, Stefanova, but that number could easily have been four or five as players certainly missed her chances today. Muzychuk was both winning and lost against Zhao Xue while Kosteniuk miraculously salvaged a perpetual check from a position where she was just down a piece. Harika, most importantly, spoiled a winning position against Hou Yifan.

Impressions from the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup (part 2/2)

6/27/2014 – In this second part, the reader is introduced to the cheapest burger in the world, the Indian Burger (it costs 17 cents!), as well as other culinary curiosities. Well-known figures are also presented, such as national blind champion Darpan Inani (2041 FIDE) who is pursuing a degree in accountancy when not playing chess. Discover all this and more in this guided tour.

Lopota 07: Sun setting in Georgia

6/27/2014 – Hou Yifan continues to dominate the Lopota Grand Prix. She beat Nana Dzagnidze, who remains tied for second with Ju Wenjun, and it seems that is impossible to stop her. With a nearly 3000 performance rating and a point and a half lead over the field the tournament it is starting to become a race for second place. Four more games remain; how can she be stopped?

Asian Chess Clubs Champions League

6/26/2014 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has currently become the hub of chess in Asia. After successfully conducting the Asian Continental 2014 and the world rapid and blitz 2014, the country is now holding the Asian Chess Clubs Champions League in Al-Ain, the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, from the 20th-28th of June 2014. Report after round four.

US Junior Closed: Star-studded surprises

6/26/2014 – The US Junior Closed started last weekend and is currently at the midway point after five rounds. This year's championship is particularly fascinating as it brings two prominent youths, IM Samuel Sevian and IM Jeffrey Xiong, as well as the only GM of the tournament, Kayden Troff, and various repeats and new faces. The start has been full of upsets and who will win is anyone's guess.

Lopota 06: Chasing the World Champion

6/25/2014 – Nana Dzagnidze keeps crushing her opponents and sits at a magnificent 5.0/6, a score that would normally be enough to comfortably lead the event. But Hou Yifan won yet again, in excellent fashion against Ju Wenjun. Tomorrow's game will be for all the marbles as the Georgian player clashes with an on form World Champion.

Impressions from the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup (part 1)

6/25/2014 – As noted in the first report on the Mumbai Mayor’s Cup: it was an extremely strong event won by the Georgian grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia (2577) with a score of 8.0/10. Sagar Shah and his wife, Amruta Mokal, take a more intimate look at the many faces that played, giving us a glimpse into who they are, by providing this report filled with anecdotes and photos.

Lopota 05: Unstoppable?

6/24/2014 – Hou Yifan won yet another game by demolishing Antoaneta Stefanova in only 25 moves. With 4.5/5 and a 2879 (!) performance it seems as if the World Champion will cruise to victory; but things are not so simple! Ju Wenjun and Dzagnidze follow closely only half a point behind and with terrific 2730+ performances of their own. Tomorrow will feature a crucial Chinese derby..

Popularity of chess openings over time

6/24/2014 – Recently we published an article that asked: 1.e4 or 1.d4 – which is the better move? Now Randy Olson, a third year PhD engineering student, has investigated which were the most popular openings in 650,000 tournament games from 1850-2014. He found 4,000 unique openings, with 30 comprising 70% of all chess games. Randy illustrates his results with some wonderful graphics.

Profile of a prodigy: Anton Smirnov

6/23/2014 – FM Anton Smirnov is one of Australia’s outstanding young prospects and is currently under the tutelage of his coach GM Vladimir Belov. Smirnov was number one amongst the world’s U12s for most of 2013, and is now number five in the U14 age division, close behind players like IMs Samuel Sevian and Jeffrey Xiong. In August he will represent Australia at the Chess Olympiads.

Jalgaon Battlers win Maharashtra Chess League

6/23/2014 – It is a very interesting format, well worth considering: six teams put together by sponsors bidding for the strongest players. Top Indian GMs participate, and the atmosphere is electrifying: team captains, coaches and even the "owners" have to decide strategically who plays on which board. The result is exciting action from beginning to end, as V. Saravanan shows us in this big pictorial report.

Lopota Rd4: Hou Yifan retakes lead

6/23/2014 – Going into the rest day, Hou Yifan will sleep easy as she takes the sole lead with 3.5/4 after an important win. Right behind, and nipping at her ankles in pursuit, are Ju Wenjun, Harika Dronavalli, and Nana Dzagnidze, all with 3.0/4. Perhaps the price of this success is at the bottom of the crosstable, with three on half a point. Still the tournament is far from over. Round four report.

Lopota GP R03: Chinese Hou and Ju lead

6/22/2014 – With her win over Bela Khotenashvili WGM Ju Wenjun caught up with her compatriot, Chinese GM and Women's World Champion GM Hou Yifan. Both players have 2.5/3 points. Following at 2.0 are four GMs: Koneru Humpy, who will soon be married, and Harika Dronavalli from India, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine, and Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia. Round three report.

Alekhine Mem.: Ponkratov snatches win at end

6/21/2014 – The Alekhine Memorial finished with a heavily bloodied battlefield since none of the players were able to stay clear ahead of the field for any length of time. Though Ponkratov and Artemiev were clear leaders after five rounds with 4.5/5, one round later they had been caught by two more, and after round seven the new leader was Fedorov. It ended in a photo finish.

Final Four Nations League – Final report

6/21/2014 – The most prestigious team chess event held in the UK came to a conclusion last month. John Saunders looks at the final exciting rounds of the Division 1 demotion pool – along the way he shows us a grandmaster's colourful scoresheet and tells us about an unofficial Varsity match. The report ends with a momentary personal temptation to exit the hotel in Bobby Fischer style.

Lopota 02: Hou Yifan early leader

6/21/2014 – With only two decisive games today in Georgia it is Hou Yifan that has taken an early lead by winning both of her games, but she is followed closely by Koneru, Harika and Ju Wenjun, the first of these will face Hou Yifan tomorrow in a crucial match for the standings. Will Hou Yifan dominate the event like she did in Khanty-Mansiysk or will she be stopped soon?

World Blitz: Triple Crown Achieved!

6/20/2014 – It was not clear that it would happen until the last leg of the tournament, actually Carlsen was even trailing by half point for a significant portion of the day, but at the end of it the Norwegian holds the titles of World Champion, World Rapid Champion and World Blitz Champion! Nepomniachtchi and Nakamura were his only true competitors for the title. Full report.

Matthew Sadler shows he is back in the game

6/20/2014 – In the 90s Matthew Sadler was one of the best English players. But in 2000 he abandoned tournament chess to work regular hours at Hewlett Packard. In 2010, after having played no rated game for ten years, he came back to competitive chess. In a recent rapid tournament in London he showed how strong he still is. Sabrina Chevannes reports...