Andorra Open, Tania in Hamburg

8/6/2013 – It's a tiny landlocked European country, renown for its scenic beauty (and tax-free status). The 2013 Andorra Open attraced 178 participants, including 16 GMs and 13 IMs. It was dominated by the strongest players, with top places going to the top seeds. But we were especially interested in an IM who finished equal 9-17. After the event Tania Sachdev flew to Hamburg to record her first DVD for ChessBase.

Negi crushes Politiken

8/6/2013 – Despite not having a perfect start, like GM Ivan Cheparinov did with 6/6, Negi showed great class throughout the tournament and won the most important Scandinavian open of the year. The Bulgarian had to content himself with sharing second place with many other players, including Romain Edouard, Sebastian Maze and Hansen Sune Berg. Report of the tournament.

Andrea Amato, King of Erice

8/5/2013 – He is a lowly FM, rated 2291 – not a professional player but a pure amateur who restared his chess career just last year. But in the beautiful town Erice on Sicily, where 82 players from 14 countries were gathered, Andrea Amato was in top form. To everybody's delight he scored a stunning 6.0/7 and finished alone at the top of the final table. Alessandro Monaco sent us this big pictorial report..

British Championships: Howell leads alone

8/5/2013 – Round six: David Howell beat Peter Wells and took the sole lead, after Stephen Gordon drew his black game against Mark Hebden. Howell is now at 5.5/6, with Hebden and Gordon following half a point behind (and a phalanx of nine players on 4.5/6). Once again we combine the 2013 Championship with a historical narrative of the darkest horse to ever win the British Championship.

Dortmund Final: Adams emerges victorious

8/4/2013 – Adams came in determined to not let Kramnik have a fighting chance at taking the title away from him. He did so successfully by forcing Kramnik into a repetition very early on in the game, sealing the draw and the victory for Adams with an amazing 2923 performance. Second was Kramnik with an also superb 2866. Leko and Naiditsch tied for third. Final round report.

British Championships past and present

8/4/2013 – There is some interesting and exciting chess going on at the 100th Anniversary British Championship, with GMs David Howell and Stephen Gordon dominating. But our partners in the organisation have been providing us with historical material that is equally fascinating. We bring you the latest from Torquay 2013 and from the championships in 1929 and 1938 in this double-round report.

Dortmund R8: Kramnik in striking distance

8/4/2013 – Until round six Michael Adams and Vladimir Kramnik were leading in the Dortmund GM tournament, two points ahead of the field. In round seven Adams won and Kramnik lost, in round eight the Russian scored while Adams drew. Now Kramnik, a much acclaimed ChessBase DVD author, has it in his power to decide the tournament for himself. Meanwhile a cheating scandal rocked the Dortmund Open.

Tiebreaks: Vachier -Lagrave wins Biel 2013

8/2/2013 – With four players finishing equal in the Biel GM tournament, tiebreaks were required. The semi-finals blitz games were won by Alexander Moiseenko and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who knocked out Etienne Bacrot and Ding Liren respectively. In the rapid chess final Vachier-Lagrave won the first game and drew the second to take the title. Final report with an interview with the winner.

British Championships: Two GM with perfect scores

8/2/2013 – After four rounds in the beautiful Torquay venue, GMs David Howell, and Stephen Gordon are in the lead with 4.0/4 points each. Four players follow half a point behind. We bring you a selection of interesting games to watch, plus a round three Game of the Day video lecture by Andrew Martin. An an historical review of the 1926 British Championship in Edinburgh, which was won by Fred Dewhirst Yates.

Dortmund R06: Kramnik, Adams unstoppable

8/2/2013 – The two tournament leaders continue with an inexorable pace. Adams cooly defended against Naiditsch and collected an easy point, putting him at 3004 performance. Kramnik showed incredibly class in his victory against Fridman. In the other games, Wang Hao and Caruana miraculously saved their games while Meier and Andreikin took the day off with a quick draw. Report and analysis.

The Classical Pirc in 60 minutes

8/2/2013 – Promising a complete answer against the Pirc in a mere 60 minutes might seem bound to come up short on some account, but not so. Not only does Dejan Bojkov avoid turning theory study into an efficient sleeping pill and keep the viewer engaged, he balances teaching theory, plans, and tactics, and goes the extra mile to leave the student armed with rarefied weapons.

Biel R10: Tiebreak with four players!

8/2/2013 – "Note that if Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beats Ding Liren and Etienne Bacrot draws Alexander Moiseenko, there will be tiebreaks with four players on Friday!" That is what we wrote in our previous report, and that is exactly what happened in the final round. The four will meet on Friday, with blitz knockout games in the semi-finals and rapid in the final. The action starts at 12:00 noon CEST.

China trounces USA

8/1/2013 – China was able to finish off a weakened USA who put very little resistance in the rapid games. In the women's section Tan Zhongyi scored an unbelievable 9.5/10 which put all hope of an American comeback to rest. The American girls again sent us their impressions from the tournament, of Ningbo and even annotated one of their best game. Beautiful pictorial report.

British Championships: round two and Torquay

8/1/2013 – A substantial number of readers will know Torquay – from the classical comedy series Fawlty Towers. It was here that Basil Fawlty tortured his guests, and it is here that the 100th British Championships are being held. After three rounds five players – three GMs and two IMs – lead with a perfect score. We bring you a selection of round two games and a historical review of the 1908 Championship.

Biel R09: Moiseenko wins, Ding Liren leads

7/31/2013 – The Biel scoring system awards three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. In the penultimate round Alexander Moiseenko beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in an impressive game and advanced to equal second with Etienne Bacrot. Ding Liren drew Ian Nepomniachtchi and is in the lead. With one round to go there are four players in contention for the title. Round nine report.

Dortmund R05: Kramnik and Adams lead by 1.5

7/31/2013 – In a series of strange openings it seemed that White would do very badly today. Kramnik was pinned against the wall by Leko, while Caruana's and Adam's positions were certainly not better. However Caruana held while the leaders won their games. Andreikin punished an early blunder by Khenkin and the other two Germans drew their game in a long rook endgame. Analysis and report.

Biel R08: two wins, Ding catches Bacrot

7/31/2013 – "If you want to study endgames you should look at some of the games from this event," says commentator Danny King. In the French duel Bacrot vs Vachier-Lagrave the former hung on by the skin of his teeth, while Moiseenko went down to Nepomniachtchi – both in difficult rook and pawn endings. The most remarkable game, Rapport vs Ding Liren, is extensively commented by King and Ding.

100th British Chess Championship started

7/30/2013 – The British Championships started on Monday and will continue to mid-August, on the sunny south coast of England. To really appreciate how far the event has come in its 100 years, one needs to take the opportunity to look back at some of the milestones on the way – IM Andrew Martin and local chess history writer Bob Jones provide us with portraits of past champions and their key games.

Dortmund R04: Kramnik catches Adams

7/30/2013 – Thee decisive results in today's Dortmund round. Kramnik defeated Meier with black in a Catalan to catch up with Adams, who held Leko to a draw effortlessly. Khenkin and Fridman drew, while Naiditsch sprung a novelty on Andrejkin who quickly lost his way. Lastly Caruana has now lost two in a row after being beaten by Wang Hao. Report and analysis.

Biel R07: A long and grueling day

7/29/2013 – That's what our commentator Daniel King calls round seven. The first game to end was Ding Liren vs Etienne Bacrot, a precarious draw in 57. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave almost blew it against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but finally sunk the putt after 66 moves. And Alexander Moiseenko needed 75 moves to bring down youngster Richard Rapport, who surprised him with a flashy defence. Round seven report.

Biel free day: Blitz and Youth tournaments

7/29/2013 – Sunday was a free day at the Chess Festival – the GM tournament continues on Monday with round seven. The day was spent with a giant blitz tournament, with 141 participants, and was duely won by 17-year-old GM Richard Rapport. Enchanting the youth chess tournaments, sponsored by the Swiss foundation Vinetum, played in three groups: U18, U13 and U10. As we said: enchanting.

Dortmund R02 & R03: Adams takes the lead

7/28/2013 – Adams crashes through with back to back Berlin wins against Andreikin and Caruana. Today's game took a quick and sharp turn as Black sacrificed a piece for initiative, regained that piece and was left with a winning position. The other games saw two quick draws and two interesting draws as Khenkin pulled out some cool tricks to equalize against Kramnik. GM Analysis, report and standings.

On the top of the Ukrainian chess capital

7/28/2013 – Lviv (or Lvov) is not the capital of Ukraine – that's Kiev – but it is certainly the great center of chess in a country that is very proficient in the game. Last week Lviv celebrated an International Chess Day, with a blitz tournament on the tower of City Hall, a dizzying 65 meters high, where losing a piece can have a very literal meaning. The winner was GM Yuri Vovk, who sent us his impressions of the event.

Biel R06: Ding Liren beats, overtakes Moiseenko

7/27/2013 – Yesterday the Ukrainian GM Alexander Moiseenko was in second place, half a point behind Etienne Bacrot. Today he played an inaccuracy on move 31 against Chinese GM Ding Liren, who won the game after further errors in 40 moves. Now Ding has overtaken Moiseenko and his half a point behind the leader. You will find video analysis, postmortems and pictures our round six report.