4/20/2019 – After starting off with two straight wins at the GRENKE Chess Open, Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja decided to forfeit his third round game as his opponent was an Israeli national: FM Or Bronstein (pictured). The laws of Iran forbid Iranian players from playing against Israelis. Had Firouzja played, he would have risked facing sanctions back in his home country. But forfeiting a game also cost him dearly — as ADITYA PAI reports from Karlsruhe — Firoujza seemed to have lost his composure in the next round as he simply left his rook en prise against 1945-rated Antonia Ziegenfuss (pictured). Surely one of the biggest upsets we'll see this year!

2/4/2019 – The Tata Steel has been one of Vishy Anand's very favourite tournaments. He has played there nineteen times thus far and has bagged five tournament titles. This year, he completed 30 years since his maiden appearance there, scoring a solid 7½/13. After his final round game, ADITYA PAI caught up with the Indian ace for a brief interview in the press room at Wijk aan Zee to talk about his journey. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/31/2019 – AlphaZero became a worldwide sensation when it defeated the world's strongest chess engine in a long match just hours after being fed the rules of the game. At the time, Garry Kasparov said that it had shaken chess to its roots. In the opinion of Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan, the authors of the book 'Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI' this all-new silicon monster developed by DeepMind has helped us discover that there is lots of fresh potential in chess. ADITYA PAI spoke with the authors about their book, the impact AlphaZero has (and will have) on our royal game and whether chess will be solved one day in the light of such technological advancements.

1/28/2019 – Magnus Carlsen won his seventh Tata Steel Chess title after holding a draw against Anish Giri despite all of the latter's attempts to keep the game going. Peace was signed after 30 moves as Anish contented himself with the second place. There was a three-way tie for third between Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren and Vishy Anand, who all scored 7½/13. In the Challengers, Vladislav Kovalev took the title with a staggering 1½ point margin after beating Stefan Kuipers in the final round. GM MIKHAIL GOLUBEV provided expert analyses of the most exciting games. | Photos: Alina l'Ami / Official site

1/27/2019 – At the conclusion of the penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters, it became clear that the race for the title will be only between Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. With a win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the twelfth round, Carlsen has taken the sole lead. Giri remained half-a-point behind the World Champion after avoiding defeat thanks to a sudden draw offer by Teimour Radjabov. Other wins of the round were scored by Vladimir Kramnik (over Vladimir Fedoseev) and Sam Shankland (over Ian Nepomniachtchi), while the game between Vishy Anand and Ding Liren ended in an exciting draw. | Photo: Alina l'Ami / Official site

1/18/2019 – GM Vidit Gujrathi has every reason to be happy about his performance thus far at the Tata Steel Masters. Scoring 3/5, he is not only just a half point behind the leaders but has also remained undefeated, saving crucial games against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and even the mighty Magnus Carlsen. On the first rest day of the event, ADITYA PAI caught up with Vidit to talk about how he prepared for his maiden appearance at the Tata Steel Masters, his saves against Carlsen and Duda, his love for the city of Prague and a lot more. | Photo: Alina L'ami

12/18/2018 – Vidit Gujrathi, the youngest Indian to breach the 2700 Elo mark, is known for his thorough opening preparation and solid style of play. But while his bent is more towards positional niceties, his vivid imagination and almost impeccable calculation let him transcend styles on demand. The following video shows Vidit’s mind in action as he solves four studies and a real-game puzzle, while also explaining how he found his way through the woods of variations.

12/16/2018 – Recovering from their early upsets, Wang Hao, Vidit Gujrathi and Le Quang Liem made their way back to the top of the leaderboard at the 17th Asian Continental Championship in Manila, Philippines. Surya Ganguly and M. Amin Tabatabei are tied for first with 5½ after seven rounds. Six grandmasters including Vidit Gujrathi, Wei Yi and Le Quang Liem are a half point behind at 5/7. With two rounds to go, it's still wide open.

12/13/2018 – The 17th edition of the Asian Continental Championship did not begin on the right note. A night before the start of the event, GM Vidit Gujrathi took to Facebook to express his dissatisfaction about the conditions provided. He further revealed that he and his colleagues MR Lalith Babu and Abhijit Kunte were attacked by a group of goons, just a few hundred metres away from their hotel! In our first report, we talk about the incident, FIDE's reaction and the happenings of the first three rounds. No photos or video are currently available in the "gallery" of the official site: philchesstournaments.com

10/15/2018 – Ahmedabad, the fifth largest city in India, concluded its first International Grandmaster Open on October 12th. The ten round Swiss league attracted about 250 participants from more than 15 different countries. Although the field included some strong grandmasters, the event was dominated by Indian youngsters for the most part. At the end of ten rounds, the tournament's top seed, GM Martyn Kravtsiv won the event by defeating the overnight leader IM Vignesh NR in the final round. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

9/25/2018 – It's a historic moment for Indian chess. The country will be hosting its first super tournament this November — the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz. Bigwigs like Aronian, Nakamura, Karjakin, So and Mamedyarov will be seen crossing swords with Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit and others. Prodigies, Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa will also be seen matching their wits with some of the absolute best in the world. Here's all you need to know about the event.

9/4/2018 – The placid outwardly appearance of the Petroff Defence could easily trick one into believing that he or she could use it to enjoy a quiet draw. It isn't unusual these days to see grandmaster games that drift into this line end in quick draws. But the Petroff has been around since the times of Greco and white players have found their fair share of traps, tactics and attacking opportunities in it. Even in some of the very recent games from master practice, black players have fallen prey to brilliant attacks. So, is the Petroff really as innocuous as advertised?

8/29/2018 – The VIII IBCA World Team Chess Championship for the blind and visually impaired took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from July 20th to 31st, 2018. The event was played in a novel format and witnessed some really exciting games all the way through. At the conclusion of an intensely fought final round, Russia emerged on top of the field by beating Poland by a razor-thin margin. | Photo: Sagar Shah

8/15/2018 – The race for the title between Daniil Dubov, Anton Korobov and Salem Saleh ended in a deadlock between the three GMs after a nailbiting final round. Due to his better tiebreak, Dubov was declared the winner while Korobov and Saleh were placed third and fourth, respectively. The tournament also witnessed two Indian teenagers, Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi earn their grandmaster titles at its conclusion. | Photo: Abu Dhabi Masters Twitter

8/15/2018 – The 25th edition of the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival kicks off today at Hotel Dusit Thani, Abu Dhabi. The anniversary event is extra strong this year, featuring five grandmasters with a 2700+ Elo, among them the FIDE Presidential candidate Nigel Short making a brief return to the chessboard amid a hectic campaign season.

8/10/2018 – The first three rounds of the Abu Dhabi Masters saw quite a few upsets, miscalculations and opening debacles. In fact, the top seed of the tournament, Le Quang Liem had to taste defeat at the hands of 17-year-old VS Rathanvel in the very first round. By the end of three rounds only two out of the five grandmasters rated above 2700 have been able to maintain an unblemished score of 3/3. Richard Rapport (2719) is the highest rated among them. | Photos: adchessfestival.ae

8/4/2018 – Scoring 4½/7, tournament's top seed, GM Yu Yangyi bagged the title prize of the 9th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster tournament. In the final round, the race for the title was between Yu Yangyi and his countryman Bu Xiangzhi. Going for a comfortable draw in the Petroff, Yu put the onus of catching up on his rival who was half-a-point behind. Bu was never really in a position to win his game but Fedoseev, Bu's opponent, surprisingly pulled out a win at the last moment to score his first win of the event. Le Quang Liem and Wei Yi also scored impressive wins in the finale.

8/3/2018 – Big changes occurred on the leaderboard at the conclusion of the penultimate round at the 9th Hainan Danzhou Masters. Tournament leader, Bu Xiangzhi lost his first game of the event to Jan-Krzysztof Duda. This allowed Yu Yangyi, Bu's closest rival to take over the lead after he won a fine attacking game against Vladimir Fedoseev. Le Quang Liem also scored his first win of the tournament in round six against Sam Shankland.