8/16/2018 – Sestao Xake Taldea's team narrowly won the Spanish team championship in Linares with one point lead, relegating Cac Beniajan Duochess and Solvay A. Elisabeth Pähtz was the best player of the tournament. | Photos: FEDA

8/9/2018 – Lubomir Kavalek was born in Prague, but left his country in 1968 and found a new home in the USA. In the 1970s, he was one of the world's best players and also successful as a second and coach, including Bobby Fischer, and a prolific writer with dozens of columns shared on ChessBase over the years. Today he celebrates his 75th birthday. | Photo: (left) Kavalek and (right) World Chess Hall of Fame

8/9/2018 – In Sweden there is currently "Extremadura" (it's been a hot dry summer) and so the T-shirt of Aleyey Shirov was very suitable for the Cellavision Cup in Lund. The recently re-Spaniard played all eight decisive games and won the tournament thanks to better tiebreak score over tied Jonny Hector. Both scored 7.0 / 8. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

8/2/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who secured tournament victory in the penultimate round, finished the Accentus Biel GM Tournament with a draw. Meanwhile, Nico Georgiadis blundered in one move to lose against Magnus Carlsen and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave obtained a nice attacking win over David Navara. Analysis by GM MIKHAIL GOLUBEV | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival

8/1/2018 – The Lithuanian grandmaster Aloyzas Kveinys died suddenly at the age of 56. He was a multiple Lithuanian national champion and represented his country at eight chess Olympiads. From 1992 to 2007 he played for the Godesberger SK in the second Bundesliga West and in the Bundesliga. | Photo: Waldemar Rydzewski

8/1/2018 – Magnus Carlsen needed a win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the ninth round to have a realistic chance of finishing first at the Accentus Biel GM Tournament. He played ambitiously and the game eventually escaped his control completely. Mamedyarov kept a cool head and took advantage of the World Champion's mistakes to win the game and secure tournament victory with a round to spare. MIKHAIL GOLUBEV analysed the key match-up and the two draws from round nine. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

7/31/2018 – The fighting chess continues in Biel. Despite all games finishing in draws, we enjoyed three very interesting clashes on the eighth round. Svidler used an advanced passed pawn to draw Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Mamedyarov explored an old variation in the Open Defence, while Georgiadis missed sharp tactics that could have given him the win against Navara. MIKHAIL GOLUBEV provided a thorough analysis of each game. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

7/28/2018 – Magnus started the Accentus Biel GM Tournament with two wins, but could only draw in the four games that followed. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took advantage of the Norwegian's drawing streak to take the sole lead with a win over Nico Georgiadis. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, like Shak, won with the black pieces and now is in shared third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

7/27/2018 – After losing twice at the outset of the event, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave improved his standing in Biel with a victory over Nico Georgiadis. In the clash of co-leaders, Magnus Carlsen could not convert a slim edge against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, while Peter Svidler and David Navara also split the point. The tournament reached its half-time and everything is yet to be decided. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

7/26/2018 – The streak of two decisive games per day finished on Wednesday at the Biel GM tournament, as the players split points in all three boards in the fourth round. Nico Georgiadis finished his bad run by defending a highly complicated position against World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Mamedyarov and Carlsen still lead the standings and will face-off in the fifth round. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Biel International Chess Festival

7/24/2018 – For the third day in a row, two players left Biel's Congress Centre with a win in their pockets. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov inflicted Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's second consecutive loss and now shares the lead with Magnus Carlsen. The other winner was David Navara, who increased Nico Georgiadis' woes with a Black win in 39 moves. Peter Svidler and Carlsen signed a three-fold repetition draw after exploring a complex line of the Najdorf | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival

7/24/2018 – On Sunday, the Accentus GM tournament started in Biel with a few super GMs, including none other than the World Champion himself. Magnus Carlsen had an exciting duel with David Navara, in which Carlsen proved that the queen may be overrated. So far, the World Champion has shown himself in excellent form. On Monday he scored again, this time with Black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Peter Svidler celebrated his first victory, against Nico Georgiadis, and is tied with Mamedyarov for second place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Simon Bohnenblust / Biel International Chess Festival