10/12/2021 – Rating favourite Fabiano Caruana was defeated by Daniel Naroditzky in round 5 of the US Championships and is currently a full point behind the co-leaders. Ray Robson drew to remain atop the standings, except he now shares first place with Alex Lenderman, who showed great tenacity to beat Sam Sevian after 140 moves. Katerina Nemcova is the sole leader in the women’s event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/7/2021 – Four Senior European titles were awarded in Budoni, Sardinia. In the over-50 group, Fabrizio Bellia (photo) became the first Italian to win the title, while German GM Klaus Bischoff came second. The over-65 title went to Nathan Birnboim. Two-time GDR national champion Annett Wagner-Michel won the women’s title. | Photo: Scacchierando

10/5/2021 – Magnus Carlsen, who won the Champions Chess Tour with plenty of time to spare, ended his short losing streak with a win over Wesley So. The Filipino-bornd grandmaster dropped to fourth place as Teimour Radjabov and Levon Aronian won their matches.

10/1/2021 – The FIDE world ranking lists in October 2021 are headed by the "usual suspects". With a rating of 2855 Magnus Carlsen is still the clear number one, but though he played 13 rated games in September he did not win or lose any points. Alireza Firouzja is still the best junior, but for the first time he is now also among the world's top ten. Hou Yifan continues to lead the women's ranking list and Polina Shuvalova remains the highest rated player on the "Girls" list.

9/30/2021 – Magnus Carlsen again increased his lead in the Champions Chess Tour final. In his round five match against Hikaru Nakamura Carlsen demonstrated impressive endgame technique by winning two instructive rook endings which brought him a 2.5-0.5 victory. Wesley So, who can still hope to catch Carlsen, was on the brink of defeat against Anish Giri, when the Dutch number 1 blundered the crucial game away. | Graphics: Champions Chess Tour

9/30/2021 – Jorden Van Foreest had won the TePe Sigeman&Co tournament with one round to spare, but in the last round he suffered his only defeat against Gawain Jones. Vincent Keymer, too, was ambitious in the final round, and defeated Nils Grandelius to share second to fourth place with Gawain Jones and Nigel Short. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

9/29/2021 – In round four of the Meltwater Chess Champions Finals World Champion Magnus Carlsen suffered an outright 1-3 defeat against Vladislav Artemiev. Wesley So drew his rapid match against Hikaru Nakamura but then lost the blitz-playoff 0-2. In the overall standings Carlsen is still four points ahead of So. | Graphics: Meltwater Chess Champions Tour

9/29/2021 – The strong 4th Sharjah Masters Tournament ended on Sunday and after nine rounds four players shared first place with 6.5/9 each. But M. Amin Tabatabaei from Iran (pictured) had the best tiebreak and won the tournament. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

9/28/2021 – On day 3 of the Meltwater Chess Champion Finals Magnus Carlsen played against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who had won both of his previous matches. The rapid match between "MVL" and the World Champion ended with a 2-2 tie, but in the playoffs Carlsen had the better of it. Wesley So won his rapid match against Vladislav Artemiev but is still five points behind Carlsen in the standings. | Photos and graphics: Meltwater Chess Champions Tour

9/28/2021 – In round 5 of the TePe Sigeman&Co tournament in Malmö the two young Grandmasters Vincent Keymer and Nihal Sarin had to play against each other. Nihal Sarin outplayed Keymer but then blundered his advantage away and even lost. Jorden van Foreest won against Etienne Bacrot and now leads with 4.0/5. Nils Grandelius and Nigel Short follow with 3.0/5 each. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

9/27/2021 – After two days of play Magnus Carlsen leads the final of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour - which he, thanks to the 16.5 bonus point he received because of his successes in the previous tournaments of the tour - did from the very start of the event. But in round 2 the World Champion had to overcome serious problems before beating Shakhryar Mamedyarov in a tense and eventful match that went into Armageddon. | Graphics and photos: Tournament Site

9/24/2021 – The organisers of the TePe Sigeman & Co tournament once again put together a highly interesting field with young and experienced grandmasters. The players did not disappoint and the first day brought four interesting games and four decisions. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund (Tournament page)

9/24/2021 – Tomorrow, Saturday, 25 September, ten players will play the final tournament of the Champions Chess Tour 2020/2021: the eight winners of the individual tournaments of the series and two players who received wildcards. Unlike the previous tournaments, the final will be played as a round robin with no knock-out stage. First prize is 100,000 USD.

9/22/2021 – Chess is currently a popular subject for films. In Russia, production of a feature film about the dramatic and at times scandalous 1978 World Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Kortschnoi began in 2019 and has now been completed after a forced break caused by the pandemic. The film will be released in Russian cinemas in December.

9/21/2021 – After winning nine Emmys in technical categories, "The Queen's Gambit", the chess series based on Walter Tevis' novel, on Sunday also won Emmys for "Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series" and "Outstanding Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie". However, former Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili is unhappy about the production - she feels she was misrepresented in the series.

9/16/2021 – In the finals of the 2. FIDE Online Olympiad Russia had to play against the USA, and in this match Russia was seen as the favourite. The Russian team lived up to this role: by winning both matches of the finals 3.5:2.5 the Russians also won the Online Olympiad 2021. | Photos: FIDE

9/15/2021 – There were three decisive games in the seventh round of the Norway Chess Tournament. Richard Rapport defended his lead with a win over Segery Karjakin. Alireza Firouzja staked a claim as the next world challenger with a win over Ian Nepomniachtchi, while Magnus Carlsen gave another endgame lesson against Aryan Tari. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

9/10/2021 – Leinier Dominguez scored a perfect 3 out of 3 on the second day of action at the Champions Showdown Tournament, leapfrogging Fabiano Caruana atop the standings table with three rounds to go. Meanwhile, Garry Kasparov collected 2½ points and climbed to shared third place! | Photo: Bryan Adams