8/28/2019 – Soon after summer comes to an end, the traditional "Ciutat de Barcelona" tournament will take place in the beautiful Mediterranean metropolis. For the first time, however, it will be open to all, after having organized a Schveningen match in 2018 and a round-robin from 2004 until 2017. The nine-round Swiss begins on September 27th, and Gata Kamsky is the highest-rated player registered so far. | Pictured: Barcelona seen from the Tibidabo mountain. | Photo: Jorge Franganillo, via Wikimedia Commons

8/23/2019 – The 2019 Russian Championships came to an end this Thursday in Izhevsk. Olga Girya won the women's section after defeating Natlija Pogonina in the Armageddon phase of the play-offs, while Evgeny Tomashevsky clinched the open title thanks to a final round victory over Kirill Alekseenko. This was Tomashevsky's second national triumph, while Girya won the championship for the first time. | Photo: Dmitry Kryakvin

8/22/2019 – The penultimate round of the Russian Championships left two players sharing the lead in the open section, as Nikita Vitiugov and Evgeny Tomashevsky drew their games while former co-leader Ernesto Inarkiev lost against Vladislav Artemiev. In the women's category, Natalija Pogonina got a crucial victory over Valentina Gunina and is now half a point behind sole leader Olga Girya. The final round will be played on Thursday, two hours earlier than usual. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/21/2019 – The ninth round of the Russian Championships were played on Tuesday at the International Friendship Center in Izhevsk. The only winner of the day in the Open, Ernesto Inarkiev, joined Evgeny Tomashevsky and Nikita Vitiugov in the lead. In the Women's, Aleksandra Goryachkina took down runaway leader Olga Girya and now shares second place with Natalija Pogonina, Valentina Gunina and Alina Kashlinskaya, a point behind the top scorer. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/18/2019 – Seven rounds of the open and women's Russian Superfinals have been completed before the second rest day in Izhevsk. Both tournaments have now sole leaders — Evgeny Tomashevsky is on an undefeated 4½ out of 7 score in the Open, while Olga Girya has taken more of a commanding lead amongst the women with 6 points after seven rounds. Four rounds are still left to go in the Republic of Udmurtia. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/15/2019 – The participants of the 2019 Russian Championships travelled west, as the venue of the Superfinals moved from Votkinsk to Izhevsk, the capital of the Republic of Udmurtia. After four rounds, three players share the lead in the open section — Vladislav Artemiev, Maxim Matlakov and Alexandr Predke — while, amongst the women, Olga Girya is alone on top, as she has so far scored three wins and a draw. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/12/2019 – The strong national tournaments in Russia started on Saturday. Two rounds of the dubbed Superfinals were played both in the Open and Women's categories, with the leaders in the two events currently on 'plus one' (1½ out of 2). Ernesto Inarkiev (pictured) and Kirill Alekseenko are on top in the Open, while Alexandra Kosteniuk, Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina are sharing the lead amongst the women. Monday is a rest day as the tournament changes venues. Play resumes on Tuesday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/2/2019 – The Paris leg of the Grand Chess Tour had a final day full of ups and downs, as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave kept the lead all throughout despite a topsy-turvy performance. No player had a long-enough winning streak to overcome the Frenchman, with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Alexander Grischuk missing chances to catch up repeatedly. In the end, it was Vishy Anand who surged ahead to second place after scoring four wins in the last six rounds. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

8/1/2019 – Day four of the Paris Grand Chess Tour finished with Vachier-Lagrave still in the lead, two points ahead of Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi, with the latter collecting 5½ points on Tuesday. The best player in the first nine rounds of Blitz, however, was Hikaru Nakamura, who scored 'plus four' to bridge the gap with those atop the standings table. The current US champion is tied in fourth place with Fabiano Caruana and Vishy Anand. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

7/30/2019 – The rapid section of the Paris Grand Chess Tour was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who drew twice and beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda on day three. Alexander Grischuk ascended to sole second place, and stands a full point behind the leader before the eighteen rounds of Blitz kick off on Wednesday — the participants will get a rest day before the tempo speeds up in the French capital. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/29/2019 – The second day of the GCT Paris tournament at the Head Office of mass media conglomerate Vivendi saw local hero Maxime Vachier-Lagrave climb to first place after collecting two wins and a draw between rounds four and six. Vishy Anand and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are trailing a point behind the leader with three more rounds of rapid chess left for Monday. Eighteen rounds of Blitz will wrap up the event on Wednesday and Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/28/2019 – Exciting chess was the norm in the first three rounds of Rapid at the Paris Grand Chess Tour. Fabiano Caruana and Viswanathan Anand kicked off with wins in rounds one and two and drew their direct encounter to share the lead on 5 out of 6 (wins in Rapid are worth two points). Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are their closest chasers, on 4 out of 6. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/27/2019 – The 2019 American Continental Championship ran from the 5th to the 13th of July in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The eleven-round open tournament served as a qualifier to the World Cup, with four players getting tickets to the event scheduled for September in Khanty-Mansiysk. Coincidentally, four players — from four different countries — finished on 8½ out of 11, with Venezuelan Eduardo Iturrizaga winning the event on tiebreak criteria. | Photo: Elana de Souza

7/25/2019 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix series in Riga after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with Black in Armageddon. The contenders showed great fighting spirit throughout their final match-up, with Vachier-Lagrave twice stepping up to get wins on demand. Thanks to this triumph, Mamedyarov now shares first place with Alexander Grischuk in the GP overall standings table. | Photo: World Chess

7/23/2019 – After a quick loss in game one, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave evened the score of the final with a 32-move win out of an Italian Opening at the Grand Prix in Riga. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did not react well to his opponent's unhurried approach, which provoked his position to collapse rapidly. The winner of the event will be decided on Wednesday's tiebreaks, starting at 12:00 UTC (14:00 CEST, 8:00 AM EDT). | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/22/2019 – Game one of the FIDE Grand Prix final in Riga finished surprisingly quickly, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov took down Maxime Vachier-Lagrave from the white side of a Grünfeld Defence in 28 moves. The second classical game of the finals will be played on Tuesday, July 23rd, starting at 12:00 UTC (14:00 CEST, 8:00 AM EDT), with Vachier-Lagrave in need of a win to take the match-up to tiebreaks. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/20/2019 – No tiebreakers were needed to decide who will play the final match of the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew Wesley So (after having beaten the American in game one) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took down Alexander Grischuk in the rematch encounters of the semi-finals. Given that the sole rest day was scheduled for Sunday and the potential tiebreaks were to take place on Saturday, the finalists will have two days to recover before the deciding match-up. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/18/2019 – In the first game of the semi-finals at the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga we saw a couple of elite chess battles, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov surprised Wesley So to get a quick win and Alexander Grischuk got himself in trouble out of a Berlin Defence against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Grischuk and So will have the white pieces in Friday's rematch encounters. | Photo: World Chess