7/14/2020 – Four-time women’s world champion and current highest-rated woman player in the world Hou Yifan has become the youngest-ever full professor at the University of Shenzhen. The 26-year-old is now a professor at the School of Physical Education where she will be heading the institution’s chess program. Another great achievement for one of the most talented chess players in the circuit! | Photo: mp.weixin.qq.com

7/13/2020 – The Leon Masters came to an end on Sunday, with Leinier Dominguez beating Jaime Santos in the final of the three-day knockout to win the event. Dominguez and Santos came from defeating Parham Maghsoodloo and Alexei Shirov in the semifinals. Dominguez won game 3 in the deciding matchup and drew the rest to get the title. | Photo: Justin Kellar

7/12/2020 – Leading opening expert Rustam Kasimdzhanov recently launched a FritzTrainer DVD on the Benoni. In a short interview, the former FIDE world champion answers seven questions, about the Benoni, his work as a second and the new challenges he has faced during the coronavirus pandemic. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/11/2020 – The 16-game match between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vahap Sanal, played from Tuesday to Friday on the PlayChess platform, was won by the rating favourite, but not by a big margin. Mamedyarov defeated his Turkish colleague 9:7 in a hard-fought battle that saw Sanal winning four games against his famed opponent. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/9/2020 – The corona pandemic did not prevent the organizers of the Leon Masters (Magistral Ciudad de León) from launching the 33rd edition of the traditional yearly event. The main event, to be played on July 10-12, is a four-player knockout with two Spanish players and a couple of international stars. In the semifinals, Alexei Shirov will face local hero Jaime Santos, while Leinier Dominguez will play defending champion Parham Mahgsoodloo. Given the circumstances, the games will be played online. | Photos: Official site

7/9/2020 – Soon after rapidly climbing to the top of the chess elite, Vugar Gashimov sadly passed away at the young age of 27 on January 11, 2014. The Azerbaijani grandmaster was known for his joyful personality and his uncompromising style on the chessboard. We look back at a testimonial made about him and three of his greatest achievements as a chess player. | Photo: Nadja Wittman

7/5/2020 – Magnus Carlsen won the Chessable Masters online tournament by scoring a straight-set victory in the final against Anish Giri. In Saturday’s second set of the deciding match, Carlsen got an impressive win in the first game, while Giri missed chances to tie the score in games 2, 3 and 4. This was the third event of the Magnus Carlsen Tour — and the second one that sees the world champion taking first place! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/4/2020 – A thrilling first set of the Chessable Masters Final saw Magnus Carlsen clinching a crucial win by defeating Anish Giri in the second blitz game of tiebreaks. Giri played enterprising chess throughout, getting what at some point seemed to be an unlikely win in game 4 to tie the score and take the set to 5-minute games and a potential Armageddon. The Dutchman now needs to win on demand on Saturday to keep his chances alive. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/3/2020 – Anish Giri defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in three sets to reach the final of the Chessable Masters. Giri and Nepomniachtchi traded wins in the rapid phase of the third set, but the Dutchman was stronger in the blitz tiebreakers. The final, in which Giri will face world champion Magnus Carlsen, starts on Friday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

7/2/2020 – Magnus Carlsen beat Ding Liren twice with black on Wednesday to secure a spot in the final match of the Chessable Masters. Meanwhile, Ian Nepomniachtchi levelled the score in his matchup against Anish Giri thanks to a 2½:1½ win in the second set. Carlsen’s opponent in the final will be decided on Thursday. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

7/1/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri kicked off their semifinal matchups with wins of different nature. While Giri got a clean 3:1 victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi, Carlsen played an eventful mini-match against Ding Liren — the Chinese disconnected and lost a drawn position on time in game 1, to which the world champion responded by politely resigning on move 4 in the next encounter! Two draws followed, and Carlsen won the set by scoring 1½ points in hard-fought blitz tiebreakers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/30/2020 – Ding Liren will play Magnus Carlsen in the semifinals of the Chessable Masters after taking down Hikaru Nakamura in three sets. The Chinese ace had won the first set and, after losing the second mini-match in Armageddon, scored a convincing 2½:½ victory in Monday’s decider. The semis kick off on Tuesday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/29/2020 – On his 26th birthday, Anish Giri reached the semifinals of the Chessable Masters by defeating Alexander Grischuk 3:1 in the second set of their quarterfinals matchup. Meanwhile, Hikaru Nakamura tied the score with Ding Liren after winning the Armageddon decider of the second set — the final set will be played on Monday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/28/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi won their quarterfinal matchups with the equivalent of a 6-1 6-1 victory in tennis, needing only three games in each set to knock out Fabiano Caruana and Vladislav Artemiev. On Saturday, Carlsen showed precise play to beat Caruana in game 2 and saw his opponent crash and burn in the third encounter. Meanwhile, Nepomniachtchi was tactically superior in the positions that arose from Artemiev’s offbeat opening choices. | Photo: Justin Kellar

6/27/2020 – Seven consecutive draws gave Anish Giri a first-set win over Alexander Grischuk at the Chessable Masters quarterfinals, as he split the point with his Russian opponent while playing black in the Armageddon decider. A little earlier, Ding Liren had beaten Hikaru Nakamura 2½:1½ without needing tiebreaks. The second sets of these matchups will be played on Sunday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/26/2020 – Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi needed no more than three games to defeat Fabiano Caruana and Vladislav Artemiev in the first mini-matches of the Chessable Masters quarterfinals. Carlsen was ruthless against Caruana’s haphazard play in games 1 and 2, while Nepomniachtchi defeated Artemiev twice with the white pieces and showed good technique to hold a draw with black. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

6/25/2020 – The Offerspill Chess Club organized an over-the-board 9-round Swiss tournament as soon as the Norwegian coronavirus-related restrictions allowed them to do so. Four GMs and eight IMs participated in the 30-player closed event. IM Johannes Haug was the clear winner after scoring 7 points. IM Linus Johansson and GM Frode Urkedal finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Offerspill Sjakklubb

6/24/2020 – Anish Giri, Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana reached the quarterfinals of the Chessable Masters. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov were eliminated from the competition — ‘MVL’ lost four in a row on Tuesday while Radjabov played well but could not recover from his subpar performance in the first half. Caruana is set to face Magnus Carlsen in the most anticipated matchup of the quarterfinals. | Photo: Austin Fuller