7/3/2023 – Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Donchenko and Dinara Wagner were crowned champions of the No Castling Masters, the A-Open and the Sportland NRW Cup, respectively. Caruana and Donchenko scored wins on the final day of action to clinch their titles, while Wagner secured tournament victory by drawing Ruben Köllner with the black pieces. Wagner’s performance gained her a GM norm, the second in her career. | Photo: Michelle Lassak

7/2/2023 – Going into the final day of action at the Dortmund Chess Festival, Fabiano Caruana, Frederik Svane and Dinara Wagner are leading the standings in the No Castling Masters, the A-Open and the Sportland NRW Cup, respectively. Caruana defeated Vladimir Kramnik in style to get a half point lead over the former world champion and Dmitrij Kollars. Kollars beat Pavel Eljanov with white in Saturday’s fifth round. | Photo: Michelle Lassak

6/30/2023 – While the participants of the No Castling Masters had a rest day, the contenders in the A-Open and the Sportland NRW Cup played the sixth rounds in their respective tournaments. Alexander Donchenko defeated Matthias Blübaum for the first time in a classical tournament game to take the sole lead in the open, while Dinara Wagner caught Ruben Köllner in the lead of the Sportland NRW Cup. | Photo: Michelle Lassak

6/29/2023 – After his defeat in a spectacular game in the second round, Vladimir Kramnik bounced back on Wednesday with a brilliant positional performance. After the Mayor of Dortmund, Norbert Schilff, made the symbolic first move for him, Kramnik opted for a rather quiet approach with white and gained a small advantage against Fabiano Caruana. Slowly but surely, Kramnik increased his advantage and ended up scoring an important full point. | Photo: Michelle Lassak

6/28/2023 – Dmitrij Kollars can celebrate having beaten a former world champion. In the No-Castling Masters, the German grandmaster defeated Vladimir Kramnik. Ruben Gideon Köllner leads the Sportland NRW Cup, while Alexander Donchenko won the all-important against Frederik Svane in the A-Open. | Screenshot: Former tournament director Jürgen Grastat makes the ceremonial first move

6/27/2023 – The 50th Dortmund Chess Festival is underway in Dortmund’s Westfalenhalle. Yesterday, Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana started their no-casting experiment and were both successful from the get go, beating Pavel Eljanov and defending champion Dmitrij Kollars respectively. | Photo: Michelle Lassak

6/25/2023 – All five games ended decisively in the first round of the Sportland NRW Cup in Dortmund. WGM Dinara Wagner (pictured), IM Georgios Souleidis and 12-year-old FM Hussain Besou had a dream start: they beat the three participating grandmasters. In the A-Open, most of the favourites won their games, although the accelerated Swiss format made for interesting fights on the very first day of action.

7/25/2022 – Dmitrij Kollars, who only joined the tournament after Vladimir Kramnik had to withdraw due to Covid-related issues, was the surprise winner of the No-Castling World Masters. The 22-year-old beat Daniel Fridman in the final round to catch Vishy Anand atop the standings. Kollars was declared champion on tiebreak criteria, as he scored one more win than the Indian star. In the Deutschland Grand Prix, Pavel Eljanov defended his title by remarkably collecting 4½/6 points against a tough field. | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/24/2022 – Viswanathan Anand goes into his last game with a half-point lead over direct opponent Michael Adams and Dmitrij Kollars at the No-Castling World Masters in Dortmund. Meanwhile, Pavel Eljanov leads the Deutschland Grand Prix after beating Matthias Blübaum on Saturday. Bogdan-Daniel Deac also won and still has a chance of winning the tournament | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/23/2022 – Vishy Anand continues to lead the standings in the No-Castling World Masters after drawing Dmitrij Kollars on Friday. In the Sparkassen Open-A, one of many tournaments taking place as part of the Dortmund Chess Festival, Dutch GM Max Warmerdam has scored 7 points in as many games. Warmerdam beat Thomas Beerdsen in style and analysed his victory in the post-game interview. | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/21/2022 – On Thursday, there was only one game on stage in the Golden Hall: the two winners from the previous round, Dmitrij Kollars and Viswanathan Anand, met in the NC World Masters. Kollars had a slight advantage in a rook endgame, but Anand managed to keep things under control and drew his younger opponent to keep the lead. Lara Schulze and Max Warmerdam won and are still leading the Women’s Sportland NRW Cup and the A-Open respectively. | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/21/2022 – There were two decisive games in the No-Castling World Masters. Vishy Anand defeated Daniel Fridman and Dmitrij Kollars beat Michael Adams. In the Deutschland Grand Prix, Luke McShane remains in the lead after all three games ended in a draw on Wednesday. In the open tournament, Max Warmerdam and Tornike Sanikidze are sharing the lead. | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/20/2022 – With a day’s delay due to the change in the field of participants, defending champion Vishy Anand played his first game on Tuesday at the NC World Masters 2022. With Black, he drew round-1’s winner Michael Adams. The second game in the NC World Masters offered everything one could expect from this chess variation, as both kings were under fire throughout the game. In the end, Daniel Fridman prevailed over Dmitrij Kollars. Follow | Follow today’s action live with expert commentary! | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/19/2022 – After Vladimir Kramnik had to pull out at short notice due to health reasons, the official opening move of the No-Castling World Masters of the 49th International Dortmund Chess Days took place on the board of Michael Adams and Daniel Fridman. Adams beat Fridman to grab the early lead. | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/18/2022 – The two German representatives, Matthias Blübaum and Rasmus Svane, at the Deutschland Grand Prix started with defeats in Sunday’s first round, as they lost their games against Luke McShane and Pavel Eljanov. Romanian rising star Bogdan-Daniel Deac defeated David Navara. McShane shared his thoughts on his remarkable win. | Photos: Michelle Lassak

7/14/2022 – Next Saturday is the official start of the Dortmund Chess Days Festival. The organizers expect up to 500 participants in all tournaments. Those who want to see two world champions and the German chess elite up close can still register at short notice. | Pictured: Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand with the winners of the Sportland NRW Girls' Cup 2021 | Photos: Christian Lünig