8/17/2024 – The eighth day of action at the Dortmund Chess Festival saw Wagner missing a great opportunity to score a win in her match against Elisabeth Paehtz. Meanwhile, in the A-Open, Anton Korobov, Frederik Svane and Nico Zwirs scored full points to go into the final round tied for first place with 6½/8 scores. | Photos: Official website

8/17/2024 – In an exciting seventh round, the A-Open in Dortmund saw IM Vadim Petrovskyi becoming the sole leader after obtaining an upset win over GM Christopher Yoo. A total of 11 players stand a half point back, though, as there are two more rounds to go at the 51st edition of the traditional chess festival. | Photos: Official website

8/15/2024 – After 4 (out of 6) games in the match between Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner, the confrontation remains drawn - the final 2 encounters will be played on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, in the A-Open, there are 9 players tied for first place with 5/6 points each. Frederik Svane from Germany and Christopher Yoo from the USA (pictured) were 2 of the 6 players who joined the lead by scoring wins on Thursday. | Photos: Official website

8/15/2024 – Day 5 of the Dortmund Chess Festival saw Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner signing a third consecutive draw in their 6-game match. Meanwhile, in the A-Open, three players scored wins and are now tied for first place with 4½/5 points each: Anton Korobov, Luis Quesada and David Gavrilescu. | Photo: Dariusz Gorzinski

8/13/2024 – An eventful third day of action ended in Dortmund with the second draw between Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner. In the A-Open, nine players are sharing the lead with perfect scores. The leading group includes the five highest-rated players in the field: Anton Korobov, Frederik Svane, Christopher Yoo, Krishnan Sasikiran and Luis Quesada. | Pictured: Star commentator Artur Yusupov | Photos: Official website

8/12/2024 – The match between the two highest-rated German women players, Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner (pictured), started on Sunday, as part of the Dortmund Chess Festival. Wagner got the white pieces in a game that ended drawn after 78 moves. In the A-Open, 26 players have obtained wins in their first two games, including top seeds Anton Korobov, Frederik Svane and Christopher Yoo. | Photos: Official website

8/11/2024 – The 51st edition of the Dortmund Chess Festival kicked off on Saturday, with the start of the A-Open and the B-Open tournaments. Most favourites prevailed, though a few of them only managed a draw. Sunday will see the start of the 6-game match between Elisabeth Paehtz and Dinara Wagner, the two highest-rated women players in Germany. | Pictured: Luc Zimmermann from the Netherlands | Photos: Official website

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