4/29/2021 – None of the players who lost the first set of the quarterfinals could make up for it in the second set. Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov quickly secured their tickets to the semifinals. Magnus Carlsen, after a 2-2 against Radjabov in the first set, won the second set and is also through. | Photo: Alina l’Ami

10/1/2020 – The 2700chess.com webpage has been keeping track of top players’ ratings on a daily basis for quite a while now. Besides presenting the highest rated players in classical, rapid and blitz, both in the open and the women’s categories, they have included a list of the highest live ratings ever achieved. Let us recap the top ten of this list, and look at the games which gave each of the players their highest-ever live rating.

8/11/2020 – The friendly six-round match on the Playchess server between Turkey and Azerbaijan to prepare for the Online Olympiad ended yesterday, August 10. In the Online Olympiad Azerbaijan is seeded in the "Top Division", while Turkey will start in "Division 2", and in the match the Azerbaijanis also had the better of it: they won 26:10. | Photo: Turkish Chess Federation

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

7/7/2020 – The Turkish Chess Federation is organizing online matches in which the best players from the country face international stars. Starting July 7, Turkey’s number four Vahap Sanal will face Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the PlayChess platform. They will play sixteen 15-minute games (with 10-second increments) over the course of four days. | Photo: Turkish Chess Federation

6/16/2020 – Due to the coronavirus outbreak, pretty much all over-the-board action was cancelled or postponed. Some tournaments decided to compensate a bit by organizing online events. The World Starts Sharjah Online was a six-player double round-robin with participants rated between 2661 and 2764. Top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov won the tournament convincingly by scoring 7½/10 points. Pentala Harikrishna and Radoslaw Wojtaszek finished second and third respectively. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

4/9/2020 – Fans, professionals and anybody who follows the world of professional chess agree on the fact that Magnus Carlsen is on a class of his own. Besides reigning as World Champion in all three formats (classical, rapid and blitz), the Norwegian has managed not to lose a single classical game in over twenty months. Let us recap Carlsen's astounding — and ongoing — streak! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

1/30/2020 – Live games and commentary with GM David Howell and Fiona Steil-Antoni from 10:00 UTC (11:00 CET, 5:00 EST). The penultimate round produced a quintet of leaders. Now-familiar names like Esipenko, Wang, Maghsoodloo and Paravyan, joined by Mustafa Yilmaz top the standings with 7.0/9. After Round 10, the top four finishers with 7½ were Esipenko, Wang, Yuffa and Paravyan, who contested a four-way playoff. Paravyan and Wang reached the final match, and in a stunning upset Paravyan wins the Gibraltar Masters by defeating Want 1½ to ½. | Pictured: Live webcast

1/25/2020 – The Gibraltar Chess Festival is one of the strongest open tournaments in the world but only after three rounds did we see the GMs begin to separate from the pack, five of whom maintained a perfect score. After four rounds the five dropped to one: Ivan Cheparinov. The festival also has an interesting program of side events. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, currently number eight in the world, gave a masterclass (pictured) after round two, which you can relive at your leisure. | Photo: Niki Riga

1/21/2020 – The 18th Gibraltar International Chess Festival starts today at the Caleta Hotel on the east side of the Rock of Gibraltar. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov tops the starting ranking list, joined by fellow "2700 club" members Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wang Hao, Veselin Topalov, David Navara, Le Quang Liem and Kirill Alekseenko. Anatoly Karpov opened the festival with a simultaneous exhibition. Live games and commentary with GM David Howell and Fiona Steil-Antoni from 14:00 UTC (15:00 CET, 9:00 EST). | Pictured: Mayor of Gibraltar John Gonçalves, made the first move on the top board at the start of the 2020 Gibraltar Masters with top seed GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan. Currently No.8 in the world he played his first round game against 12-year-old Candidate Master Raahil Mullick from India. Photo: Niki Riga

12/27/2019 – The World Rapid Championships 2019 kicked off with some exciting chess on day one. In the open section we have five leaders — Smirin, Mamedyarov, Duda, Dominguez and Wang Hao on 4½/5. They are followed by a group of seven players on 4 points, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen. In the women's section, we have three leaders — Olga Girya, Meri Arabidze and Irina Bulmaga. We bring you a detailed report from Moscow with interviews, photos, game analyses and more.