4/23/2019 – A day full of excitement in Karlsruhe left Magnus Carlsen and Peter Svidler as co-leaders at the GRENKE Chess Classic. Carlsen got the upper hand but could not defeat Vishy Anand, while Svidler defeated Georg Meier from the white side of a French Defence. Meanwhile, Vincent Keymer lost for a third day in a row — against Fabiano Caruana — and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave put forth a striking attack but could not get the full point against Arkadij Naiditsch. Levon Aronian and Paco Vallejo drew. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

4/22/2019 – Another epic battle ended up with Magnus Carlsen on top at the 2019 GRENKE Chess Classic — his victim on Sunday was Francisco Vallejo Pons, who was not able to withhold the world champion's pressure in a complex endgame. Veterans Vishy Anand and Peter Svidler also won in round two to reach 1½/2 and stand half a point behind the leader. Vishy will have the black pieces against Magnus on Monday. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

4/21/2019 – All eyes were put on the game that faced young Vincent Keymer against world champion Magnus Carlsen in the first round of the 2019 GRENKE Chess Classic. And they did not disappoint — after over six and a half hours and a host of twists and turns, Magnus defeated the new kid on the block. The rest of the games finished drawn, which makes Carlsen the sole leader in Karlsruhe. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

11/13/2018 – The defending champion of the German top league, OSG Baden-Baden, had a difficult hurdle on the first weekend of the new season facing Werder Bremen. The favourites pulled through, thanks to a victory from Peter Svidler over Luke McShane in a game that was so interesting for the St. Petersburg grandmaster that he postponed his return journey to Hamburg. | Photos: Dariusz Gorzinski

10/28/2018 – The Russians Peter Svidler and Vladimir Fedoseev narrowly won their Hoogeveen matches over Sam Shankland and Jorden van Foreest, respectively. Fedoseev needed a blitz tiebreak match to emerge victorious. In the Hoogeveen Open, the format called for a "final four" — a one-game semi-final and final in lieu of the last two rounds. Rating favourite Bassem Amin was among the four and then proceeded to beat Eltaj Safarli and Dmitry Kryakvin in back-to-back games to win the Open outright.

10/24/2018 – Peter Svidler lost the opening game of his six-game match against Sam Shankland, but in game two he was able to fight back and win with white. Tuesday's game ended drawn. In the second match between Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev the point was shared for the third time, meaning both matches are all tied up at the halfway mark. Wednesday is a rest day in the matches, but the Open games are live. | Photos: Official site

10/22/2018 – The 22nd edition of the traditional "Schaaktoernooi" started over the weekend in the Dutch town of Hoogeveen. 82 players participate in the Open where the top seed is the Egyptian Grandmaster Bassem Amin. But there are also two matches on offer, typically featuring rising stars and veteran players. This year Samuel Shankland (USA) meets Peter Svidler (Russia) and Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) is pitted against Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands). The tournament director is GM Loek van Wely. | Photos: hoogeveenchess.nl

10/19/2018 – Any of the top teams could have won it, but Mednyi Vsadnik ended up ahead at the European Club Cup in Porto Carras. Valerenga arrived in the last round as sole leaders but barely one point ahead of the four-team chasing pack — the eventual champions from Saint Petersburg defeated Carlsen's squad and edged AVE Novy Bor on tiebreak criteria to take home the gold medals. In the women's section, Cercle d'Escacs de Monte-Carlo finished first thanks to Anna Muzychuk's win on top board. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/16/2018 – Ding Liren inflicted Peter Svidler's third straight loss to give Alkaloid a critical victory over fourth seeded Mednyi Vsadnik. The rating favourites now share the lead with Obiettivo Risarcimento Padova, which barely beat the over-performing Dunajska Streda. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen drew Alexander Donchenko and lost 2.9 rating points, but his team Valerenga Sjakklubb grabbed a clear win to stay one point behind the leaders. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/15/2018 – Three rounds have taken place in Porto Carras and six teams still have a perfect record at the European Club Cup. The big match of Sunday was AVE Novy Bor vs. Valerenga — for quite a while it seemed like the Czech team was about to prevail, but Carlsen's colleagues saved the day with two longwinded wins. Meanwhile, Alkaloid and Odlar Yurdu continued with their commanding performances and got big scores yet again. Only four rounds are left in the short team event. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/14/2018 – In the second day of play in Porto Carras, the big teams once again took down their opponents with little collateral damage. While the real fight between clubs is only about to start, some individual encounters were in the spotlight on Saturday — Magnus Carlsen defeated Vladimir Potkin from an apparently innocuous position and Peter Svidler opened his tournament with a loss against Aleksandar Indjic. Calrsen's Valerenga will play second seeded AVE Novy Bor in Sunday's round. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com