10/14/2023 – Five players are sharing the lead with perfect scores after three rounds at the Qatar Masters in Doha. Arjun Erigaisi, Javokhir Sindarov (pictured), Narayanan S L, Rinat Jumabayev and Robby Kevlishvili are the co-leaders after Friday’s round. Due to the controversy surrounding Magnus Carlsen’s defeat and ensuing social media post on Thursday, the organizers put forth new anti-cheating regulations. Carlsen bounced back from the shocking loss by beating Al Muthaiah with the white pieces. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10/13/2023 – After White's first move, it is usually Black, who determines the character of the game. The Keymer System 1.Nf3 and 2.e3 is an attempt from White to steer the game into lines and structures White likes. On his first Fritztrainer the young Indian Grandmaster Leon Mendonca shows the potential and the advantages of the Keymer System. Christian Höthe took a look at the course.

10/13/2023 – In his Game of the Week show #589 Merijn Van Delft analyses how Magnus Carlsen defeated Vincent Keymer, who had come close to eliminating Carlsen from the World Cup, in the European Club Cup. A clash of generations in which Carlsen tried an interesting concept against the Najdorf. | Merijn’s show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

10/13/2023 – While two consecutive rounds ended with draws on all six boards in the U.S. Championship, three players got win after win in the U.S. Women’s Championship. Co-leaders Carissa Yip and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova have each grabbed three full points in a row to remain tied for first, while Alice Lee has in fact collected four back-to-back victories to climb to shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/13/2023 – Offerspill Sjakklubb started the 38th European Chess Club Cup Open as fourth seed. Magnus Carlsen, Offerspill's first board, was certainly the main reason for this - after all he is the world number one with a rating of 2839. But it was still a big surprise that the Norwegians won the cup! One team member in particular - Pranav Venkatesh (whose birthday is today!) - rocked the house with 5.0/7 points. His game against Super Grandmaster Jorden Van Foreest was particularly daring. Robert Ris shows this magical Underdog victory.

10/13/2023 – In the FIDE World Junior Rapid Chess Championship, which was played in Pula, Italy, and which is part of the ongoing World Junior Rapid & Blitz Championships, Raunak Sadhwani and Govhar Beydullayeva emerged as the undisputed champions of their open and girls sections, respectively. | Photos: NIKIEL.PHOTO

10/12/2023 – In a shocking development, 23-year-old Kazakh GM Alisher Suleymenov (rated 2512) defeated Magnus Carlsen in round 2 of the Qatar Masters — it was a crushing 31-move victory. Carlsen later shared some concerns on his X account, noting that it is “incredibly frustrating to see organisers still not taking anti-cheating seriously at all”, as he had been distracted by Suleymenov’s playing with an analog watch. Carlsen clarified that he was not accusing his opponent of cheating. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

10/12/2023 – This coming weekend Judit Polgar invites you to her ninth Global Chess Festival. The theme of the festival this time is "Decision Making". The events will take place on Saturday at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest and on Sunday online with many venues around the world. | Photos: Global Chess Festival

10/12/2023 – In 1971 Bobby Fischer was on his way to the World Championship, but agreed to take part in a blitz tournament in New York, organised by the Manhattan Chess Club. Fischer won the tournament 25.5 - 0.5. But in round 1, Fischer came close to losing against the well-known and popular author GM Andrew Soltis, but managed to turn the tables. On Twitter/X Davide Nastasio shared a picture of this encounter - and here is the story behind the picture.

10/12/2023 – After a thrilling fifth round on Tuesday, the sixth round on Wednesday saw just six draws. Leinier Dominguez had good chances to win, but spoiled a better position in time trouble. In the Women's Championship, things were more exciting. Carissa Yip and Begim Tokhirjonova are battling it out for the title and are winning their games in step. | Photos: Crystal Fuller, Lennart Ootes (Saint Louis Chess Center)

10/12/2023 – Super-GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Anish Giri kicked off with wins at the Qatar Masters in Doha. Round 1 saw a few upsets though, with fourth seed Dommaraju Gukesh only managing a draw against IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh, and tenth seed Vladimir Fedoseev even losing to 19-year-old Indian IM Kushagra Mohan. The highest-rated woman player in the field, Bibisara Assaubayeva, also suffered a loss in the first round, against IM Rakesh Kumar Jena. | Photos: Qatar Chess Association

10/11/2023 – Last year GM Yuri Averbakh turned 100 and set a world record. He became the oldest ever grandmaster in chess history. Sadly, he passed away in May. Averbakh led a rich and extraordinary life that he narrated himself in his autobiography, “Centre-stage and Behind the Scenes”. In the series here, our columnist draws on this important work and also explains much that was left unsaid. | Photo: Averbakh playing Kasparov (B. Dolmatovsky via Douglas Griffin’s website)