8/3/2021 – In round 5 of the Grandmaster Tournament at the Biel Chess Festival, Gata Kamsky won with Black against Alan Pichot and extended his lead as his closest rivals Kirill Alekseenko and Nihal Sarin both drew: Alekseenko against Noel Studer, Sarin against Vincent Keymer. In the MTO Master Open the Indian Grandmaster Murali Karthikeyan defended his lead. | Photos: Biel Chess Festival

8/3/2021 – In the diagram position both sides have dangerous passed pawns. But it is Black to move and he faces a choice: should he try to stop the white pawns with his king or should he push his g-pawn ahead? What would you do - and why?

8/2/2021 – A draw with white was enough for Alexandra Kosteniuk to claim victory at the first edition of the Women’s World Cup in Sochi. Aleksandra Goryachkina could not create imbalances in her must-win game and ended up agreeing to a draw in a lost position. In the match for third place, Tan Zhongyi and Anna Muzychuk drew again and will decide their match in tiebreaks. Meanwhile, in the open section, Sergey Karjakin moved on to the final, where he will face either Magnus Carlsen or Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who will return to the playing hall on Tuesday to face off in rapid and blitz tiebreakers. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

8/2/2021 – In the "Endgame Magic Show #154" Karsten Mueller and his guest Arne Kaehler take another look at endgame highlights from the Goldmoney Asian Online Rapid Tournament that ended early July and was won by Levon Aronian. Karsten and Arne were particularly fascinated by a tactically complicated endgame position in which Nihal Sarin missed a win against Anish Giri. | "Endgame Magic" is on air most Mondays. Watch it on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account.

8/2/2021 – Wesley So continues to top the standings of the preliminaries at the Chessable Masters after 10 rounds. Levon Aronian and Le Quang Liem had a great second day and climbed to shared second place, a half point behind So. The last 5 rounds of the preliminary stage will be played on Monday, with half the field set to advance to the quarterfinals. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

8/2/2021 – After the long lockdown, the chess world is slowly returning to over-the-board FIDE-rated games. However, there are still only a few changes in the current world rankings list. Magnus Carlsen is still clear number one, a position he has been holding for more than ten years now, since July 2011. Number one on the women's list is Hou Yifan, who is 47 points ahead of Aleksandra Goryachkina. The two best juniors are Alireza Firouzja and Andrey Esipenko, number one on the "Girls"-list is Polina Shuvalova, number two Zhu Jiner.

8/2/2021 – Alexandra Kosteniuk took a huge step towards winning the Women’s World Cup, as she defeated Aleksandra Goryachkina with the black pieces on Sunday. The remaining three games played in Sochi — both semifinals in the open and the women’s match for third place — finished drawn. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova

8/2/2021 – When you look at games by very strong positional players, you may get the impression that they don’t like tactics and are perhaps not corruscatingly good at them. But this is almost always a mirage. Star columnist Jon Speelman looks at three excellent attacking wins by world champion Magnus Carlsen. | Photo: Anastasiia Korolkova / FIDE World Cup

8/1/2021 – Cherry Hill, New Jersey is the temporary gathering place of U.S. chess players. Already completed are the Third International Koltanowski Conference on Chess in Education, the Second Annual FM Sunil Weeramantry National Blitz Tournament of State Champions, and the first round of the tournaments of state champions and the traditional schedule of the U.S. Open. | Pictured: The playing hall during the Weeramantry National Blitz Tournament of State Champions

8/1/2021 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 38th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman takes a look at critical moves. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

8/1/2021 – Nihal Sarin and Kirill Alekseenko had the strongest performances at the blitz tournament, one of three events that make up the Grandmaster Triathlon at the Biel Chess Festival. Gata Kamsky is still leading the overall standings, but is now only 1½ points ahead of Nihal and Alekseenko. | Photos and report: Official site

8/1/2021 – While players and enthusiasts took a day off from the highly tense World Cups in Sochi, the online Chessable Masters kicked off with an eye-catching lineup, as 12-year-old GM Abhimanyu Mishra, women’s world champion Ju Wenjun and Indian star Humpy Koneru join the likes of Wesley So and Levon Aronian in the 9-day event. After five rounds, So is the sole leader on 4 points, with a 3-player chasing pack a half point behind. | Pictured: Wesley So and Pentala Harikrishna at the 2019 Riga Grand Prix