10/4/2019 – A double-round in a day always speeds up an event. After the first day, we had two rounds on the second day of the World Youth 2019. In all the sections we have five or fewer players on perfect score. In the under-18 girls section we already have a sole leader! IM SAGAR SHAH analyzes the win of Honorata Kucharska, the sole leader in girls under-18 and try to improve our understanding of the Exchange French. We also have two very interesting games by the highest rated player in the event Shant Sargsyan (2580) and lastly we look at two pawn endgames that were complex enough for strong players to solve them over the board! | Pictured: Polina Shuvalova and Alexandra Obolentseva share some light words before the game | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/4/2019 – Fabiano Caruana is already qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2020 and Ding Liren too de facto. They should now be joined by two World Cup finalists. Instead, the situation is less clear. Anish Giri is banking on a rating spot freed up by Ding's new qualification. Radjabov is also in, if he wants it, but that is very much an open question. CONRAD SCHORMANN explains. | Photos: FIDE

10/4/2019 – After 23...exd4 in the diagram, White is never going to recapture this pawn in the game — he just has better things to do! Have you spotted his leitmotif?

10/4/2019 – Teimour Radjabov qualified to the next Candidates Tournament by knocking out Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the classical phase of the World Cup semi-finals, which meant he had an extra rest day heading into the final match against Ding Liren. In parallel, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is facing Yu Yangyi in the match for third place. Live games and commentary from 10:0 UTC (12 Noon CEST / 6:00 AM EDT). | Photo: FIDE

10/4/2019 – If Niclas Huschenbeth recommends something, you might want to listen. On his Facebook page the reigning German champion, national team and World Cup participant gives his verdict on the recently released three-volume video series from Fabiano Caruana: "This is massive".

10/3/2019 – First and third places of the World Cup will be decided Friday in Khanty-Mansiysk, as the classical phase of the deciding matches ended with 2:2 scores. Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had the white pieces in the last "slow" games of the match-ups, but could not get last-minute victories to avoid the rapid play-offs. Teimour Radjabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will kick off the tiebreaks with the white pieces. Round-up show by GM YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: FIDE

10/3/2019 – The World Youth Championships 2019 kicked off on October 2nd 2019 in Mumbai, India. The biggest upset of round one was defending champion Viktor Gazik losing his game to local lad Vedant Panesar. Gazik sacrificed an exchange in the style of Petrosian, but never really had enough compensation. In the past, players like Tiviakov and Andersson have been successful with a similar idea, and IM SAGAR SHAH probes the differences between those sacrifices, plus a brave effort from a girl playing in the Open section. | Photos: Amruta Mokal.

10/3/2019 – Teimour Radjabov bounced right back after his loss in game two against Ding Liren at the finals of the FIDE World Cup. The Azeri knew exactly what to do when his opponent did not play the most accurate move out of a Marshall Attack and went on to show good technique to even the score in Khanty-Mansiysk. The score of the match for third place is also 1½:1½ after Yu Yangyi could not make the most of a superior position against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Analyses by GM YANNICK PELLETIER and IM MERIJN VAN DELFT. | Photo: FIDE

10/2/2019 – The World Cup is headed for a dramatic conclusion, and today IM Merijn van Delft brings you right up to date. The show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is live this week starting at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

10/2/2019 – Humpy Koneru is an inspiration to the entire chess community. She was off the chess grid for two years, taking care of her new born daughter Ahana. In this cut throat chess world filled with computer innovations and novelties a break of a few days is enough to make you feel outdated. How did Humpy, who made a comeback after such a long hiatus, manage to not just start playing good chess, but win one of the strongest tournaments in the world - the Skolkovo Women's Grand Prix. How did she manage to improve her game so that she could rise to world no. 3 rankings behind just Hou Yifan and World Champion Ju Wenjun? | Photo: David Llada / FIDE

10/2/2019 – When the World Youth Championships 2019 come for the first time in India, how do you expect the opening ceremony to be? For all those who were present at the Convention center of the Renaissance Hotel in Mumbai, the experience was "electrifying". The dance performances showcased at a glance the myriad culture of India. Players from 64 countries are taking part at the World Youth Championships 2019 in under-14,16 and 18. The Indian challenge at the event is being led by Praggnanandhaa (2567) and Divya Deshmukh (2362). In this article we bring to you the glimpses of the opening ceremony and also tell you about the "How well do you know India" Quiz that was conducted by us with players from across the world!

10/2/2019 – Ding Liren got the first win of the final match-up at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Chinese scored a fine positional victory with the white pieces over Teimour Radjabov, after the latter went for a double-edged variation of the English Opening. Meanwhile, in the match for third place, Yu Yangyi played the Petroff Defence and held Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a draw in his first game with Black. GM YANNICK PELLETIER analysed both games. | Photo: FIDE