7/22/2019 – In this Simon Says, Grandmaster Simon Williams, himself a great fan of 'Harry the h-pawn' examines the modern theoretical trend of launching h2-h4 earlier and earlier in the opening. Watch live for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

7/22/2019 – The 2019 edition of the Biel Chess Festival began with the rapid tournament. Three formats being used to determine the overall winner, and rapid wins earned 2 points with 1 point for a draw. Peter Leko turned back the clock with a commanding performance to take the tournament by storm, finishing sole first with 10/14! His subtle endgame play granted him a trio of wins, enough to finish ahead of the top seed Sam Shankland and his nearest competitors Vidit Gujrathi and Parham Maghsoodloo. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/22/2019 – Leinier Dominguez Perez won the Grandmaster Tournament at the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund. In the last round, a draw against Radoslaw Wojtaszek gave him the top spot on 4½/ 7. Ian Nepomniachtchi came in second, thanks to his tiebreak score in the four-player chasing group (all on 4/7). Germans Daniel Fridman and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu ended up with 2½/7 at the bottom of the standings table. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

7/21/2019 – An interesting King's Indian from a FIDE Master was the submission of the fortnight featured by GM Jon Speelman, but he's also thrown in a bonus study (pictured) for your Sunday perusal. | Send in your own games! Jon can always use more material from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

7/21/2019 – The 2019 U.S. Women’s Chess Champion Jennifer Yu was the wildcard invite for the U.S. Junior Championship which concluded on Saturday, July 20th. She finished last in the 10-player round robin with ½ out of 9. In her post-tournament interview, Jennifer Yu mentioned, “Maybe there is a little more pressure or something.” In this article, WIM ALEXEY ROOT looks at two research-based reasons for the pressure Yu perceived and its possible effects on her result. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

7/21/2019 – "Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream" or "The Dream of Poliphilus" is a work of early printing which recounts the story of a man pursuing his beloved through a dreamlike landscape. The book is said to have been written by Francesco Colonna and, as SERGIO NEGRI notes, it is also the first publication to include the depiction of a 'human chess' game. | Photo: Alberto Davide Lorenzi, via Wikimedia Commons

7/20/2019 – The U.S. Senior Championship and the U.S. Junior Championships (Open and Girls) concluded this Saturday at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Carissa Yip (Girls), Awonder Liang (Juniors) and Alexander Shabalov (Seniors) were crowned champions of the ten-player single round robin events, with Liang the only one needing tiebreaks to get the triumph. | Photos: Austin Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

7/20/2019 – Today, July 20th, is International Chess Day! To mark the occasion, Paris-based journalist DHANANJAY KHADILKAR brings us a scene from the famous Jardin du Luxembourg (pictured, the French Senate) where permanent chess tables have been a fixture for two decades, and you can always find a blitz game or two. Around the world, some chess aficionados take to the great outdoors and some new chess maps can help you find chess wherever you are. | Photos: Dhananjay Khadilkar

7/20/2019 – No tiebreakers were needed to decide who will play the final match of the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew Wesley So (after having beaten the American in game one) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave took down Alexander Grischuk in the rematch encounters of the semi-finals. Given that the sole rest day was scheduled for Sunday and the potential tiebreaks were to take place on Saturday, the finalists will have two days to recover before the deciding match-up. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/19/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be examining Grischuk vs Vitiugov 2019 — a classic attack from the Russian maestro. Power Play is live most Fridays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

7/19/2019 – The diagram saw a board hoovering sequence: 22...Bxa3 23.Qxg6 hxg6 24.Bxa6 Bxb2 25.Bxb2 bxa6 26.Rxa6. Your first task is to imagine this final position. The second — to then see Black's win!

7/18/2019 – In the first game of the semi-finals at the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga we saw a couple of elite chess battles, as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov surprised Wesley So to get a quick win and Alexander Grischuk got himself in trouble out of a Berlin Defence against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Grischuk and So will have the white pieces in Friday's rematch encounters. | Photo: World Chess