8/13/2019 – Knights are tricky, and knight endings usually require precise calculation.

8/13/2019 – As summer begins to wane, fans of southern Italy can look forward to a September holiday destination. DIANA MIHAJLOVA offers a pictoral report with annotated games about the Amantea Chess Festival in Calabria, Italy, which was won last year by GM Pier Luigi Basso. It is meant to introduce a little known but rich chess destination that is Calabria. The actual Amantea Chess Festival will resume its activities, as usual, from the next year, but for now, during its traditional term, 9- 15 September, another Calabrese chess historical town, Cutro, in the Amantea’s vicinity, will celebrate a jubilee 25 year of the International Chess Festival ‘Leonardo di Bona’. | Pictured: The rocky Tyrrhenian coast at a sunset: On the outskirts of Amantea lie the enchanting Isca rocks, supposedly described by Homer in the ‘Odyssey’. All photos: Diana Mihajlova

8/13/2019 – A New York-based chess instructor and entrepreneur reports on teaching chess in Tanzania. After working in corporate America, doing enterprise sales for the likes of Oracle, EVAN RABIN rekindled his interest in teaching children and formed Premier Chess in September 2017, quickly expanding to 58 programs. | Photo: Paul Njau

8/12/2019 – GM Simon Williams is back from the British Championship, and naturally the tournament is still weighing heavily on his mind. This episode will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. Watch live for free (for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST / 12 Noon EDT).

8/12/2019 – Rapid rounds four to six at the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz yielded no change at the top of the leader board, but Levon Aronian is now being closely pursued by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who won all three of his games on Sunday. Perhaps even more surprisingly, World Champion Magnus Carlsen lost two more of his rapid games, including to world number two Fabiano Caruana. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

8/12/2019 – The strong national tournaments in Russia started on Saturday. Two rounds of the dubbed Superfinals were played both in the Open and Women's categories, with the leaders in the two events currently on 'plus one' (1½ out of 2). Ernesto Inarkiev (pictured) and Kirill Alekseenko are on top in the Open, while Alexandra Kosteniuk, Olga Girya and Natalija Pogonina are sharing the lead amongst the women. Monday is a rest day as the tournament changes venues. Play resumes on Tuesday. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

8/11/2019 – "The chess world is a better place when Aronian is playing well!" These words of Garry Kasparov in 2015 reverberated on day one of the Saint Louis Rapid 2019 as the Armenian GM went on to score wins against MVL, Karjakin and Mamedyarov. Aronian now leads the event with a 6.0/6 score. Magnus Carlsen suffered a shock defeat against Ding Liren but came back to score two wins. We bring you an on-site report by VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN, with photos, player's quotes and analysis.

8/11/2019 – Three strong opens in Abu Dhabi, Netherlands and Latvia kicked off the month, but the main attraction in August will be coming from Saint Louis, where a Rapid & Blitz tournament and the Sinquefield Cup will take place one after another. Strong national championships in Russia and France are also on the menu. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage.

8/10/2019 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave staged an impressive turnaround by first reaching the final of the Grand Prix in Riga and then followed it up by winning the Paris leg of the Grand Chess Tour. This, after encountering setbacks in Norway Chess and the Zagreb leg of the Grand Chess Tour. In an exclusive interview with DHANANJAY KHADILKAR, the French Grandmaster and World No. 5 talks about the factors contributing to this turnaround and why he will continue to play the Gruenfeld defense. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

8/10/2019 – It's the next leg of the Grand Chess Tour, IM VENTKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports on the opening ceremony from the Saint Louis Chess Club on the eve of the rapid tournament. Can Magnus Carlsen be stopped? Sergey Karjakin: “My answer may be primitive, but we (all have) to play very well!” Levon Aronian: “I don't think it is about stopping somebody. It is about achieving more points than the person”.

8/9/2019 – To annoy chess players, orient a board incorrectly or reverse the kings and queens. Claim that a knight on a3 controls the centre, or that Stan Vaughan is a world chess champion. WIM ALEXEY ROOT shares chess sayings (like "a knight on the rim is dim") and songs to move chess players from exasperation to pleasure. Perfect for some Friday Fluff! And if you have any sayings or songs to share, you can win a free autographed copy of Fritz 16!

8/9/2019 – The first round of the Russian Superfinals will be held on Saturday, August 10th, in Wotinsk, the Republic of Udmurtia. Vladislav Artemiev and Aleksandra Goryachkina are the favourites. The twelve-player round-robin tournaments are incredibly strong — the Open tournament carries an average Elo rating of 2688! Chess has recently become a compulsory subject in Russian schools, so the pace of Russian players isn't likely to diminish anytime soon. | Photo: Patricia Claros / Eteri Kublashvili