10/9/2017 – If they come in pairs bishops can be very strong. But sometimes even a single bishop is strong enough to control the whole board. This edition of Karsten Müller's endgame column looks at what happens when the bishops face off against a rook.

10/9/2017 – The 83rd Spanish Individual Championship was held between September 29th and October 7th in Las Palmas of Gran Canaria. After nine rounds of competition, champion Ivan Salgado López was crowned. He scored six wins and three draws and left the final score at 7½ / 9. Runner-up was David Anton with 7/9 points. Daniel Forcén was third. | Photos: Patricia Claros

10/9/2017 – The European Club Cup began with wins for top teams in both the Open and the Women sections. The Russian team Globus, with several of the world's elite grandmasters, won 6: 0 against the Icelandic team Fjölnir. Defending champions Alkaloid from Macedonia had a slightly harder time, initially giving up 1½ board points against Augusta Perusia from Italy. Among the Women's teams the favourites from Batumi won just 2½ : 1½ against Anatolia from Turkey.

10/9/2017 – The October 6th, 2017, was a great day for Singapore chess. Thanks to the efforts of Norwegian Business Association Singapore, World Champion Magnus Carlsen visited the country for a simul against 16 players that was greatly enjoyed and appreciated by all the chess lovers of Singapore. The opposition that Magnus faced was not easy. Some players were rank amateurs, but there were also seasoned experts, with six-time National champion IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming (rated 2461!) being one of the participants. But Magnus showed absolutely no mercy; he cleaned up the field with a 16-0 score in little over an hour! | Pictured: Esther Koh (Business Development Director, Zenitant Holdings), Magnus Carlsen, and Michelle Tay (Director, Hauterobe Pte Ltd) | Photo: Junior Tay

10/8/2017 – The Chess Federation of Canada will present their case on behalf of Anton Kovalyov on Monday morning at the Ethics Commission hearing during the 88th FIDE Congress, in Antalya, Turkey. Before heading East, Canadian delegate to FIDE, Hal Bond, gave us a preview of some of the issues that are likely to come up in the meeting. | Pictured (clockwise from top left): Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Francois Strydom, Anton Kovalyov, Rajesh Hari Joshi, Willy Iclicki, Ion Dobronauteanu, Pedro Dominguez Brito | Photos: FIDE.com (except Kovalyov: Amruta Mokal)

10/8/2017 – This week's games are by John Thornton, a Welshman who was 70 earlier this year. Years ago, he sent me some corrections for my book 'Analysing the Endgame' and he says, very pleasingly that: "I recently went back to that to provide material for a session that I ran at a local club where I used analysis of the famous Spassky vs. Fischer game — the analysis you gave holding up exceedingly well against computer analysis."

10/7/2017 – It's tempting to make light of this affair by, for instance, referring to it as "the short(s) report". But when a tournament as prestigious as the FIDE World Cup is making international headlines for what amounts to dress code enforcement, it should be no laughing matter. We take a comprehensive look at the facts in evidence and Kovalyov's response to the previously published report. | Photo: Chess.com / Maria Emelianova (used with permission)

10/6/2017 – Test your tactical ability with these positions grouped in rough order of difficulty. The games come from various recent events, not least the British Championship and the Grand Chess Tour. Don’t forget that whilst sometimes the key move will force mate or the win of material, other times it will just win a pawn. Take your time analysing the positions, on our news page, assisted by a JavaScript chess engine.

10/6/2017 – A solid tactical understanding is sure to help any chess player in critical situations. Whether it is a simple exchange or a mating attack, tactics are ubiquitous. Take advantage of the opportunity to develop your tactical understanding in this series with IM Oliver Reeh and Pascal Simon! Friday at 3.30 pm CEST it's all about the double check!

10/6/2017 – From October 3rd to 5th, Sochi hosted the Russian Blitz and Rapid Championships. With individual and team events (both open and for women) in blitz and rapid it was a real chess festival that attracted a lot of strong players for a week of fast and exciting games. | Pictured: Gata Kamsky and Alexander Motylev | Photo: Vladimir Barsky, Russian Chess Federation

10/6/2017 – After 32.Rg3 (diagram) White's second rook has targeted an enemy knight. Not looking good for Black, right? But he still has an ace up his sleeve: 32...Rxf1+ 33.Kxf1 Ra8 with the threat 34...Ra1+! You are not going to change fronts now, are you?

10/5/2017 – Correspondence chess is a special form of "decelerated" chess. Alekhine, Keres, Euwe and many other top players liked to play correspondence chess and honed their skills with it. But, a lot of players disregard or ignore the pleasures and discoveries others find correspondence chess has to offer. The new "Corr Database 2018" is the biggest collection of correspondence games around, and a treasure trove of fantastic games and surprising opening ideas.