8/20/2017 – This week's column comes from the game of San Francisco bay area computer scientist Dr. Shivaji Shivkumar (pictured), a FIDE Master, with experience on open source chess projects. He sent in two games: a win over GM Anna Zatonskih, and a loss against GM Georg Meier.

8/20/2017 – The Austrian Rudolf Spielmann was a brilliant attacking player and a predecessor of Mihail Tal. His book "Richtig Opfern!" (The Art of Sacrifice in Chess) is considered to be a classic of attacking chess. Spielmann died under tragic circumstances on 20. August 1942, 75 years ago.

8/20/2017 – The thrills and spills from Day 4 continued into the final round-robin. Karjakin's surge faded, and he ended in a tie for second with Hikaru Nakamura. But neither player could catch Levon Aronian, who stayed one step ahead in the combined standings, to clinch first place overall with two rounds to spare. Garry Kasparov finally hit his stride, scoring 5½ / 9 on the final day. If the blitz were a standalone tournament, Kasparov would have been fifth. Here are some of Friday's highlights. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

8/19/2017 – The live action continued Saturday featuring the now-traditional trash-talk filled blitz bonanza known as Ultimate Moves. "Team Rex" squeaked out the victory after a 3/3 tie sparked an wild impromptu tiebreak game (not planned in advance), which was unceremoniously concluded by an illegal move made by Randy Sinquefield!

8/19/2017 – Following on the heels of the Sinquefield Cup, the Saint Louis Blitz and Rapid lasted just five days, with each webcast lasting about 4½ hours. Most player interviews took place at the end of the day, after the rapid or blitz games concluded. For posterity, we've once again compiled quick links to all those post-game chats with Maurice Ashley and Cristian Chirila. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

8/18/2017 – With his pawn on h6 the diagram position would be absolutely fine for Black. The way things are, however, White has a splendid sequence to exploit the enemy back rank weakness. Six moves spot-on - can you do it like him?

8/18/2017 – Reigning World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin dominated the first leg of the Blitz event as he scored 8 points out of a possible 9, but still pronounced that he was ‘actually very angry that I didn’t win my first game against Garry!’ in their mutual encounter. Aronian continues to lead the overall standings comprising the score from the Rapid event as well. One more round-robin cycle of Blitz remains to be played on Friday, August 18th. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

8/18/2017 – The Match of the Century was coming to a head, with Spassky, but despite all his efforts, unable to reduce the deficit. "I felt that Fischer was like a large fish in my hands," he lamented, "one that was slippery and hard to hold on to. At certain moments I let him slip. And then again the psychological torment would begin. Everything had to be begun again from the start ..." Spassky was beginning to feel despondent. | Photo: Skáksamband Íslands

8/18/2017 – In the Chinese metropolis of Wenzhou last week, a four game match, dubbed the "Xinqiao Cup", was played between the two world-class players Anish Giri (Netherlands) and Ding Liren (China). Three games were drawn but Giri reeled in one full point to win the match 2.5:1.5. The decisive game contained several interesting moments worthy of further study. | Photos: www.qipai.org.cn

8/17/2017 – Where Kasparov is, there is drama. On the last day of rapid at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, the 13th World Champion was particularly emotive after he completely outplayed David Navara, only to spoil the game utterly. Levon Aronian leads the field alone. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

8/16/2017 – After six rounds of rapid, Nepomniachtchi leads with 4.0 / 6. He dealt the first loss to Garry Kasparov in Round 5, as the 13th World Champion sits near the bottom of the cross table. But a large group is just half point behind with 3½ points. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

8/16/2017 – Endgames are the soul of the chess games. This would probably be a phrase from GM Karsten Müller. The german grandmaster is one of the leading experts when it comes to endgames. He published books and DVD's about this topic. In his Endgame Magic Show Müller invites strong players and shows recent examples of the tournament praxis. Starting at 3pm Uk time. Guest: IM Irene Sukandar