7/30/2016 – The idea of critical moments is not hard to understand, and perhaps because of this is so easy to underestimate. These key moments in our games are essentially the turning point, leading to a decisive and negative change if missed or played improperly. Veteran trainer Adrian Mikhalchishin casts his expert eye on this topic to teach the student to recognize them and not misplay them.

7/30/2016 – In the midst of revolutionary turmoil, Turkey still hosted its top chess league, the Turkish İş Bank Chess League, with stars such as Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2764), Vassily Ivanchuk (2728), Ernesto Inarkiev (2730), and many more. It is held in in Izmir, at the Kaya Thermal Hotel, and has reached its midway point with six of thirteen rounds, with tons of great action. Here is the illustrated report with games.

7/30/2016 – Magnus Carlsen has won the event twice before. This year the Norwegian World Champion, playing in a six-player double round robin, started slowly, losing for the first time to Hikaru Nakamura in the classical time limit. He went on to win four games, one more than all his opponents combined. Huffington Post columnist GM Lubomir Kavalek analyses two games of the winner who turned the other world-class players into spectators.

7/29/2016 – The 2016 Sinquefield Cup, one of the strongest tournaments of the year, will start in about a week, on 5th August, in St. Louis. Unfortunately Vladimir Kramnik, with a rating of 2812 currently officially number two in the world, had to withdraw due to health issues. But with Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri, Ding Liren, Vishy Anand, Wesley So and Veselin Topalov the line-up is still enormously impressive, promising a fantastic tournament. Press release...

7/29/2016 – Bournemouth, the large resort town on the south coast of England, hosts the 103rd British Championships. From 23rd July to 6th August a large number of various tournaments are played. 86 players start in the Championship group, among them Michael Adams, David Howell and Gawain Jones. After four rounds these three all have 3.5/4 and share the lead with Nicholas Pert, Keith Arkell and Justin Tan. After each round Andrew Martin presents the game of the day.

7/29/2016 – As so often before it was the Najdorf that brought Maxime Vachier-Lagrave an important victory. The French Grandmaster had Black in the third game of his match against Peter Svidler, and Svidler, who had to win the game to stay in the match, tried an unusual, sharp line of the Najdorf. But while Vachier-Lagrave at one point in the game was worse he managed to win with a surprising counterattack. Including rapid and classical games Vachier-Lagrave now leads 7.5-2.5 and won the match with one round to go.

7/29/2016 – The Karpov Tournament in Poikovsky that honors the 12. World Champion has a long tradition and traditionally is very strong. The 17th edition is a category 18 ten player round-robin with an Elo-average of 2679. After five rounds the Ukrainian Grandmaster Anton Korobov leads with 3.5/5. Half-a-point behind follow Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Maxim Matlakov with 3.0/5.

7/29/2016 – Tactics can seem deceptively simple, particularly when seeing an engine analysing grandmaster games. Strange, however, how difficult it is to find the right move and to calculate variations properly when playing yourself. It is easier if you solve tactical puzzles regularly. In the ChessBase Magazine and his tactics column Oliver Reeh helps you to do so.

7/28/2016 – On Tuesday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored the first win in his match against Peter Svidler in Biel. In their second game with classical time-control Vachier-Lagrave used a small inaccuracy by Svidler to liquidate into a better endgame which he could win. In the "Junior Challenge" Benjamin Bok outplayed Nico Georgiadis in a Benoni. Daniel King talked with the winners and the losers of the day. Video, impressions, games...

7/28/2016 – The Swedish Championships, which took place from 15th to 24th July in Uppsala, were a big chess festival with tournaments for players of all levels and all ages. The "Mästarklassen", the Master Class, a ten player round-robin event, was dominated by Erik Blomqvist. After starting with three draws he decided it was time for action and went on to win all of his six remaining games to become Swedish Champion 2016.

7/28/2016 – The Leiden Chess Tournament was into its tenth year and the organizers decided to spice things up by inviting the Dutch GM Loek van Wely to participate in the tournament. Although King Loek was the strongest player at the event, it was GM Roeland Pruijssers who emerged victorious. In the first part of our report from Leiden we have a lot of interesting game analyses, including comments sent to us by the winner himself. Big illustrated report.

7/27/2016 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, or "MVL", is on a winning streak. After recently winning the grandmaster tournament in Dortmund with 5.5/7 he now has a virtual rating of 2814.8 and is the clear number two in the world. His run continues in Biel. He won the rapid part of his match against Peter Svidler 2.5-1.5 and leads 1.5-0.5 after two classical games. Today, in a live-masterclass with Daniel King, the French Grandmaster answers questions and talks to the public. It starts at 16.30 CEST. Don't miss it!