1/17/2018 – Yesterday Anand caused a sensation, but in today's fourth round it was Vladimir Kramnik's turn to be the ex-World Champion star. After just 24, moves Peter Svidler gave up resistance as his lifetime classical score versus Kramnik dips to -8. Anish Giri and Anand remain in the lead in the Masters. In Challengers Korobov and Vidit extended their lead to a full point. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/16/2018 – Magnus Carlsen drew quickly with Wei Yi to start round three, and there were more draws to follow including the leader Anish Giri. That gave Anand an opportunity to pull equal on 2½ points. In the challengers, top seed Vidit Gujrathi scored for the second straight day, but Anton Korobov kept pace, and both now stand at 2½ as well. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/15/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won in round two and, as luck would have it, two of three co-leaders after the first round met in round two. Anish Giri toppled Vladimir Kramnik, while Vishy Anand drew, so the Dutchman moves to the fore. In the Challengers group, no one can claim a perfect score after two rounds. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez dissects the Masters games in detail. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/14/2018 – One down, twelve to go; Tata Steel Chess is often described as a "marathon" — more of a "Belmont Stakes" than a "Preakness" — where anyone can recover from a loss and the early lead isn't necessarily indicative of how things will be down the stretch. Still, it's nice to be out in front! Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri, jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, as Anand starts his bid for a record busting sixth Wijk aan Zee title. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez breaks down the action in our extensive round one report. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

12/31/2017 – After a thrilling two days of action, we saw severe turnarounds by the challengers on Day 2. Magnus Carlsen capped a brilliant day with a massive score against the world's best to snatch gold. Sergey Karjakin fought back to win silver, and Vishy Anand concluded his magnificent run with bronze. In the Women's event, Pia Cramling faded as she lost steam, while Nana Dzagnidze took gold. We bring a massive report by Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: riyadh.fide.com

12/30/2017 – The second stage is underway in Riyadh. 138 players are contesting the World Blitz Championship title in a 21-round Swiss, played over two days. At stake is a quarter-million first prize and the title of World Blitz Champion. After 11 rounds of wild action, defending champion, Sergey Karjakin has taken the lead, while the women's section, veteran Pia Cramling stormed to a commanding lead. Report and analysis by Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

12/12/2017 – Ian Nepomniachtchi made a quick draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in under 30 minutes giving him a share of first place. But he had to wait nearly six hours to find out that Fabiano Caruana had equaled his score. The pair played an exciting blitz duel, which ended with Caruana as the London Chess Classic champ, while Magnus Carlsen took the overall Grand Chess Tour. Games annotated by GM Daniel Fernandez | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/11/2017 – The official Grand Chess Tour webcast is a treasure trove of information, and the best, most convenient way to hear directly from the players after nearly every game. But at five hours or more, it can be tiresome to scan through each days full show to find the interesting guests spots. No more! We've pinpointed every major interview for one-click access.

12/11/2017 – Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana tied for first place after nine rounds, leading to a blitz playoff, won by Caruana. But Magnus Carlsen took the Grand Chess Tour as a whole. The GCT finale was the 9th London Chess Classic, a 10-player round-robin, with a prize fund of USD $300,000. The LCC will return in 2018 with a new format.

12/11/2017 – Round 8 saw a startling blunder from the World Champion whose frustration following the game was palpable. We have analysis of that critical game by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. Ian Nepomniachtchi now leads the tournament alone, half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana, who drew his game. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in third. | Photo: Pascal Simon

12/10/2017 – The tournament is now in full swing, and the thrilling battles in round seven show it. Magnus Carlsen had the strangest game, finding himself dead lost after 13 moves with his queen stuck in enemy territory. Somehow he cast his voodoo spell and turned it around to a win. Karjakin decided to test MVL's Najdorf and was to regret it, while Nepomniachtchi scored his second win, over Anand this time. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: Pascal Simon

12/6/2017 – A win! A win was scored! Let us all dance, rejoice and make merry! For those who have followed this very disappointing start to an all-star lineup, such words are not hyperbole in any way or form. 19 draws and one decisive game represents a 95% draw rate after all. Sergey Karjakin fell to Fabiano Caruana when he found himself in unknown territory, and the latter, sensing weakness, pounced in a game annotated by GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/5/2017 – The bad news is that after three rounds, it has been 100% draws. Caruana even tweeted tongue-in-cheek, "We're thinking of renaming it to the Anish Giri Cup." The good news is that some players are clearly trying their best to break the fast. Aronian did everything he could, sacrificing material helter-skelter against Karjakin. When he was dead lost... he offered a draw. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/4/2017 – If the first round looked like a car left in neutral, then round two was barely in second gear. Karjakin and Carlsen left their battles for another time, while So failed to make the most of a strange opening choice by Nepo. The game of the day was the sharp as nails Sicilian Dragon between Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura, giving the audience something to cheer for. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

11/30/2017 – A detailed review of our recent ChessBase Magazine from Prof. Nagesh Havanur. Among other things this issue includes all games from Sinquefield Cup, FIDE Grand Prix Geneva, Biel Festival and Dortmund FIDE Grand Prix Tournaments. The icing on the cake is the set of games from Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz event with Kasparov’s participation. Our reviewer re-examines two of his games and also sets up a little test for young readers from the Carlsen-Aronian encounter at Sinquefield Cup. 955 games (several annotated) with 12 opening surveys from Sicilian to Semi-Slav. Not to be missed.

11/30/2017 – The 11th Kings Tournament was the first edition held in memory of legendary Romanian player, organiser and teacher, Elisabeta Polihroniade, who helmed the event for its first nine years until her death in 2016 at age 80. A large scholastic event including a simul by Anatoly Karpov started the festivities last Friday in Bucharest. This year's tournament — a pair of four-player double round-robins — was won by Ukrainian's Vassily Ivanchuk and Anna Muzychuk, and was broadcast live on ChessBase with grandmaster commentary. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

11/28/2017 – Vassily Ivanchuk was impressive on his way to winning the blitz tournament and at one point was leading by three full points. He finished two points clear of Sergey Karjakin. Anna Muzychuk lead the women's tournament from start to finish, ultimately scoring 1½ points more than her nearest rival Elisabeth Paehtz. The tournament (November 24th-29th) was held in memory of Elisabeta Polihroniade who helmed the event for its first nine years until her death in 2016 at age 80. Ivanchuk and Muzychuk also won their respective rapid tournaments for a clean sweep!

10/29/2017 – Nodirbek Abdusattorov has GM norms from last year's Chigorin Memorial and from Abu Dhabi 2017. And now he's added a third in the Chigorin Memorial in St. Petersburg this weekend. Combined with a rating over 2500 he has met the qualifications for the GM title several months ahead of the previous record held by Parimarjan Negi. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

9/13/2017 – Checking in on World Championship candidates qualification, the twists and turns that have already occurred and are still to come as the drama mounts and the pool of players shrinks. For many potential candidates the World Cup is the only possible route to qualification, but some have multiple paths to follow. Will Mamedyarov and Caruana stay on track despite being eliminated from the World Cup? Who else can join Sergey Karjakin to attempt to overthrow Magnus Carlsen next year? | Player drawings: WorldChess.com/ratings

9/8/2017 – It might be appropriate to call this an end of an era. After nearly two decades, we will not be seeing Vishy Anand fighting for the Candidates as he was knocked out in the second round of the World Cup 2017 by Anton Kovalyov. Defending champion Karjakin did not fare better as his opponent Dubov showed deep preparation which led to a convincing win. Michael Adams is another world class player who was eliminated. Ten players qualified for round three, 22 matches go into the tiebreaks. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

8/21/2017 – Defending champion Wesley So went through a rough patch at the Sinquefield Cup 2017, scoring just 3.0 / 9 and tying for dead last (with Nepomniachtchi). There is no doubt about his potential and he's shown his tremendous playing strength in the past. We take a deep dive into his tournament to try to understand what went wrong | Photos: Lennart Ootes

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