2/12/2020 – All five games of the Cairns Cup ended decisively on Tuesday, leaving Ju Wenjun and Alexandra Kosteniuk in the shared lead on 3½ out of 5. Humpy Koneru took down former sole leader Nana Dagnidze, Valentina Gunina scored a fine attacking win against Harika Dronavalli and Carissa Yip got on the scoreboard with a victory over compatriot Irina Krush. The players will rest on Wednesday before returning to the fray for the final four rounds. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

2/11/2020 – Nana Dzagnidze is still leading the second edition of the Cairns Cup after none of the chasers scored wins in round four. Ju Wenjun and Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) did get to join the players trailing a half point behind the Georgian though, after beating Valentina Gunina and Carissa Yip respectively. The rest of the games finished drawn, with Irina Krush missing a good chance to take down Harika Dronavalli. | Photo: Austin Fuller

2/1/2020 – Fabiano Caruana did phenomenally at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee and was able to reduce his Elo distance to World Champion Magnus Carlsen from 50 to 20 points — Carlsen now stands at 2862 and Caruana at 2842. Ju Wenjun remained Women's World Champion, and world number two. Firouzja won the Juniors battle in the Tata Steel Masters, and Zhansaya Abdumalik maintains a healthy lead in among the top girls. | Pictured: Caruana watches the game Firouzja vs Dubov | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/24/2020 – The 2020 Women's World Championship came to a dramatic finale on Friday with a four-game rapid tiebreak. After a pair of draws, Ju Wenjun struck first with a win in the third game. But unlike in the final classical game, Goryachkina was not able to equalize the score and force the tiebreak into the blitz phase. Ju hung on for a draw, winning the tiebreak, the match and thereby retaining her title as Women's World Champion. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/24/2020 – The Women's World Chess Championship was decided by tie-breaks! Ju Wenjun won the third of four rapid games which was enough to retain her World Champions title. The final regulation game was a must-win for the challenger Goryachkina and she delivered, sending the match to rapid tiebreaks in Vladivostock tomorrow at 5:30 UTC (6:30 CET, 12:30 AM EST) with commentary by GM Nigel Short & GM Hou Yifan. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/23/2020 – With one regular match game to be played the momentum was very much on the side of current World Champion Ju Wenjun, who won back-to-back points in games 9 and 10 then easily made a draw in game 11. Her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina came into game 12 in Vladivostock knowing that she had to win at all costs. And she delivered! With the match now tied at 6:6, the World Championship will be decided in a tiebreaking series of rapid (and even blitz) games on Friday starting at the same time: 5:30 UTC (6:30 CET, 12:30 AM EST) with commentary by GM Nigel Short & GM Hou Yifan. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/22/2020 – Chinese defending champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina from Russia are playing a twelve-game match at locations Shanghai and Vladivostok. Game 11 of the Women's World Championship Match ends in a draw after 40 moves. Defending champion Ju Wenjun is leading 6-5. In the final game on Jan 23, the challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina has White in a must-win situation. Ju Wenjun took the lead with back-to-back wins in Game 9 and Game 10. The second half in Vladivostock starts two hours earlier with games commencing at 5:30 UTC (6:30 CET, 12:30 AM EST). | Photos: Zhang Yanhong, Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

1/18/2020 – With a convincing win in game eight, challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina took the lead in the Women's World Championship match against defending champion Ju Wenjun. After 8 of 12 games, it is now 4½ : 3½ to Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / wwcm2020.fide.com

1/15/2020 – In Shanghai on Sunday, the sixth game of the women's world championship between Ju Wenjun and Aleksandra Goryachkina ended in a draw. Goryachkina pulled out all the stops until the 105th move, but the fortress of the defending champion held fast. The match is all tied up at 3:3, and the action now moves to Vladivostok. Get up to speed on the first half's action in time for Thursday's Game 7. | Photos: Zhang Yanhong FIDE / Official site

1/10/2020 – Power Play in 2020! On the show today: Ju Wenjun - Goryachkina. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

1/4/2020 – The new chess year 2020 starts with a World Championship. World Champion Ju Wenjun and her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina compete for the title of World Champion for women in a match split between Shanghai and Vladivostok. The first of a total of 12 games will be played on Sunday, January 5th. | Photos: cca.imsa.cn

1/1/2020 – Happy New Year! World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads into 2020 with a 50 Elo point lead in the classical ratings and a 45 point lead on the rapid list. Yet, despite winning the recent World Blitz Championship in a playoff over Hikaru Nakamura, the American clings to a 13 point margin atop the world blitz rankings. Alireza Firouzja, who gave both a run for their money in Moscow, is now #1 on the Juniors rankings. | Photos: Amruta Mokal / Jingda Chen on Unsplash