7/31/2019 – After winning a tournament, players usually take a quick draw in the last round to go and celebrate. Not Vidit! He fought tooth and nail and managed to outplay Maghsoodloo in a reversed King's Indian as Black to end the tournament a whopping 6 points clear of his nearest competitor (using Biel's weighted scoring system)! Shankland was lost for the majority of an exchange-up endgame against Leko, but somehow survived to take second and relegate Leko to third. Georgiadis thumped Cori's indecisive play with a piece sacrifice and won an attacking beauty. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/29/2019 – Change is never pleasant, but when one succeeds in expanding his skill set the results are often staggering - ask Vidit Gujrathi! His attacking masterclass over Bogner sees Vidit just 3 points away from his 1st Biel title! Sam Shankland was a surprise victim today - Jorge Cori played splendidly in a reversed French structure to hand the American a potentially decisive loss and come closer to the coveted 2700 mark. Abdusattorov came back from the brink to stun Georgiadis, while Leko blundered deep into the endgame to switch places with Maghsoodloo in the points table.

7/28/2019 – After the rapid tournament, one felt that Vidit was not playing his best chess. But his play improved towards the end of rapid and in the classical event! After dominating the first four rounds of the classical, he now razed the field in Blitz with a powerful 11.0/14! His victory in this section followed a well-known pattern: ruthless against the bottom half with 8.0/8(!) and holding his own against the remaining three by breaking even (3.0/6). Sam Shankland played superbly as well, but a last round loss from a completely winning position ruined his chances, and he now trails the two-player race by a point with three Classical games left to play. TANMAY SRINATH has an exhaustive report. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/26/2019 – Really? Game of the year? You heard it right! After an opening mistake from Vidit Gujrathi, Nico Georgiadis turned on beast mode and made it to an endgame a pawn up. However, instead of a routine piece capture, he had a chance to end the game with a spectacular piece sacrifice! Vidit survived by the scruff of his neck, and is now joined at the top by Sam Shankland, who produced a Sicilian miniature consisting of temporary piece and exchange sacrifices to down Maghsoodloo in only 26 moves. Friday is the tournament's rest day, so play resumes on Saturday with blitz!

7/25/2019 – Vidit Gujrathi didn't play perfect chess, but his slow and steady build-up was too much for Peter Leko to take, and the Indian GM now takes over sole lead in the tournament. Nodirbek Abdusattorov handed Sam Shankland a defeat in the 4.d3 Anti-Berlin after the 2018 US Champion lost his objectivity and overextended his queenside. Parham Maghsoodloo's loss of form turned worrying, as an overestimation cost him a sure draw, with Jorge Cori being the lucky beneficiary. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/24/2019 – One doesn't lose forever! Sebastian Bogner, the current Swiss Champion, taught us all how to get out of a rut by clinically destroying Parham Maghsoodloo's weak opening play to get himself back into contention. Sam Shankland had the (missed) chance of the round against Vidit, but the American failed to assess properly the best continuation available to him. Peter Leko continued his remarkable fable by turning over a new leaf yet again — his game against Georgiadis lasted an epic 101 moves!

6/21/2019 – The Summer Classic 2019 in Saint Louis consists of three tournaments with six players each held from June 18th to 28th. Sam Shankland is the top seed in the A group, but lost his first round game to the tournament leader David Howell. Another 'Sam' — Sam Sevian — heads the B group but Surya Ganguly is off to a strong start with 2½/3. | Pictured: Swiercz vs. Jones via commentary webcast with GM Jesse Kraai and Caleb Denby

4/1/2019 – Four years after getting his fourth national title, Hikaru Nakamura became the clear winner of the 2019 US Chess Championship. He defeated Jeffery Xiong with the black pieces, while Leinier Dominguez and Fabiano Caruana — who were tied at the top with him after ten rounds — only added half points to their tallies. It was an exciting final day at the Saint Louis Chess Club, as at some point it seemed like Dominguez would also get a win against Timur Gareyev. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

3/30/2019 – Only three out of twelve games finished drawn in Friday's ninth round at the US Championships in Saint Louis. In the Open, those on top maintained their winning ways, with Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Dominguez still sharing the lead. Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So also won and are the only ones with realistic chances of leaping to the front in the final sprint. In the Women's, Anna Zatonskih is a half point behind her round ten rival, Jennifer Yu. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

3/19/2019 – The U.S. Chess Championship and U.S. Women's Chess Championship will take place for an eleventh time at the Saint Louis Chess Club starting on Wednesday. The opening ceremony was held on Monday March 18th. Two concurrent twelve-player round robin events will determine the new chess champions of the United States. The open section has a stellar line-up, with five 2700+ players for the first time in the national tournament, as Leinier Dominguez will make his debut as an American representative. Fabiano Caruana (pictured) is the top seed. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

3/16/2019 – Nikita Vitiugov won the 1st Prague Masters with a last round draw against Richard Rapport, that was enough to keep his half point lead intact. The 'Polish derby' between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek ended drawn, and so with a last round win Vidit snuck into second place. It was the centrepiece of a new chess festival in Prague that proponents hope will continue for many years to come. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

3/15/2019 – The Challengers tournament of the Prague Chess Festival ended yesterday with a victory of Spanish GM David Anton, who drew his last round game with Praggnanandhaa. Runner-up was Jan Krejci from the Czech Republic while Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun came third. In the Masters, Nikita Vitiugov coasted to tournament victory today. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr