4/28/2018 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads the 5th Shamkir Chess tournament in memory of Vugar Gashimov, being played in Azerbaijan from April 19th to 28th. Live games and commentary from 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EDT)

4/27/2018 – Veselin Topalov has yielded the lead to Magnus Carlsen at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial. In their head-to-head encounter, Topalov gave up his queen for rook and bishop, but could not hold the game against the reinvigorated world champion. Ding Liren also came out on top against the floundering David Navara. Is Carlsen's success off the board foreshadowing a Norwegian win in Shamkir? GM Daniel Fernandez annotates all games of round seven. | Photos: ShamkirChess.az

4/25/2018 – Round 6 of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir brought interesting games, but only one win. Anish Giri benefited from a tactical blackout by David Navara, to net his first full point of the tournament. The four remaining games ended in a draw, two without much excitement, but two after an interesting run. | Photos: Shamkir Chess

4/24/2018 – After a lethargic start, the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir has slowly gained momentum. On Monday two games were decided: Magnus Carlsen celebrated his first win, against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and Veselin Topalov made it two in a row by beating David Navara with the black pieces. Topalov continues in sole first place as we reach the one and only rest day. | Photos: Shamkirchess.az

4/23/2018 – After 15 draws over the first three rounds in Shamkir, Sunday's round saw one of the players finally win a game. Veselin Toplalov wrestled with Shakriyar Mamedyarov in a razor-sharp Open Spanish and thus takes over the sole lead. Plus: David Navara analyzes the Caro-Kann until the end, Anish Giri lets Liren Ding off the hook and Teimour Radjabov explains his strategy with White against World Champion Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

4/22/2018 – At the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijani, the curious "remis-sery" (to use a cross-language pun) could not be broken in the third round either. The ten top grandmasters have played fifteen games; because none of them was decided, there are naturally also ten "leaders" with 1½ points. GM Alex Yermolinsky reports that things could have changed today round three, which saw the Bulgarian ex-FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov miss a winning chance against Ding Liren. Unfortunately, of the two ways in which Topalov could sacrifice his knight, Topalov chose the wrong one, and Ding could save the game in a draw. | Photo: Shamkirchess.az

4/20/2018 – The first round of the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir ended with five draws, and the second round also brought five draws. The most excitement offered the game between Anish Giri and Veselin Topalov but in the end the two players shared the point. | Photos: Shamkir Chess

4/20/2018 – The Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan began with five draws. The top game between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Magnus Carlsen was rather unspectacular. The best chances for a victory were held by Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren, but at the crucial moment against Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Ding lacked a killer instinct. | Photo: shamkirchess.az

3/28/2018 – GM Daniel King was, of course, one of our round-up show hosts, but he also covered the Candidates Tournament in Berlin round-by-round for his Power Play YouTube Channel, culminating in extensive reporting from on-site for the final two rounds. In case you missed some of his great work, we present it here in one convenient place. Grandmaster analysis in easily digestible bites.

3/28/2018 – With a confident performance in the last round, Fabiano Caruana secured victory in the 2018 Candidates Tournament in Berlin. He played against Alexander Grischuk with a half point lead, and as the round progressed it became clear that a draw would be enough for the tournament victory. But that wasn't enough for Caruana, who pressed on for the full point and finished with a fantastic 9.0 / 14 score and clear first. | Photo: World Chess

3/27/2018 – The final four games, the final four players who have a chance — Monday's play brought some clarity to the stakes in the last round, but Tuesday is shaping up to be a barn-burner. Sergey Karjakin's late surge (since Saturday) stalled as he made a dry draw against Wesley So from, and he puts all his hopes on Tuesday's game. Fabiano Caruana took advantage: The American won in a wild melee against Levon Aronian and is now half a point ahead of Karjakin. And Shakh is back: the Azerbaijani world number two won Monday against Grischuk and is now equal second with Karjakin. Ding is the dark horse who will have to go all-out to win. | Photo: Niki Riga

3/26/2018 – The first thirteen rounds of the Candidates Tournament brought top-class chess, brilliant games and many surprises. And the finale is set up to be exciting: four players can still hope to win the tournament and become the challenger of Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano Caruana takes a small lead into the final round, but with two other players within a half point of first, we can see a maximum of three players tied after Tuesday's final round. Who has the best chances? Read on... | Pictured: Sergei Karjakin in profile | Photo: Niki Riga