8/12/2018 – At the start of the 2018 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, all eyes were on Fabiano Caruana, as everybody in the United States is eager to see how he will do in the match against Magnus Carlsen. Fabiano responded in kind by winning all three games in spectacular fashion. He is now the sole leader of the event, which continues until Wednesday. V SARAVANAN sent a full report from Missouri. | Pictured: Fabiano Caruana with Alejandro Ramirez and Rustam Kasimdzhanov | Photo: V. Saravanan

7/19/2018 – 40 years ago this week, Karpov and Korchnoi started their fight for the world title in Baguio City on the Philippines. Yesterday we published a lengthy interview with Karpov, who won the match 6 : 5, but Korchnoi almost became world champion. A good occasion to take a look at Genna Sosonko's new book "Evil-Doer: Half a Century with Viktor Korchnoi", a fine memoir of one of the most interesting chess players of the 20th century. | Pictured: Korchnoi and Sosonko | Photo courtesy Elk and Ruby

6/23/2018 – Another single round-robin of rapid chess was completed in Paris over the past three days. This weekend the French capital hosts a double-round blitz tournament, with the scores of the two tournaments combined to produce an overall winner. As before in Leuven, the lead in the standings is in the hands of the American Wesley So, but this time his margin is much narrower, as he has only one point more than his compatriot Hikaru Nakamura and the Russian former World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin. Today, So calmly drew all three of his games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/21/2018 – After the second day of the GCT rapid tournament in Paris, as in Leuven last week, Wesley So has taken the lead again. Today, the US Grandmaster won two games and played one draw. In the live Rapid Elo list So has now gained 86 points and is second behind Magnus Carlsen. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/21/2018 – The second leg of the Grand Chess Tour has begun, with three rapid chess rounds played in Paris today. After the first third of the rapid round-robin, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Wesley So are in the lead with 4 points each. Paris, like the tournament in Leuven last week, uses double-points scoring for the rapid games, which will be combined with the scores in the blitz tournament this weekend to produce an overall winner. Photos: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/16/2018 – In the Belgian city of Leuven, the "Your Next Move Rapid & Blitz" ended today with the victory of the American Wesley So. His score in the rapid tournament, which ended on Thursday, gave him a substantial lead in the overall standings. But a bad run of form in the blitz saw his lead melt away to zero, and set up an exciting if somewhat unlikely final round that saw So — but also his closest rivals Sergey Karjakin and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — all lose. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/13/2018 – Wesley So had the best start on the first day of the rapid tournament in Leuven and leads after wins over Caruana and Mamedyarov and a draw netting him 2½ points, using traditional scoring. Sergey Karjakin and Levon Aronian trail with 2 points. Rapid game point tallies will, however, count double in the final standings. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

6/8/2018 – Tension to the end! After Carlsen and Vachier-Lagrave drew early and Nakamura and Aronian followed the example a bit later, it was up to Caruana and So to decide if we would see a clear winner or a five-way playoff. So attacked bravely, but in a wild time-scramble, Caruana gained the upper hand and thus became tournament winner. Games annotated by GMs DANIEL FERNANDEZ and DANIEL KING | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess

6/7/2018 – Magnus Carlsen made a quick draw against Vachier-Lagrave in the final round, aiming to take his chances in a tiebreak with one or more of his colleagues. And indeed, we looked to be heading to a five-way playoff after draws from Nakamura (vs Aronian) and a win from Anand (over Karjakin), while Caruana-So looked to be also heading for a split point. But in a dramatic turnaround right after the time-control, Wesley So blundered, and Caruana went on to win and take the Altibox Norway Chess 2018 title! Replay the games and commentary!

6/7/2018 – Fabiana Caruana defeated Viswanathan Anand today with his dangerous Petroff Defence and Hikaru Nakamura also scored — his first full point came at a crucial moment against Sergey Karjakin. Thus, before the last round, Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura all lead the bottom half of the field. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess

6/6/2018 – Leader Magnus Carlsen was without a game Tuesday and therefore watched from the Norwegian TV2 live broadcast studio to see if Wesley So would overtake him by defeating Mamedyarov. So only managed a draw, alongside two other boards. The one decision of the day was Viswanathan Anand's win with black against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave which brings Anand to join the leaders. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Norway Chess

6/4/2018 – Wesley So showed his usual modesty when he declared that he had "caught Magnus on a bad day", after defeating the World Champion for the first time in his career. Carlsen was not at his best today — his light-squared bishop looked particularly tragic, as it spent most of the game stranded on the b1-h7 diagonal. The remaining games ended in a draw. | Photo: Lennart Ootes