9/19/2019 – The 2019-2020 FIDE Women's Grand Prix, part of the Women's World Championship cycle, was inaugurated on Tuesday in Skolkovo, a business centre in Moscow also known as the Russian Silicon Valley. Twelve players are competing in the first of four single round-robin events that will grant two spots at the next Women's Candidates Tournament. | Photo: Official site

9/17/2019 – Women's world champion Ju Wenjun is the sole leader of the Skolkovo Grand Prix after six rounds. A three-player chasing group is close behind though, with Kateryna Lagno, Humpy Koneru and World Championship challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina all standing at a half-point distance. The twelve participants are having a rest day, before the final five rounds take place through next Monday. | Photo: David Llada / FIDE

9/2/2019 – A key tournament in the yearly calendar will keep chess fans entertained during most of September, as the FIDE World Cup kicks off on the 9th in Khanty-Mansiysk. Before that, Garry Kasparov will face Fabiano Caruana in a Chess960 match-up, while the first leg of the Women's Grand Prix will start in Moscow almost concurrently with the stellar event of the month. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage.

9/1/2019 – The eleven rounds of the Sinquefield Cup have already been incorporated into the latest FIDE rating list, published today. World Champion Magnus Carlsen continues to reign supreme at number one in the world rankings with 2876 Elo points, and Fabiano Caruana (2812) and Ding Liren (2811) remain in second and third places respectively. The gaps have narrowed, however: Carlsen and Caruana each lost 6 Elo points in the Sinquefield Cup, while Ding Liren ticked up the same amount. | Pictured: Garry Kasparov gives remarks at the Sinquefield Cup prize giving, one of five players in this frame who are or have been over 2800. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/9/2019 – The first round of the Russian Superfinals will be held on Saturday, August 10th, in Wotinsk, the Republic of Udmurtia. Vladislav Artemiev and Aleksandra Goryachkina are the favourites. The twelve-player round-robin tournaments are incredibly strong — the Open tournament carries an average Elo rating of 2688! Chess has recently become a compulsory subject in Russian schools, so the pace of Russian players isn't likely to diminish anytime soon. | Photo: Patricia Claros / Eteri Kublashvili

8/8/2019 – He was rated 2630, he was the 15th seed, and yet he went on to win the Belt and Road Hunan Open 2019 with a clear half point margin. How did Surya Sekhar Ganguly manage to do it? It is said that a chess tournament has a life of its own. In order to understand a success story, you have to study it from all angles. In this article, IM SAGAR SHAH tells you about Surya's frame of mind during the event, the games that he played, the opponents he faced and how he managed to come out strong and win the first prize of US$50,000. | Photos: Ganguly's Facebook page

8/1/2019 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen hit an Elo rating of 2882 in May 2014. Five years later, he's back at that exact same number on the official August list, and arguably stronger than ever, following a string of successes in the first seven months of 2019. Alireza Firouzja and Jeffrey Xiong are two top Juniors now over 2700, and Ju Wenjun has narrowed the gap between herself and Hou Yifan to 59 points. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

7/1/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for July2019 with a focus on the outcome of the Women's Candidates tournament won by 20-year old Russian phenom Aleksandra Goryachkina (pictured). In blitz, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has taken the #1 spot away from World Champion Magnus Carlsen thanks to his Norway Chess blitz win. And 58-year old GM Igors Rausis continues his improbable climb up the raking list by bashing much weaker players. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/18/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan concluded with two decisive results in round fourteen — Mariya Muzychuk inflicted a first loss on Aleksandra Goryachkina, while Tan Zhogyi defeated Valentina Gunina to finish with a 7 out of 14 score. As expected, Anna Muzychuk secured second place by splitting the point with Alexandra Kosteniuk. Third place was shared between Kateryna Lagno and Tan Zhongyi. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/17/2019 – The Women's Candidates is taking place in Kazan, Russia from May 31 to June 17. In addition to the EUR €200,000 prize fund, the largest in history for a tournament of this kind, the winner earns the right to challenge World Champion Ju Wenjun in match play. And the winner is Aleksandra Goryachkina! With one round to go she leads with 9½/13 and is 2 points ahead of her closest rival, Anna Muzychuk. The 14th and last round starts at 3:00 pm local time (12 Noon UTC / 14:00 CEST). Follow the games live, with video commentary by GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko. | Picture: FIDE Chess

6/14/2019 – Aleksandra Goryachkina had a winning position against Tan Zhongyi in round twelve of the Women's Candidates Tournament, but decided to go for perpetual check and sign a draw, as this secured her first place in Kazan. The 20-year-old will play Ju Wenjun in the next Women's World Championship match. Meanwhile, Anna Muzychuk, Valentina Gunina and Nana Dzagnidze won their round twelve games. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

6/12/2019 – Round ten of the Women's Candidates Tournaments in Kazan finished with three draws and a single decisive game — Alexandra Kosteniuk took down Valentina Gunina with the white pieces. Meanwhile, in the crucial duel of the day, Kateryna Lagno could not overcome clear leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, which means the youngster kept her 2½-point lead over her compatriot with only four rounds to go. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich

6/11/2019 – Aleksandra Goryachkina has won six games and drawn three at the 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. In round nine, she defeated Valentina Gunina for a second time in the event, thus getting 2½-point lead over second place with five rounds to go. Anna and Mariya Muzychuk also won and now share third place with 4½ out of 9 points. Kateryna Lagno is still in sole second place, after saving a draw against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/7/2019 – For a second time at the 2019 Women's Candidates, all four games of a round finished decisively. The results of round six all favoured sole leader Aleksandra Goryachkina, who was losing against her closest chaser, Nana Dzagnidze, but ended up getting the full point after the Georgian faltered by playing too passively. Both Muzychuk sisters won and left the cellar, as did Kateryna Lagno, who now shares second place with Dzagnidze. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

6/3/2019 – The Candidates tournament for the Women's World Championship technically began in May, but it's primarily a June affair. Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen is in action in Stavanger for the seventh time, and World Chess is trying a new format in Moscow that also involves Armageddon. You'll find all of these events and more covered in our live games broadcast area Live.ChessBase.com and we'll also be providing News coverage as well.

6/3/2019 – Our monthly look at the FIDE ratings for June 2019 starts with World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who has a chance to break his own all-time rating record this month. That would go a long way towards cementing a claim on the greatest-of-all-time honours. Pictured, however, is Cuban-born Leinier Dominguez, who now plays for the USA, and after a long hiatus is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 at 2760, just 8 points shy of his personal peak rating. That was set back in May 2014, when he briefly hit 2768. Do you know who else was at his peak that month five years ago? Magnus Carlsen! | Photo: Justin Kellar / Saint Louis Chess Club

6/1/2019 – The 2019 Women's Candidates Tournament started on Friday in Kazan. All four games of round one were drawn, but a couple of them could have easily finished decisively. Valentina Gunina faltered in time trouble against Kateryna Lagno, but later showed great resourcefulness to save the half point, while Aleksandra Goryachkina missed a couple of chances against Alexandra Kosteniuk. | Photo: Anastasya Karlovich

5/30/2019 – Today is the official start of the Women's Candidates Tournament in Kazan. A press conference will be held and in the evening the opening ceremony will take place. The first round will be played on May 31st, starting at 2:00 pm CEST. With 200,000 euros, this is the most highly endowed women's tournament in history. | Image: Official site: fwct2019.com