5/29/2020 – Magnus Carlsen is famous for his will to win. In a recent interview with CNN that compares the World Champion to iconic basketball star Michael Jordan, Carlsen talks about competitiveness, his approach to chess and discusses how ruthless you have to be to win. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/29/2020 – The first rubber of the Lindores Abbey Challenge semi-finals were played on Thursday. Magnus Carlsen displayed enterprising chess to obtain a commanding 3:0 victory over Hikaru Nakamura, while Daniil Dubov v Ding Liren seemed to be headed to Armageddon when the Russian made good use of Ding's inaccurate play in a rook endgame to win the mini-match before reaching the tiebreaker. | Photos: Amruta Mokal / Lennart Ootes

5/27/2020 – Magnus Carlsen is the second player to secure a place in the semi-finals of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. The world champion once again dispatched Wesley So in three games to set up a match-up against Hikaru Nakamura. Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin tied the overall score with Daniil Dubov after winning a tough second rubber — who advances to the semis will be decided on Wednesday. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / Niki Riga

5/25/2020 – The second pair of mini-matches in the quarter-finals of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge finished much more quickly than Saturday's encounters. Magnus Carlsen and Daniil Dubov needed only three games to defeat Wesley So and Sergey Karjakin respectively. Dubov in fact won all three games, while Carlsen survived a scare in the second game and saw his opponent agreeing to a quick draw in the third. | Photos: Lennart Ootes / V. Saravanan

5/23/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at some games of the legendary Dutch Grandmaster and writer Jan Hein Donner (1927-1988). | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

5/20/2020 – The four first rounds of the Lindores Abbey Chess Challenge were played on Tuesday, and four players are sharing the lead on 3 points. Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura won with white and drew with black, Wesley So also won two despite playing three times with black, while Sergey Karjakin won three games and lost one. The twelve-player round-robin that continues until Thursday will eliminate the bottom four before the knockout kicks off after a rest day. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

5/18/2020 – Kateryna Lagno and Magnus Carlsen won the FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial in the women's and open sections respectively. Lagno defeated Lei Tingjie in the Armageddon tiebreaker after both finished the tournament on 12 out of 18. Carlsen scored the same amount of points, but in his case that was enough to secure tournament victory with a round to spare. | Photos: David Llada / Lennart Ootes

5/17/2020 – Russians Kateryna Lagno and Daniil Dubov have taken the lead at the women's and open sections of the FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial respectively. The sensation of the day was Dubov's win over Magnus Carlsen, leapfrogging the world champion atop the standings table. Carlsen kept up the pace with the Russian and is now in sole second place a half point back. | Photos: FIDE

5/16/2020 – The FIDE Online Steinitz Memorial kicked off Friday with six rounds played both in the open and women's sections. Alexandra Kosteniuk had the best performance overall, getting a commanding lead after scoring 5½ points on day one. In the open, Magnus Carlsen is the sole leader on 4 out of 6. Three players stand a half point back — Bu Xiangzhi, Daniil Dubov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. | Photos: FIDE

5/15/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at the King's Gambit and presents old and new games with this still fascinating opening. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

5/14/2020 – In a press release World Champion Magnus Carlsen today revealed his $1 million vision for a new online chess tour designed to cement the game’s future in the public eye. Four super-tournaments culminating in a Grand Final in August will become the new "majors" for online chess, the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. It follows the breakout success of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational which shattered all records for online viewership and now serves as the first leg of the Tour. Carlsen believes carrying the momentum into an online Tour presents the opportunity to establish chess permanently as a mass media sport.

5/12/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at the crucial final round encounter of the FIDE Nations Cup today between the USA and China, and analyses the game Yu Yangyi vs Wesley So. | Lawrence' show is available at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST, 13:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

5/8/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at a Queen's Gambit Declined position from the game Nakamura-Carlsen. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive) | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 18:00 UK (19:00 CEST, Noon EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

5/8/2020 – The FIDE has announced a Wilhelm Steinitz memorial tournament in the middle of May - online! World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen will lead the event, including 19 other players, which have been nominated by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

5/6/2020 – Merijn van Delft takes a look at the dramatic final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational match where Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura showed their skills in rapid chess. | Merijn's show is available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

5/5/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent talks about New York 1924, recaps the Magnus Carlsen Invitational, and looks forward to the Online Nations Cup. | Lawrence' show is available at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, 12 Noon EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

5/4/2020 – The first Magnus Carlsen Invitational was won by none other than world champion Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian defeated Hikaru Nakamura 2½:1½ in a closely disputed final match. The confrontation was highly technical, as all the games went relatively deep into the endgame. Nakamura almost tied the score in the fourth game, but failed to make the most of his advantage. Round-up show by GM Yannick Pelletier. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

5/3/2020 – The second semi-final of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational was a tension-filled affair. Carlsen and Ding Liren traded one-move blunders in games two and three, before the Chinese rejected a threefold repetition and ended up losing in the fourth encounter. Carlsen will play online-blitz specialist Hikaru Nakamura in Sunday's final, when US$25,000 will be at stake — the winner gets 70K and the loser 45K. IM Lawrence Trent recapped the action of the day. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

5/1/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at pawn endgames and the King's Gambit Magnus Carlsen tried against Ding Liren in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive) | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 18:00 UK (19:00 CEST, Noon EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

4/29/2020 – Merijn van Delft takes a look at the match and games between Alireza Firouzja and Anish Giri at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. | Merijn's show is available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Alireza Firouzja in Wijk 2020 | Photo: Alina l'Ami

4/28/2020 – Day eleven of the Magnus Carlsen Invitational was ripe with strange occurrences. Carlsen was lost after merely seven moves in his first game against Ian Nepomniachtchi, but ended up winning the match in Armageddon, while Alireza Firouzja both wasted winning chances and managed to swindle Anish Giri before getting a 2½:1½ victory. Carlsen is already qualified to the semi-finals, while Nepomniachtchi is no longer in contention to reach the knockout stage. Round-up show by GM Yannick Pelletier. | Photo: Official site

4/25/2020 – World numbers one and two, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, won their round-four matches without needing tiebreaks, thus collecting three points each. Carlsen has won all his confrontations so far and is the clear leader with eleven points. He defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while Caruana inflicted Alireza Firouzja's fourth straight loss. | Photo: Official site

4/24/2020 – In today's Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at the games of Tony Miles, England's first grandmaster and a very original player. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, Noon EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

4/22/2020 – This week Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game Alireza Firouzja played against Magnus Carlsen at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational to judge the strength of the 16-year old who currently has an Elo of 2728 and is number 21 in the world. | You can register a Premium account here. Merijn's show is available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.