10/3/2019 – First and third places of the World Cup will be decided Friday in Khanty-Mansiysk, as the classical phase of the deciding matches ended with 2:2 scores. Ding Liren and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had the white pieces in the last "slow" games of the match-ups, but could not get last-minute victories to avoid the rapid play-offs. Teimour Radjabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will kick off the tiebreaks with the white pieces. Round-up show by GM YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: FIDE

10/3/2019 – Teimour Radjabov bounced right back after his loss in game two against Ding Liren at the finals of the FIDE World Cup. The Azeri knew exactly what to do when his opponent did not play the most accurate move out of a Marshall Attack and went on to show good technique to even the score in Khanty-Mansiysk. The score of the match for third place is also 1½:1½ after Yu Yangyi could not make the most of a superior position against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Analyses by GM YANNICK PELLETIER and IM MERIJN VAN DELFT. | Photo: FIDE

10/2/2019 – Ding Liren got the first win of the final match-up at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Chinese scored a fine positional victory with the white pieces over Teimour Radjabov, after the latter went for a double-edged variation of the English Opening. Meanwhile, in the match for third place, Yu Yangyi played the Petroff Defence and held Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to a draw in his first game with Black. GM YANNICK PELLETIER analysed both games. | Photo: FIDE

9/30/2019 – Teimour Radjabov and Ding Liren signed a 33-move draw as the final match of the FIDE World Cup kicked off Monday in Khanty-Mansiysk. The players blitzed out no less than 26 moves of theory before simplifying into a completely drawn rook endgame. Meanwhile, a similar story was seen in the match-up for third place, as Yu Yangyi had the white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — they played 36 moves of a sharp Grünfeld before splitting the point. IM LAWRENCE TRENT reviewed the highlights of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/29/2019 – Ding Liren arrived in Khanty-Mansiysk as the top seed and is now set to face Teimour Radjabov in the final match of the 2019 FIDE World Cup. Ding beat his compatriot Yu Yangyi on tiebreaks by drawing game one and getting a win with White in the second 25-minute encounter. Both the final and the match for third place will kick off Monday — the deciding match-ups consist of four classical games and tiebreaks, if necessary. | Photo: FIDE

9/28/2019 – Teimour Radjabov qualified to the next Candidates Tournament by knocking out Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the classical phase of the World Cup semi-finals. The Azeri grandmaster obtained a clean-cut victory with the white pieces to take down the Frenchman and will have two rest days before the final match begins next Monday. Meanwhile, Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren signed a 30-move draw and will decide their match-up on tiebreaks. GM YANNICK PELLETIER analysed the games. | Photo: FIDE

9/27/2019 – After Wednesday's dramatic tiebreaks, things cooled off at the start of the semi-finals in Khanty-Mansiysk. Ding Liren had White against Yu Yangyi but was the one slightly under pressure before finding a repetition, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov played 31 moves before splitting the point. A win in game two will give any of the semi-finalists a spot in the next Candidates Tournament. Round-up show by GM DANIEL KING. | Photo: FIDE

9/26/2019 – The play-offs of the quarter-finals at the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk showed how much knock-out events are about keeping one's head together, as Levon Aronian and Nikita Vitiugov were eliminated after blundering horribly from completely winning positions. While Maxime Vachier-Lagrave knocked Aronian out in the second rapid game, Yu Yangyi and Vitiugov decided their match-up in Armageddon. GM YANNICK PELLETIER reviewed the highlights of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/24/2019 – The scores of the four quarter-final matches at the FIDE World Cup are tied, as hard-fought draws were seen on all boards on Monday. Ding Liren and Yu Yangyi did not shy away from shedding material while playing Black against Alexander Grischuk and Nikita Vitiugov; Levon Aronian had a very slight edge in his white game against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave; while Jeffery Xiong and Teimour Radjabov signed a 'correct' draw after 30 moves. IM LAWRENCE TRENT reviewed the highlights of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/22/2019 – It was an action-packed day in Khanty-Mansiysk, as Leinier Dominguez and Jeffery Xiong bounced back from losses; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Nikita Vitiugov drew to get 1½:½ victories in their matches; and Yu Yangyi managed to win after having drawn game one, thus reaching the quarter-finals. Also noteworthy was Ding Liren's stubborn defence against Kirill Alekseenko — the top seed drew the underdog, which means the match will be decided on tiebreaks. IM LAWRENCE TRENT recapped the action of the day. | Photo: FIDE

9/19/2019 – Eight players reached round four of the FIDE World Cup after Wednesday's tiebreaks. The biggest surprise was given by Jeffery Xiong, who knocked out second seed Anish Giri in the 10'+10" rapid phase. The other underdog to go through was Le Quang Liem, who eliminated Vladislav Artemiev. Ding Liren, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Leinier Dominguez, Yu Yangyi and Peter Svidler also went through. GM DANNY KING recapped the action of the play-offs. | Photo: FIDE

9/16/2019 – The pairings for round three of the FIDE World Cup are set, as the last fifteen (out of thirty-two) spots were decided on Sunday's tiebreaks. The rapid and blitz play-offs saw the first Armageddon battle of the event: the score in Anish Giri vs Evgeniy Najer remained tied after eight games — Giri got the black pieces and won the sudden-death encounter to get his pass to the next round. The other lengthy match-up of round two saw Daniil Yuffa knocking out Luke McShane. Round-up show by GM ERWIN L'AMI. | Photo: FIDE

8/23/2019 – On the show today: GM Daniel King will be looking through Yu Yangyi vs Magnus Carlsen from the St Louis blitz tournament. Power Play is live most Fridays at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

8/16/2019 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2019 despite losing the first and last game on the final day. Aronian managed to score only 5 points out of the last nine rounds but that was enough to beat Vachier-Lagrave. MVL's only consolation is that he beat Aronian in both of their blitz encounters. Caruana got his much awaited revenge against Carlsen in round fourteen. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Pictured: Aronian on being just informed by fellow Armenian GM Manuel Petrosyan that he has won the tournament. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/14/2019 – IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reviews the highlights from the St. Louis Rapid in more depth, paired with video interview clips of the players with GM Maurice Ashley (pictured with Vachier-Lagrave) from the official webcast. | Photo: Austin Fuller

8/14/2019 – Ding Liren and Sergey Karjakin were the heroes of the day as both of them scored 6½/9 on Day 1 of Blitz. Wild cards Richard Rapport and Yu Yangyi also had a fantastic start in the Blitz as they scored 6.0/9 and 5½/9 respectively. Magnus only managed to score 50% while Caruana scored a meagre 1½/9 in Blitz. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN brings you all action from Saint Louis. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/13/2019 – Carlsen started Day 3 of Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz with a loss against Aronian. The World Champion defeated MVL in the final round of the rapid event, however it is MVL who overcame Carlsen in the FIDE rapid ranking according to live ratings. Vachier-Lagrave remained undefeated on the final rapid day by defeating the former World Championship challenger Caruana in the final round. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

8/12/2019 – Rapid rounds four to six at the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz yielded no change at the top of the leader board, but Levon Aronian is now being closely pursued by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who won all three of his games on Sunday. Perhaps even more surprisingly, World Champion Magnus Carlsen lost two more of his rapid games, including to world number two Fabiano Caruana. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

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

7/16/2019 – Much like in round one of the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave kicked off the quarter-finals with a win in classical chess, this time over Veselin Topalov. In the meantime, Wesley So had the black pieces and signed a 17-move draw with Sergey Karjakin, Jan-Krzysztof Duda had a good position but could not make much of it against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, and Alexander Grischuk did not make the most of his game with White against Yu Yangyi. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/15/2019 – On the first round of tiebreaks at the FIDE Grand Prix in Riga, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Alexander Grischuk, Wesley So and Veselin Topalov needed merely two rapid games to move on to the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Sergey Karjakin and Yu Yangyi played seven games each, as they only managed to knock out Anish Giri and Levon Aronian in Armageddon. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

7/3/2019 – With so many concurrent events, one thing's for sure: Chess fans around the world are not going to get bored! A strong tournament started in China on Sunday, the 10th Hainan Danzhou Tournament runs through July 7th with both top Chinese players and elite international guests. The Chinese are leading alongside Richard Rapport after four rounds. | Photo: sunnyhainan.com

6/15/2019 – The Altibox Norway Chess Tournament ended with a rematch of the 2018 World Championship duel in London: Fabiano Caruana against Magnus Carlsen. But this time Caruana won. In the classical game, Caruana missed the win in a complicated position but in the Armageddon game he outplayed the world champion. Carlsen had already won the tournament on Thursday and in the end finished with 13½ out of 18 points. Levon Aronian and Yu Yangyi followed with 10½ points each, but thanks to a better tie-break Aronian finished second. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no

6/11/2019 – The sixth round of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament saw all match-ups decided on Armageddon, as all the "slow" encounters finished drawn. Magnus Carlsen was close to lost in both his games against Ding Liren, but eventually managed to defeat the Chinese nonetheless. Meanwhile, Yu Yangyi and Levon Aronian also won their match-ups, thus staying in sole second and third places, respectively. Round recap by GM ERWIN L'AMI. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / norwaychess.no