1/29/2021 – Anish Giri is still the sole leader with two rounds to go at the Tata Steel chess tournament. The Dutchman drew world champion Magnus Carlsen with black while none of the players from the chasing pack managed to score a full point. Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja played a thrilling game, in which both missed chances to win. Jorden van Foreest rejoined the group trailing Giri by a half point with a victory over Pentala Harikrishna. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

1/25/2021 – In the first round of the Tata Steel Tournament 2021 Alireza Firouzja lost against Magnus Carlsen, but then he scored 5½/7, and with 5½/8 and an Elo-performance of 2882 he is now sole leader. In round 8 Firouzja won an interesting game against Pentala Harikrishna in which he showed how powerful the bishops can be. Karsten Müller had a close look. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit - Tata Steel Tournament 2021

1/25/2021 – Alireza Firouzja grabbed the sole lead at the Tata Steel Masters by beating Pentala Harikrishna with the black pieces, but remarkably this was not the most shocking development of round 8 as Andrey Esipenko defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in their first-ever confrontation in classical chess — Carlsen played aggressively with the black pieces and was duly outplayed by the 18-year-old. With his win, Esipenko joined the four-player chasing pack which also includes Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

1/23/2021 – Two decisive results in round 6 left Nils Grandelius still as the sole leader and increased the number of players chasing him a half point behind to six. Jorden van Foreest and Alireza Firouzja won on Friday and are now part of the massive chasing pack on 3½ points. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen failed to find a winning move against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Fabiano Caruana tried hard but could not take down the leader. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

1/19/2021 – An exciting third round in Wijk aan Zee left five players sharing the lead on 2/3, as Pentala Harikrishna defeated former sole leader Nils Grandelius from the black side of a French Defence. Fabiano Caruana would have become the sole leader had he made the most of his chances against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but the latter’s resourcefulness allowed him to save a draw in a messy position. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja beat David Anton from a slightly better endgame. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021

10/21/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a highlight from the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament: Alireza's convincing win Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the final round. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/17/2020 – The 2020 Altibox Norway Chess tournament came to an end on Friday. Magnus Carlsen had secured tournament victory with a round to spare, but finished the event with a loss to Levon Aronian. 17-year-old Alireza Firouzja came in second place thanks to a final-round win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda. In the only matchup that went to Armageddon in round 10, Fabiano Caruana defeated Aryan Tari. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/13/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a closer look at the Norway Chess Tournament, and especially at the game Aryan Tari vs Alireza Firouzja, in which Firouzja evoked memories of a great attacking player of the past. | Lawrence’s 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: Official site | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/13/2020 – Alireza Firouzja continues to impress at the Norway Chess Tournament as he beat Levon Aronian in Armageddon to keep the sole lead in the standings. Meanwhile, the main event of the day, Magnus Carlsen versus Fabiano Caruana, saw the world champion defending a tough position in classical chess and winning the Armageddon decider. Jan-Krzysztof Duda defeated Aryan Tari in their classical encounter. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/12/2020 – In the sixth round, Fabiano Caruana took down former leader Levon Aronian. The beneficiary of the defeat was Alireza Firouzja, who won against Aryan Tari and thus took the lead. Magnus Carlsen bounced back from his loss on Saturday and defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda — the world champion is in third place. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

10/11/2020 – Round 5 of the Norway Chess tournament saw tail-ender Jan-Krzysztof Duda defeating former sole leader Magnus Carlsen, thus ending a 125-game undefeated streak in classical chess that lasted over two years. In the meantime, Levon Aronian and Alireza Firouzja also collected 3 points each by winning their classical games — Aronian inflicted Caruana’s second straight loss while Firouzja defeated Tari with the white pieces. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/10/2020 – Round 4 of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger saw Levon Aronian and Alireza Firouzja playing an Armageddon tiebreaker after drawing their classical game. Karsten Müller assessed the final phase of the encounter as a “fascinating knight endgame”. The endgame specialist examined the sequence in detail and now shares it with all ChessBase readers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/9/2020 – Magnus Carlsen climbed to the top of the standings in the Norway Chess Tournament by beating former co-leader Fabiano Caruana with white in their classical encounter. Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja and Aryan Tari won in Armageddon, defeating Levon Aronian and Jan-Krzysztof Duda respectively. A misunderstanding with the arbiter meant Firouzja arrived a couple of minutes late to his sudden-death game. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/8/2020 – Levon Aronian beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda from an equal rook endgame to catch Fabiano Caruana in the lead of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament. Caruana lost against Alireza Firouzja in Armageddon. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen was worse in a complicated position against Aryan Tari, but ended up getting a win after his young opponent mishandled his advantage. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/6/2020 – In round 1 of the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament Alireza Firouzja (pictured), the world's best junior, won a nice game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who is also an extraordinary talent. In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a closer look at the action. | Lawrence’s 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: Official site | Photo: Amruta Mokal (Archive)

10/6/2020 – In a fighting first round at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger, Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja (pictured) grabbed the early lead by beating Aryan Tari and Jan-Krzysztof Duda without going to Armageddon. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen defeated Levon Aronian in sudden death after signing a 30-move draw in the classical encounter. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

9/16/2020 – In his "Game of the Week" show, Merijn van Delft takes a look at a game from the Champions Showdown Chess 9LX Online Tournament: Garry Kasparov's win against Alireza Firouzja, the encounter between the oldest and the youngest participant of that tournament. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Photo: Garry Kasparov playing Chess960 in Saint Louis 2018 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

8/27/2020 – Besides the Biel Triathlon played in July, no elite over-the-board tournament has been organized after the coronavirus crisis prompted the chess world to focus on online events. In a little over a month, however, we will get to see a strong field fighting over the board. The Altibox Norway Chess Tournament with Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Alireza Firouzja and Aryan Tari kicks off October 5! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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.

5/10/2020 – There was no lack of drama on the last day of the round-robin section at the Nations Cup, as United States qualified to Sunday's Superfinal by outscoring Europe by merely a half board point. Europe had beaten the Americans in their direct round-nine clash, but could not overcome Rest of the World to get their spot in the final, while United States inflicted China's first loss of the event. The Chinese squad will get a chance to take revenge on Sunday, when the action kicks off one hour later than usual. | Pictured: Wesley So | Photo: Niki Riga

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

4/27/2020 – Day one of the fifth round at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational saw the underdogs getting unlikely match victories. Anish Giri, who had won one game in seventeen attempts in the online event, took down sole leader Carlsen 2½:1½, while Alireza Firouzja scored his first three points by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. IM Lawrence Trent recapped the action of the day. | Photo: Official site

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.