10/31/2019 – The Russian teams are alone atop the standings table both at the open and women's sections of the European Team Championships in Batumi. In round six, Dmitry Andreikin defeated Vassily Ivanchuk in the only decisive game of the key Russia v Ukraine match-up, while Germany upset Azerbaijan to take sole second place. Among the women, Russia failed to win a match for the first time in the tournament, as Azerbaijan held them to a draw. | Photo: Official site

10/29/2019 – After five rounds at the European Team Championships in Batumi, Russia and Ukraine are sharing the lead in the open section, while the Russian female squad is in sole first place with a perfect score in the women's category. Slovenia and Germany are one match point behind the leaders in the Open, while Georgia, Azerbaijan and Serbia are sharing second place among the women. Tuesday is the sole rest day of the tournament. | Photo: Official site

10/28/2019 – With the European Team Championship in full swing, GM Simon Williams brings you his top highlight so far in today's show. Watch live for free (or on-demand for a limited time) starting at the usual hour: 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET / 11 EDT). Note: Europe is now on winter time!

10/25/2019 – The European Team Championships kicked off Thursday in the coastal city of Batumi, Georgia. Russia were the favourites both in the open and women's categories, but only the female team kicked off with a win, as Denmark held the top seeds to a draw in the open section. The Russians were not the only ones giving up a match point in round one though, as the second seeds from England also drew, against Austria. | Pictured: The Lithuanian team before their match against Romania. | Photo: Official site

7/30/2019 – The rapid section of the Paris Grand Chess Tour was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who drew twice and beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda on day three. Alexander Grischuk ascended to sole second place, and stands a full point behind the leader before the eighteen rounds of Blitz kick off on Wednesday — the participants will get a rest day before the tempo speeds up in the French capital. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/29/2019 – The second day of the GCT Paris tournament at the Head Office of mass media conglomerate Vivendi saw local hero Maxime Vachier-Lagrave climb to first place after collecting two wins and a draw between rounds four and six. Vishy Anand and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are trailing a point behind the leader with three more rounds of rapid chess left for Monday. Eighteen rounds of Blitz will wrap up the event on Wednesday and Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/13/2019 – The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix kicked off with plenty of fighting chess. Only Maxime Vachier-Lagrave managed to score a full point, however, as he took down David Navara in 19 moves out of a sharp Caro-Kann. Wesley So, Alexander Grischuk and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had big chances but failed to join Vachier-Lagrave as the winners of round one, while Peter Svidler and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a sharp, entertaining game. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

6/28/2019 – After starting with two wins, the McShane-Express came to a screeching halt after running into Tamir Nabaty in the 3rd round of the GM tournament in Netanya. But Nabaty was able to enjoy his lead at the Netanya Chess Festival for only one round, before losing Leinier Dominguez who leapfrogged him into first place where he has stayed through six rounds of play. In the Open, two players have 5½ points. | Photos: Yoav Nisenbaum / imt.chess.org.il

6/20/2019 – World Chess has developed a new tournament format for Russian television, dubbed the World Chess Armageddon series. Eight players entered a virtual arena, donned branded clothing and played blitz for $50,000 in prize money. In the end, as if according to script, local hero Sergey Karjakin defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi. | Photos: World Chess

5/23/2019 – Only two rapid games in each of the three quarter-finals matches were enough to complete the draw for the semi-finals at the first leg of the Grand Prix in Moscow. Daniil Dubov, Wesley So and Wei Yi were knocked out by Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi, respectively. The first games of the semis will be played on Thursday, with Nakamura set to face Grischuk and Nepomniachtchi paired up against Wojtaszek. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

5/22/2019 – The FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Moscow is played in KO format, starting with 16 players. Top seeds Giri and Mamedyarov were eliminated in the very first round, which pretty much illustrates that everyone can beat anyone in this elite tournament. The only downside is that some players prefer quick draws, to save their energy for the tie-break. Nevertheless, some amazing chess is being played and tonight we'll focus today on the futuristic game Dubov vs Giri. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is live at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT).

5/22/2019 – Peter Svidler was the first player to be eliminated from the Moscow Grand Prix quarter-finals, after Radoslaw Wojtaszek defeated him with the white pieces on Tuesday. Alexander Grischuk and Wei Yi had difficult positions against Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi, respectively, but they ended up getting a second draw in their match-ups after all. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analyses the games. | Photo: Niki Riga / World Chess

5/21/2019 – The quarter-finals of the Moscow Grand Prix (Watch LIVE) kicked off on Monday with draws on all four boards, here annotated by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ. Alexander Grischuk and Wesley So were the last ones to leave the playing hall, after signing a 28-move draw — Wei Yi and Ian Nepomniachtchi drew in 31 moves, but signed the score sheets earlier. The highlight of the day was Daniil Dubov's unorthodox plan with Black against Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: World Chess

5/19/2019 – A day full of exciting chess at the Moscow Grand Prix ended up with six players qualifying to the second round without needing rapid and blitz tie-breaks. Daniil Dubov, Wei Yi, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Svidler, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Radoslaw Wojtaszek secured their spots in the quarter-finals, while Wesley So defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda to tie the score, and Teimour Radjabov signed another quick draw with Hikaru Nakamura. | Photo: World Chess

5/18/2019 – Ian Nepomniachtchi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Radek Wojtaszek won with the white pieces at the start of the FIDE Grand Prix in Moscow, which means Levon Aronian, Wesley So and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will need to push for a win on Saturday if they want to survive the first round. Three match-ups ended with quick draws, while Peter Svidler and Anish Giri accepted the draws offered by Nikita Vitiugov and Daniil Dubov in games that could have easily kept going. | Photo: World Chess

5/3/2019 – Friday at 16:00 UTC (18:00 CEST, Noon EDT) Daniel King will go on air on playchess.com. You can watch the episode live for free! Today: "Daniil Dubov". All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. Puzzle and the live video...

3/23/2019 – Prior to the fifth round 19 players were tied for the first place, all with 3½/4 points and all willing to fight for the title. Maxim Rodshtein (pictured) is the new frontrunner. Boris Gelfand was the only one of those 19 top players in the 50+ category. On the other end of the age spectrum are Semyon Lomasov, Benjamin Gledura and Bogdan-Daniel Deac recently seen fighting for youth titles. Many players with three points were also eager to win, promising an exciting round, though not in all games. SIEGFRIED HORNECKER presents the highlights. | Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

3/15/2019 – Every once in a while you have a fairy tale story at a world class event where a player who was given absolutely no chances of winning the tournament, comes out, plays his heart out and takes home the first prize! Something similar happened at the Aeroflot Open 2019 when the 62nd seed Kaido Kulaots scored 7.0/9 and with a rating performance of 2873 won the Aeroflot Open A, a prize of €18,000 and got himself an invitation to the Dortmund super-tournament which will take place later this year. How did Kulaots achieve this phenomenal performance? Sagar Shah caught up with the man of the moment for a detailed interview.

2/16/2019 – The Cosmos Hotel, located in north-central Moscow, will host the 17th edition of the Aeroflot Open. Group A currently counts 39 registered players rated 2600 or above, with 19-year-old Wei Yi as the top seed. The event is a great chance for players that are vying to get a place in the elite to prove themselves against formidable opposition. Nine rounds will be played starting Monday, with no rest days in between. | Photo: Amruta Mokal (archive)

1/1/2019 – FIDE's January ratings are out and saw a few big moves in the top 100 rapid and blitz lists thanks to the recently completed World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Carlsen's blitz dominance was on display and he solidified the top rating spot, now at 2954. Daniil Dubov gained notoriety (and rating) for his impressive run in the World Rapid Championship. Among the women, Ju Wenjun took her third world title of the year, but Kateryna Lagno, who lost the World Championship final in a blitz tiebreaker against Ju, managed to win the Blitz Championship well ahead of her rival. | Pictured: Women's World Blitz Champion, Kateryna Lagno | Photo: Lennart Ootes

12/29/2018 – No tie-breaks were needed to decide the winners of the 2018 World Rapid Championships in Saint Petersburg. In the open section, Daniil Dubov arrived in the last round alone at the top of the standings and kept his position after all the top games finished drawn. Meanwhile, Ju Wenjun continued her great run and practically secured first place with a round to spare — will the Chinese manage to win the 'triple crown' of world championships this year? | Photos: Maria Emelianova / Lennart Ootes / Official site

12/28/2018 – In a day full of ups and downs, seven players ended up sharing the lead on 7½ points, with Magnus Carlsen part of the ten-player chasing pack half a point behind. So it is impossible to make any predictions in the open section, as anybody having a good last day will emerge as the winner. On the other hand, amongst the women, Ju Wenjun has kept her lead after winning two and drawing two in the second day of action. | Photos: Maria Emelianova / Lennart Ootes / Official site

10/10/2018 – The Black Sea coastal city of Sochi held the Russian Rapid & Blitz Championships from October 5th to 9th. The Russian players that participated in the Olympiad were not able to attend — except Nepomniachtchi, who arrived in Sochi for the Rapid Team Championship. The star of the events was Vladislav Artemiev, who won both the Rapid and Blitz Championships and led Ladya to first place in the team event. Polina Shuvalova, Alina Bivol and Ugra won the women's tournaments. | Photo: Russian Chess Federation

8/31/2018 – Halftime and a rest day at the Russian Championships, after six of eleven rounds. In the open tournament, six players are in the lead each with 3½ out of 6 points, but the Elo favourites are not among them. Even in the women's tournament, the nominal favorites have had a hard time. Olga Girya and Alina Kashlinskaya lead with 4 out of 6, while Alexandra Kosteniuk (pictured) has scored just 3 out of 6 or fifty percent. JULIAN WNUK breaks down the action so far. | Photo: Russian Chess Federation