4/21/2020 – In his weekly show IM Lawrence Trent takes a look at some of the games Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja played against each other at the Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2020. | 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.

4/16/2020 – With no over-the-board action, online playing has gained strength among chess fans. Moreover, the world champion himself has decided to make the most out of a dire situation by organizing an unprecedented elite tournament to be played over the internet. Eight of the strongest players in the world will fight for a $70,000 first prize. The tournament will run from April 18th to May 3rd.

4/10/2020 – Alireza Firouzja is 16 years old and with a rating of 2728 currently number 20 on the FIDE World Ranking List. Many people believe that he will soon challenge Magnus Carlsen for the world title. But for now, at the beginning of April, the two first met for an online blitz marathon match in which they played 194 bullet (1+0) games. And the winner was...

3/1/2020 – With the 2020 Candidates looming, there were few tournaments held in February to attract the world's top grandmasters, with two notable exceptions in Prague and Saint Louis. Alireze Firouzja (pictured) was the winner at the Prague Masters and Humpy Koneru took the second annual Cairns Cup. Gibraltar was also rated in February and provides the only change to the top 10: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave notched up one spot back to number eight, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov slips to the tenth position after withdrawing prematurely due to illness. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/26/2020 – On the rest day at the 12th Batavia tournament in Amsterdam, IM Lawrence Trent reflects on his tournament so far and shows one of his own wins. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's Black to move! | Lawrence is on-demand this week from 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12 Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can always register a free 90-day account to watch.

2/22/2020 – After an exciting final round in which two key encounters finished decisively, five players ended up tied in first place on 5 out of 9. Vidit and Alireza Firouzja had the best tiebreak scores and decided the championship in a blitz playoff. 16-year-old Firouzja won both quick-play encounters to take the title. Jorden van Foreest got clear first place in the Challengers and qualified to next year's main event. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/20/2020 – Vidit could not get his fourth straight win with White at the Masters section of the Prague Chess Festival, but nonetheless kept his one-point lead with two rounds to go. The winners of the day were Alireza Firouzja, who beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a swashbuckling tactical struggle, and Sam Shankland, who defeated Nils Grandelius to get his first win of the event. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/18/2020 – IM Lawrence Trent looks to Prague for inspiration this week. | Puzzle time: In the diagram, it's White to move! How did he break through? | Lawrence is live this week from 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 12 Noon EST) and free for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can always register a free 90-day account to watch.

2/17/2020 – The 2020 Prague Masters has reached the half-way mark, and it has been a one man show so far! Vidit Gujrathi has exhibited amazing composure and concentration, drawing with Black and winning with White. Today he dismantled Alireza Firouzja in the Exchange Slav after the latter mistakenly grabbed a poisoned pawn and found himself resigning on move 24. David Navara also showed some fighting spirit to best Nils Grandelius in the symmetrical English. Sam Shankland missed too many opportunities, letting David Anton escape. Nikita Vitiugov was close to winning against Harikrishna, but missed some nuances that could have killed the game off and had to split the point. Markus Ragger confidently held J-K Duda to a draw in the Exchange Ruy Lopez. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/16/2020 – When two sides play a perfect game of chess, the game more often than not ends up a draw. Today, while all the five games ended up as draws, three of them didn't follow the stated script. Alireza Firouzja exhibited passion and imagination, confusing Nikita Vitiugov with a speculative knight sacrifice to gain a decisive advantage, but made two inexplicable moves to gift the latter a draw. Duda was seriously worse after nine moves, but his opponent Anton failed to find the most incisive continuation, continuing his roller-coaster ride in the tournament. Harikrishna played the forgotten Sozin Attack, and had to soon defend for a while to see out the game to a draw. Markus Ragger was tortured by the exchange down by David Navara for a while before concluding the game in peace, and Nils Grandelius signed a rather tame draw with the tournament leader Vidit, who retains sole lead. | Photo: Official site

2/15/2020 – After three hard-fought rounds of chess in Prague we finally have a sole leader! Vidit Gujrathi, after surviving a mega-scare against David Anton yesterday, found his rhythm and squeezed Markus Ragger in a Grunfeld endgame to go to world number 21 and 2½/3. Alireza Firouzja has found the going tough in the first two rounds, but he seems to have benefited from the close shave yesterday, as he outplayed Harikrishna in a Closed Ruy Lopez structure to score his first win of the event. David Anton was seriously worse, but David Navara's struggles continued as he missed numerous chances for an advantage with White to gift the Spaniard the point. Grandelius continued to falter in decisive moments, as Vitiugov escaped by a hair's breadth to maintain a plus score, and Shankland missed out on what could have been a brilliant win over Duda as Black. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/13/2020 – It's only the second edition of the Prague Masters 2020, but everyone is already calling it the Czech Wimbledon! Jan-Krzysztof Duda is the top seed of the event and with a rating average of 2707, it is one of the strongest round robin events out there. At the last moment Wei Yi was replaced by Alireza Firouzja because the Chinese GM wasn't able to travel due to the Coronavirus. In the first round itself, three out of five possible decisive results meant that a lot of blood was spilled. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/7/2020 – The Chinese grandmaster is healthy, but the virus' spread has forced the cancellation of many international flights and, for the second year running, Wei Yi has had to pull out of the Prague Masters just days in advance. He will be replaced by the current top junior in the world, GM Alireza Firouzja from Iran, who now lives in France. An open question is whether the Coronavirus outbreak may impact other top Chinese players heading for next month's Candiates Tournament in Russia. | Photo: Niki Riga

1/29/2020 – Closing out our coverage of the Tata Steel Masters 2020, IM Merijn van Delft delves into a game from the winner Fabiano Caruana, who defeated Alireza Firouzja to kick off his superb four-game winning streak in the last third of the tournament. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/24/2020 – Today Grandmaster Daniel King tackles highlights from the games of a popular newcomer to the elite circle, Alireza Firouzja. Power Play is live most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, Noon EST) 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...

1/22/2020 – Once again live from the Wijk aan Zee studio, IM Merijn van Delft tackles the game from the Masters that was hotly anticipated: the first classical chess battle between World Champion Magnus Carlsen and rising phenom Alireza Firouzja. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

1/19/2020 – 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja continues to stun as he defeated Jeffery Xiong to take the sole lead of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest also grabbed full points and are now sharing second place with Wesley So on 4½ out of 7. In the Challengers, only Nihal Sarin got a win in round seven, which means Pavel Eljanov is still first on 5 points. Do not miss the thorough analyses sent by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ and the round-up video by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/17/2020 – Alireza Firouzja rejoined the leading pack at the Tata Steel Masters by taking down Anish Giri in their first-ever classical encounter. GM TIGER HILLARP PERSSON analyses. Fabiano Caruana could have also caught up with Wesley So, but he failed to finish off Jorden van Foreest from a position of strength. The other winner of the day was Vishy Anand, who bounced back to fifty percent with a victory over Jeffery Xiong. Meanwhile, an eventful round in the Challengers left Pavel Eljanov, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami sharing the lead. Round-up show by GM DANNY KING. | Photo: Official site

1/14/2020 – The third round of the Tata Steel Masters saw 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja take the sole lead after beating Vladislav Artemiev with the white pieces. Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest also won, while Magnus Carlsen was in trouble against Jeffery Xiong, but managed to save a half point to tie Sergey Tiviakov's 110-game unbeaten streak in classical chess. Five players are still sharing the lead in the Challengers. Do not miss the thorough analyses provided by GM STEPHEN GORDON. | Photo: Alina l'Ami

1/12/2020 – It is hard to call a win by Alireza Firouzja a surprise after his stellar performance at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships — and his general good form from last year — but it is still noteworthy that he won his first ever game in Wijk aan Zee. He is joined in the lead in the Masters by Jorden van Foreest, who beat Yu Yangyi. In the Challengers, Pavel Eljanov, Surya Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami kicked off with victories. GM ALEX YERMOLINSKY reports. Round-up show by IM LAWRENCE TRENT. | Photo: Official site

1/1/2020 – Happy New Year! World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads into 2020 with a 50 Elo point lead in the classical ratings and a 45 point lead on the rapid list. Yet, despite winning the recent World Blitz Championship in a playoff over Hikaru Nakamura, the American clings to a 13 point margin atop the world blitz rankings. Alireza Firouzja, who gave both a run for their money in Moscow, is now #1 on the Juniors rankings. | Photos: Amruta Mokal / Jingda Chen on Unsplash

12/31/2019 – What an exciting final day we had at the World Blitz 2019. A controversy between the World Champion and one of the brightest young talents of the game, a blitz playoff to determine the winner, a retired player making a comeback, and winning the bronze and the defending women's world champion defending her title! The World Blitz 2019 was filled with exciting moments, and we bring you a detailed report with information of all the things that happened at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

12/29/2019 – Magnus Carlsen is now not just the Classical World Champion, but also the Rapid World Champion! He played sublime chess, gaining 14 Elo points, reaching 2900 on the Elo scale to win the title one point ahead of his nearest rivals. Silver medal was won unexpectedly by Alireza Firouzja who scored 4½/5 on the last day. Nakamura settled for the bronze. In the women's section we witnessed a blitz playoff to determine the winner. It was finally Humpy Koneru who won the gold. Silver went to Chinese Lei Tingjie and bronze to Ekaterina Atalik. A detailed report and interviews with the World Champion.

11/1/2019 – The November rating list is out and reflects the performances of two of the most important tournaments on the calendar this year: The World Cup and the Grand Swiss, both qualifying events for the 2020 Candidates tournament which attracted a massive turnout of elite players. Every member of the top 40 was in action in the rating period except for the retired Vladimir Kramnik, Richard Rapport and Veselin Topalov. | Pictured: World Cup winner Teimour Radjabov, runner-up Ding Liren, third place finisher Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and fourth placed Yu Yangyi at the close of the Khanty-Mansiysk festivities. | Photo: FIDE