1/20/2018 – The rest day after round five obviously did not hurt the fighting spirit at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Round 6 brought dramatic games, two wins and a new leader: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. He won with some luck against Adhiban Baskaran and is now the sole front runner with 4½ out of 6. Peter Svidler and Magnus Carlsen had an entertaining exchange and Wesley So pulled a rabbit out of a hat to beat Wei Yi from a losing position. In the Challengers Anton Korobov leads with 5½ out of 6. | Photo: Alina l'Ami, Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/18/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Fabiano Caruana to pull even with Anish Giri and Viswanathan Anand for the tournament lead, in the "on tour" fifth round played in Hilversum. In the other two decisive games, Hou Yifan's woes continue as she lost to Peter Svidler — his first win of the tournament. Wesley So also got his first win, dealing Adhiban his third loss. Anton Korobov scored again in the Challengers and now leads alone. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/17/2018 – Yesterday Anand caused a sensation, but in today's fourth round it was Vladimir Kramnik's turn to be the ex-World Champion star. After just 24, moves Peter Svidler gave up resistance as his lifetime classical score versus Kramnik dips to -8. Anish Giri and Anand remain in the lead in the Masters. In Challengers Korobov and Vidit extended their lead to a full point. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/16/2018 – Magnus Carlsen drew quickly with Wei Yi to start round three, and there were more draws to follow including the leader Anish Giri. That gave Anand an opportunity to pull equal on 2½ points. In the challengers, top seed Vidit Gujrathi scored for the second straight day, but Anton Korobov kept pace, and both now stand at 2½ as well. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/15/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won in round two and, as luck would have it, two of three co-leaders after the first round met in round two. Anish Giri toppled Vladimir Kramnik, while Vishy Anand drew, so the Dutchman moves to the fore. In the Challengers group, no one can claim a perfect score after two rounds. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez dissects the Masters games in detail. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/14/2018 – One down, twelve to go; Tata Steel Chess is often described as a "marathon" — more of a "Belmont Stakes" than a "Preakness" — where anyone can recover from a loss and the early lead isn't necessarily indicative of how things will be down the stretch. Still, it's nice to be out in front! Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri, jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, as Anand starts his bid for a record busting sixth Wijk aan Zee title. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez breaks down the action in our extensive round one report. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/10/2018 – Three highlights from 2017 selected by 50 Moves Magazine editor GM Moulthun Ly and analysed by Australian GM Ian Rogers. Among them are "the most remarkable piece of opening preparation for 2017" (spoiler alert: it's Nepomniachtchi) and "the missed opportunity of the year" from Wei Yi, plus a look at some of the top young talents from Down Under.

1/7/2018 – At the end of our survey of 2017, we will be voting for the "Player of the Year 2017". We picked ten players who stood out over the past 12 months, excelling in one way or another. Choose your player of the year in our poll.

1/3/2018 – In Yancheng, the Chinese Chess Federation organized a competition between Wei Yi and top Czech player David Navara. After the four games of classical chess, the match was tied 2 : 2. Wei Yi won a playoff. | Photo: www.imsa.cn

11/30/2017 – The 11th Kings Tournament was the first edition held in memory of legendary Romanian player, organiser and teacher, Elisabeta Polihroniade, who helmed the event for its first nine years until her death in 2016 at age 80. A large scholastic event including a simul by Anatoly Karpov started the festivities last Friday in Bucharest. This year's tournament — a pair of four-player double round-robins — was won by Ukrainian's Vassily Ivanchuk and Anna Muzychuk, and was broadcast live on ChessBase with grandmaster commentary. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

11/28/2017 – Vassily Ivanchuk was impressive on his way to winning the blitz tournament and at one point was leading by three full points. He finished two points clear of Sergey Karjakin. Anna Muzychuk lead the women's tournament from start to finish, ultimately scoring 1½ points more than her nearest rival Elisabeth Paehtz. The tournament (November 24th-29th) was held in memory of Elisabeta Polihroniade who helmed the event for its first nine years until her death in 2016 at age 80. Ivanchuk and Muzychuk also won their respective rapid tournaments for a clean sweep!

10/27/2017 – After an action-packed first half, play continued with the same intensity in rounds 4-6 in Hoogeveen. While Adhiban and van Foreest continued exchanging blows in round 4-6, Ivanchuk tried his best to keep his one-point lead by holding his Chinese opponent to draws. Going into the final round, Adhiban had caught up with van Foreest in terms of the score while Wei was in a must-win situation.| Photos: Lennart Ootes

10/24/2017 – Tuesdays at 5pm UK time Lawrence Trent goes on air on Playchess.com. In his show Lawrence Trent will be dealing with the latest trends, games and combinations from the elite chess tournaments. This week Ivanchuk vs. Wei Yi from the Hoogeveen Tournament was undoubtedly the star of the show.

10/24/2017 – After three rounds of play at the Hoogeveen Matches, Vassily Ivanchuk took the lead against the Chinese star, Wei Yi after his win in the third round. In the other match between Adhiban Baskaran and local lad, Jorden van Foreest, the Indian number five was the first to taste blood in round two but van Foreest came back strongly in the third round to level scores. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

9/9/2017 – While watching yesterday's tiebreaks of the World Cup, my attention got caught by an endgame played between Richard Rapport and Wei Yi. With impressive ease, Rapport showed an exciting winning plan in a typical scenario "Rook vs Bishop". I consulted my (admittedly rarely used) copy of Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and look at this: Rapport's plan was already shown in a game, coincidentally played in Tbilisi, 46 years ago! | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

9/5/2017 – Every evening at 9 pm CEST we offer you a round-up show of the games played at the World Cup in Tbilisi. Yesterday Daniel King showed the highlights and upsets of round 1.2. Who did qualify and who goes into the tiebreak? Have a look...

8/4/2017 – It was a remarkable month for ratings, with notable results all over. A few standouts are 18-year-old Wei Yi, who is now no. 14, 14-year-old Alireza Firouzja poised to become a GM at 2518 FIDE, and 13-year-old WFM Bibisara Assaubayeva, who flew to 2421 and will get her IM title soon. If that's not enough, Magnus Carlsen has now opened an 80-Elo gap in the Blitz ratings. Still, the nod must go to Teimour Radjabov, the second youngest player ever in the Top 100, for his win at Geneva.

7/19/2017 – Chinese prodigy Wei Yi gets stronger and stronger and dominated the Hainan Danzhou Super GM tournament from beginning to end, winning four games and drawing five to finish sole first with 6.5/9. On the live-rating list the 18-year old Chinese is now the world's number 14.

7/16/2017 – Wei Yi is having a stellar performance in the super-GM tournament in Danzhou, China. With an impressive +4 score, he looks unstoppable, as he rockets up the FIDE rating list to crack the Top 15 for the first time. GM Elshan Moradiabadi looks at two of Wei's key wins.

5/10/2017 – Wei Yi won his third consecutive Chinese title, making it three in a row at the tender age of 17. The field was missing his fellow 2700 players, making it easier, and he came through immaculate with 8.5/11. In the Women’s championship, Lei Tingjie took sole first with 9.0/11, outpacing Tan Zhongyi and Wang Jue in spite of a loss. Both events were hard fought, with plenty of fireworks.

3/16/2017 – How to find new ideas in the opening - to refresh your repertoire or to surprise your opponents? Browsing through the ChessBase Magazine might help. The tournament reports in which top grandmasters analyze their recent games or the regular columns about the middlegame, classical games, the endgame or tactics offer a wealth of training material but the opening surveys inspire to try new lines.

3/12/2017 – The 2nd China - India Summit came to an end with a crushing victory for the Dragon. It is a four-round Scheveningen event where four players from India play against four from China. After three rounds, China led 7.5-4.5. The fourth round of the match was again won by the Chinese. Here is the illustrated report.

3/7/2017 – The 2nd China - India Summit is currently underway in China. It is a four-round Scheveningen event where four players from India play against four from China. Team India team consists of Ganguly, Sethuraman, Abhijeet Gupta and Karthikeyan Murali, while Team China has Wei Yi, Bu Xiangzhi, Lu Shanglei and Zhou Jianchao. After three rounds, China leads 7.5-4.5. Here is the illustrated report.

12/24/2016 – Only ten rating points separate Richard Rapport (2717) and Wei Yi (2707), the world's two best juniors. And the match they played from 20th to 23rd December in Yancheng, China, was close. A 2-2 tie after four classical games required a blitz-tiebreak. After two blitz-games and another 1-1 tie, an Armageddon game decided the match in favor of Rapport.