3/19/2018 – At the midway point, Fabiano Caruana took the sole lead after beating Levon Aronian in a wild game. Aronian seemed to be ina bit of a panic, while Caruana played very precisely, staved off the attack and took the point. Sergey Karjakin won his first game beating Wesley So and moves out of last place. Ding Liren, usually such a fighter, seems content to not lose, and drew Vladimir Kramnik after creating good winning chances. Here is the report and analyses by GM Alex Yermolinsky | Photo: World Chess

3/17/2018 – The fifth round of the Candidates Tournament in Berlin brought the first round of all draws, but Levon Aronian missed a huge chance against Alexander Grischuk. Friday was a day full of surprises: Vladimir Kramnik overplayed his hand against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and was dealt a painful loss, while Wesley So managed a fantastic comeback against Aronian, whose confidence looks shaken. Fabiano Caruana played a double-edged game against Grischuk and now shares the lead with Mamedyarov. | Photo: World Chess

3/14/2018 – The fourth round of the Candidates Tournament in Berlin brought some serious drama. Kramnik vs Caruana was a wild back-and-forth battle. Caruana was much better, then Kramnik was close to winning before finally blundering it all away on move 59. Grischuk missed a killer chance against Ding Liren and played to a draw. Aronian won with Black thanks to good preparation against Karjakin, and Mamedyarov and drew an unspectacular game against So. Caruana is now in the sole lead with 3.0 / 4.

3/12/2018 – The big winner of round 3 of the Candidates Tournament in Berlin is Vladimir Kramnik. With a powerful and brilliant attack, he won a crucial game with Black against Levon Aronian. The other three games of the round ended in a draw. With 2½/3 Kramnik is now sole leader. Tuesday is the first rest day in Berlin. The tournament resumes on Wednesday at 15:00 CET (10:00 AM EST) | Photo: World Chess

3/12/2018 – Round 2 of the Candidates Tournament in Berlin brought one win and three draws. Alexander Grischuk bounced back from his loss against Vladimir Kramnik in round 1 and won an energetic attacking game against Wesley So. Mamedyarov and Aronian, Kramnik and Karjakin, and Ding Liren and Caruana all drew their games. | Photo: André Schulz

3/11/2018 – An unusual start to the Candidates tournament in many respects. Three winners, three losers, and several players troubled by their first-round experience in the "Kuehlhaus" Berlin. The good news is, the first round games were great, amid many teething problems. Fans and professionals alike are eagerly awaiting round two to see how the situation develops. | Photo: Frederic Friedel

3/10/2018 – The players for the next Grand Chess Tour circuit have been announced, settling the question of whether or not Magnus Carlsen would return to defend his 2017 win — he won't. The demanding schedule of the GCT was too much to commit to fully during a World Championship match year. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/10/2018 – And so it begins. The eight candidates were presented on the ground floor of the Berlin "Kuehlhaus" last night to a crowd of assembled guests including the keynote speaker, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Highlights from the opening press conference and party, along with live games of round one starting at 15:00 CET (9:00 EST). | Photo and drawings by World Chess

3/9/2018 – The long-anticipated Candidates tournament starts tomorrow! You can watch with live video on WorldChess.com or the games on ChessBase via live.chessbase.com. We'll be having daily coverage, including the popular video round-up shows with well known contributors like Daniel King, Lawrence Trent, Simon Williams, Erwin l'Ami and Oliver Reeh. | Photo and drawings by World Chess

3/6/2018 – 13 rounds of blitz is tiring. If you are not playing well you want to get over with it as soon as possible. But if you are winning like Sergey Karjakin was at the Tal Memorial Blitz 2018, you would want to keep playing forever! Sergey was in top-notch form as he mustered up 10.0/13 (+8,=4,-1) and finished 1½ points ahead of second-placed Nakamura. The American tried hard but couldn't keep up with Karjakin's pace. Third place was won by Ian Nepomniachtchi. We have the full coverage with interesting games, positions and lot of videos!

3/5/2018 – In memory of Mikhail Tal, the 11th Tal Memorial takes place in Moscow from March 2nd-4th, with a blitz tournament on March 5th. The venue is the Museum of Russian Impressionists in Moscow. Participants are Mamedyarov, Kramnik, Svidler, Nepomniachtchi, Anand, Dubov, Nakamura, Gelfand, Karjakin and Grishuk. Watch live with video updates and more from the venue by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

3/5/2018 – Chess is considered as a young man's game, but a 48-year-old gentleman from India is changing that perception! Vishy Anand seems to be on a mission - to win just about every rapid event that he plays. Gold at the World Rapid Championship 2017 was difficult, but winning the Tal Memorial Rapid was tougher. The field had some of the best rapid players on the globe and Vishy simply cruised to the finish line with 6.0/9, one point ahead of the rest. In this article we try to analyze the reason for his spectacular performance. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

3/4/2018 – We are heading towards an exciting final day at the Tal Memorial 2018. Vishy Anand won his sixth round game against Hikaru Nakamura and came back to the lead along with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with 4.0/6. Two players: Kramnik and Grischuk follow them on 3.5/6. In this report, you can find a wealth of instructive content including videos, analysis, interviews and much more. We also discuss the question of whether chess in museums is a good idea or not? Report from Moscow by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

3/2/2018 – The Tal Memorial 2018 begins on the 2nd of March 2018. It consists of two events - nine rounds of rapid and thirteen rounds of blitz. The Candidates tournament is about to begin in a week, yet four of them are playing here: Kramnik, Karjakin, Mamedyarov and Grischuk. Competing with them are Anand, Gelfand, Nakamura, Svidler, Nepomniachtchi and Dubov. It is going to be a wonderful event and we have Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal present at the venue to bring you high-quality coverage. In this first report apart from the opening ceremony we bring you a very interesting experiment that was conducted with the players using Tal's famous games.

1/29/2018 – Magnus Carlsen scored his record sixth Tata Steel Chess tournament win, on the same day tennis legend Roger Federer won his sixth Australian Open title. Draws from the tournament leaders in the Masters forced a playoff blitz match, which Magnus won with seeming ease. Challengers leader Vidit made a solid draw which secured him the top spot and automatic invitation to next year's Masters. And there will be a next year; at the conclusion of the round, it was announced that the tournament was guaranteed for January 11-27, 2019. Analysis and commentary by GM Daniel Fernandez | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook

1/28/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won the 80th Tata Steel Masters which was decided in a blitz tiebreak over Dutch number one Anish Giri. The players contested two blitz games with 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, with no sudden death Armageddon game needed. Vidit played solidly to earn a draw that was enough to win the Challengers, as Korobov could not manage to pull off a win with black on-demand. | Photo: Alina l'Ami TataSteelChess.com

1/28/2018 – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov made a quick draw with Gawain Jones in under 30 minutes. That gave both Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen an opening to grab the lead with a win, heading into the final round on Sunday. In the Challangers, Vidit got a critical win with black against Girya, and takes a half point edge into round thirteen. Analysis and commentary by GM Daniel Fernandez | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook

1/27/2018 – A draw between co-leaders Carlsen and Mamedyarov did not change the basic calculation, as Giri had the unenviable task of black against Caruana, and also drew. Anand's win over a downtrodden Hou Yifan, gives him some momentum heading into the final weekend half point behind. Karjakin beat Kramnik, but both (along with Wesley So) still have theoretical chances, just a point back. Vidit and Korobov keep their edge with a safe draw in their head-to-head game. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook

1/25/2018 – Wins from Carlsen and Mamedyarov — the latter with the black pieces — re-established a three-way tie between the pair and Anish Giri, who drew with Sergey Karjakin. Kramnik also won to move within a half point of the leaders. Anand too notched a full point and is a full point back. In the Challengers no change at the top but newcomers Dmitry Gordievsky and Matthias Bluebaum improved to plus one scores with their victories today. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess on Facebook

1/24/2018 – Giri grabbed a chance after an oversight from Maxim Matlakov and notched an important win heading into the homestretch of this year's Masters tournament. With all other games drawn, there remain several players within striking distance, including Magnus Carlsen. GM Daniel Fernandez is back with the play-by-play. The Challengers has been status quo for several rounds, with Vidit and Korobov at the top by a safe margin. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/22/2018 – A tumultuous day in Wijk aan Zee as Anish Giri won his head-to-head with Mamedyarov and Magnus Carlsen recovered from a huge blunder, as the three players are now in a dead heat heading into the second rest day. GM Mikhail Golubev annotates the game that stole the show more than any other. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

1/21/2018 – 'Shak' Mamedyarov won again — his third straight and took a full point lead through the half-way mark of the Masters. Vladimir Kramnik put a big dent in Anand's tournament by winning with black against his successor to the World Champion title. Sergey Karjakin got his first win of the week, breaking his drawing streak and dealing Fabiano Caruana his third loss. And Magnus Carlsen handed Hou Yifan her fifth loss, as the World Champ moves up into a four-way tie for second place. GM Mikhail Golubev annotates all the decisive games of the round. Meanwhile, the Anton Korobov train keeps chugging along in the Challengers, as he drew with Black against Mikhail Krasenkow, keeping his full point lead over Vidit. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

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