7/16/2016 – For weeks chessfans had been waiting for the encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin in the Bilbao "Masters", the prelude of their World Championship match in November. But their third round game turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair in which Carlsen worked his magic again. After a quiet opening he "simply" attacked on the kingside and came to a seemingly effortless win. Daniel King takes a closer look at this crucial encounter.

7/15/2016 – Wei Yi vs Magnus Carlsen, potential World Champion against reigning World Champion, was the highlight of the second round of the "Masters" in Bilbao. After his first round loss against Hikaru Nakamura the World Champion obviously wanted to win but was careful to avoid undue risks. This led to an interesting game with lots of tactical moments in the endgame. Daniel King takes a closer look.

7/14/2016 – What happened? Magnus Carlsen lost with White against Hikaru Nakamura, who played strong and calm chess. But where did the World Champion go wrong, what could he have done better, when was he lost and what opportunities did he miss? In his "Powerplay" YouTube channel English Grandmaster Daniel King tries to find answers to these and other questions. See the video...

7/12/2016 – English Grandmaster Daniel King knows how to do both: to entertain and to instruct. He does it on many ChessBase DVDs and he does it on his PowerPlayChess YouTube channel. Here he recently reviewed "The Big Book of Chess World Championships" by ChessBase editor André Schulz, an entertaining book rich with stories. But if you prefer instruction to entertainment and happen to search for a good answer to 1.d4 you might want to have a look at King's latest DVDs.

4/30/2016 – Happy end for Magnus Carlsen: after stumbling in round eight against Levon Aronian the World Champion won the Altibox Norway Chess tournament with an impressive victory against Pavel Eljanov in round nine. After a quiet opening Carlsen gradually increased the pressure until Eljanov cracked in time-trouble. Daniel King takes a close look at this crucial game.

4/29/2016 – Things went well for Magnus Carlsen at the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger - until round eight. Playing with Black against Levon Aronian the World Champion misplayed the opening and soon find himself in an uncomfortable position which he finally lost after a tactical oversight. In his video analysis Daniel King wonders how this could happen.

4/28/2016 – In round seven of the Norway Chess tournament Magnus Carlsen won an impressive game against Vladimir Kramnik by employing a new idea in a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined that had been considered as rather solid. At the board Kramnik found no adequate response to Carlsen's strategy and lost clearly. But maybe Black has alternatives? Daniel King takes a look.

4/26/2016 – Anish Giri enjoys the reputation of being a very solid player who rarely loses. But in round six of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament he lost a surprisingly one-sided game with White against Pentala Harikrishna, in which the Indian outplayed Giri in the French. In his video analysis Daniel King explains the game and the intricacies of the opening.

4/22/2016 – Round three of the Norway Chess tournament led to "the battle of the Scandis" as Daniel King dubbed the game between Magnus Carlsen and Nils Grandelius. The young Swedish grandmaster tried the Nimzowitsch-Sicilian, a rare guest in top tournaments. But this failed to surprise the World Champion. On the contrary: Carlsen countered brutally.

4/21/2016 – The most spectacular encounter of round two of the Norway Chess tournament was the game between Anish Giri and Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave. Anish Giri enjoys the reputation of being always execellently prepared but Vachier Lagrave still dared to play a sharp line of the Najdorf against him. This quickly led to tactical fireworks. Daniel King takes a close look.

4/20/2016 – Lively start in Stavanger at the 4. Altibox Norway Chess tournament. Giri still knows how to win, Kramnik shows his superb strategic understanding and Carlsen steamrolls Pentala Harikrishna with a number of powerful moves. In the end the World Champion could even afford to miss a forced mate. Daniel King shows highlights of the first round.

3/16/2016 – Four rounds are played at the Candidates Tournament 2016 in Moscow, Karjakin leads with 3.0/4 and a 2966 performance, Topalov is last with 1.0/4. Four of the 16 games played so far were decided, one in each round. And after each round Daniel King looks at the highlights and analyses them. Here are his videos from the first four rounds.

1/31/2016 – It was round twelve, and Magnus Carlsen had just drawn against Wesley So. Two players saw this as their chance: Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren, and they led the day with great wins and fascinating games. Daniel King brings his grandmaster magnifying glass and looks at Caruana's win over Dutch player Loek Van Wely. Here is the video with his GM analysis.

1/30/2016 – After a long and grueling competition, the players begin showing signs of fatigue, leading to missed chances, and unexpected saves. Round eleven saw this in the spades, with a significant impact on the standings. GM King analyzes the ending between Carlsen and Hou, as well as the cliffhanger between Caruana and Mamedyarov, and the miracle save by Giri vs Adams. Enjoy the video analysis.

1/28/2016 – After ten of thirteen rounds Magnus Carlsen leads the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee with 7.0/10. Half a point behind follows Fabiano Caruana who kept his chances to catch Carlsen in the last three rounds after the rest day on Thursday by winning a theoretically interesting game against Wei Yi in round ten. Daniel King takes a closer look.

1/27/2016 – In the first eight rounds of his first Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee Chinese Chinese prodigy Wei Yi drew all his games. But in round nine he threw caution to the winds and in a closed Spanish castled queenside to prepare for some violence. This soon led to sacrifices which culminated in a scintillating mating attack. Daniel King takes a closer look.

1/25/2016 – In round 8 David Navara played against Fabiano Caruana. Carlsen and Caruana were leading after round 7. In a Nimzoindian Navara ended up with an isolated double pawn on the c file after the opening. After exchanging a lot of pieces Navara improved his position from move to move in the endgame. Daniel King shows this game as his "Game of the day"...

1/19/2016 – Things are heating up in Wijk aan Zee. Caruana is leading the tournament with 2,5 out of 3 beating Adams and Eljanov. The game of the day for Daniel King was Navara vs Giri which he analysed in his highlight video. Navara sacrificed a whole rook for the attack. If he could manage to convert into a win you can see in this video...

1/18/2016 – The Tata Steel Masters started over the weekend and a lot of top players show their best at the first super tournament of the year. In round 2 we saw the top clash between Carlsen and Caruana where Carlsen tried to avoid preparations by playing 1.g3. Daniel King analysed this game in his highlight video. Click here for the video...

12/29/2015 – In round 8 we saw a lot of draws on the top boards. But not all were drawn. Yu Yangyi won against Grandelius to join Kramnik who also won against Sjugirov. They're both on 6 out of 8 directly behind Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen had the black pieces against Mamedyarov and won in the end. Daniel King analysed this game in his highlight video. Click here for the video...

12/28/2015 – Allmost all top boards drew their games in round 7 at the Qatar Masters. That left the possibility for others to catch up. Sanan Sjugirov played a good game against Dmitry Jakovenko and seized the opportunity to join Carlsen and Mamedyarov in the lead. Daniel King analysed the game Sjugirov vs Jakovenko for our readers. Click here for the video...

12/27/2015 – The Qatar Masters didn't stop over christmas. For those who haven't caught up with the results, Daniel King analysed two games of the last two rounds in his videos. Carlsen vs Li Shao from round 5 and Wei Yi vs Bromberger from round 6. Click here for the videos...

12/24/2015 – The leading players, Giri and Li Shao, of the tournament played each other in round 4 and drew. Three players caught up: So, Matlakov und Carlsen. Magnus Carlsen played with black against Duda. They played a Najdorf. Daniel King shows this game in his round report. Click here for the video...

12/22/2015 – After three rounds only two players are on 100%: Anish Giri and Li Shao. 14 players are behind with 2,5/3. Amongst others Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is also on 2,5/3 and faced Alexander Lenderman today. Daniel King shows this game in his round report. Click here for the video...