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 – 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 features games from World Rapid and Blitz Championship recently concluded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

11/6/2017 – Azerbaijan beat Russia in Round 8, leaving the tournament to be decided in the final round with both teams plus Ukraine vying for the title. Rauf Mamedov has a remarkable 7½ out of 8 games and has broken 2700 for the first time. Azerbaijan takes a small lead into their match with Ukraine, Germany rocketed to fourth with wins over Armenia and Israel, and will face Russia. GM Daniel Fernandez and IM Lawrence Trent annotate the best games from Rounds 6-8. | Photo: EuroTeams2017.com

11/2/2017 – Who would have guessed that Croatia would be in the sole lead at the European Team Championship heading into the rest day? They beat Germany, while Hungary and Armenia played to a 2-2 tie. Russian and Poland are also a point off the pace. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov turned in a scorching win over David Navara and broke 2800 on the live rating list. Highlights from Rounds 4 and 5 including extensive game annotations from GM Daniel Fernandez. | Photos: euroteams2017.com

9/13/2017 – Checking in on World Championship candidates qualification, the twists and turns that have already occurred and are still to come as the drama mounts and the pool of players shrinks. For many potential candidates the World Cup is the only possible route to qualification, but some have multiple paths to follow. Will Mamedyarov and Caruana stay on track despite being eliminated from the World Cup? Who else can join Sergey Karjakin to attempt to overthrow Magnus Carlsen next year? | Player drawings: WorldChess.com/ratings

9/9/2017 – The tiebreak of the second round of the World Cup 2017 witnessed some games going down to the wire. Matlakov and Artemiev won marathon encounters against Andreikin and Radjabov. Ten players rated above 2700 were knocked out from the event in the round two tiebreaks. We bring you many interesting positions and games, as well as video interviews with chess boards which helps you to understand the thought process of all the top players! We started with 128, now only 32 remain in Tbilisi. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

7/24/2017 – Today, FIDE announced the list of participants for the World Cup 2017, which will be played from September 2nd to 28th in the city of Tbilisi. One name on the list was particularly surprising — Magnus Carlsen. Two years ago the World Champion revealed that he is a fan of the knock-out-mode. Now he's gunning for one title he does not yet have. | Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich, dubai2014wrb.com

6/1/2017 – There can be no question it was a busy month overall. Consider that no fewer than 29 of the Top 100 experienced swings of 10 Elo or more. The biggest winner was unquestionably Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who has had an amazing run, winning the Gashimov Memorial, scoring later 4/4 at the Russian League, and 2nd at the Moscow GP to finally reach 2800. Of note also was 14-year-old prodigy Awonder Liang, who earned 33 Elo and is now 2521. Report, stats, and more.

2/25/2017 – One interesting aspect of the FIDE Grand Prix in Sharjah has been some of the extreme opening preparation battles in which neither player shirked the opportunity to test the other. In round seven, two such examples that led to fascinating battles were Ding Liren vs Nakamura, as well as Salem vs Riazantsev. The latter saw Salem win that battle as he emerged with the lead and converted. The top standings are unchanged with two rounds to go. Full report with analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

2/24/2017 – In round four of the Fide Grand Prix tournament in Sharjah Shakriyar Mamedyarov won an energetic game against Michael Adams' Queen's Gambit Declined. A game ChessBase author and International Master Robert Ris followed with great joy. After all, Mamedyarov played an opening Ris also favors and recommended on one of his DVDs. In a short interview Ris talks about this line and about openings and opening research in general.

2/22/2017 – Although the games were harder fought this round compared to the previous anemic one, only three games out of nine ended in a decisive result. Nakamura seemed to have excellent chances against co-leader Mamedyarov, but in the end drew. Adams bounced back from his bad loss to Mamedyarov yesterday, and overpowered Hammer, while Grischuk and Jakovenko both broke their four draw streaks with wins over Eljanov and Riazantsev respectively. Full report with fascinating analysis by Alex Yermolinsky.

2/22/2017 – With breathtaking verve, Mamedyarov went all out against Adams, and scored a powerful win to join MVL in the lead. Most games drew, some with little or no effort to fight, though not all such as Eljanov vs Hou Yifan that went the distance. Li Chao was the other winner of the day, defeating Tomashevsky. Enjoy the illustrated report with analysis by Tiger Hillarp-Persson.

10/25/2016 – The Amir Timur Rapid Round Robin Tournament was held from 18th to 21st October at Hotel Miran International in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The event was a tribute to Amir Timur, a famous conqueror who would be celebrating his 680 birthday. The 12-round quadruple tournament had an average rating of 2726 with elite players Mamedyarov, Gelfand, Ponomariov and local hero Kasimdzhanov making up the field. We have pictures, history lessons, and tactics for you to solve.

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...

12/22/2015 – 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...

7/6/2013 – After two rounds of meager pickings, chess fans were served three decisive games and remarkably all by Black, bucking the age-old wisdom of ‘win with white, hold with black’. In fact, the round was so tense that even the three draws could have ended in wins. The winners were Mamedyarov, Giri, and above all, Karjakin on a perfect 3.0/3 start. Illustrated report and GM analysis.