7/26/2021 – The main event at this year’s edition of the Biel Chess Festival is the Grandmaster Triathlon, in which eight participants play a mix of classical, rapid and blitz chess. The rapid section was played on Sunday, and saw Gata Kamsky getting clear first place with a 5½/7 performance. Nihal Sarin and Maxime Lagarde finished second and third respectively. | Photos: Official site

11/12/2020 – The last of ten “Chess Classic” events played in Mainz took place on August 6-8 at the Rheingoldhalle of the Congress Centre in the German city. An 11-round open tournament with a rapid time control was the main event. Gata Kamsky kicked off with nine consecutive victories and went on to secure first place with draws in the final two rounds. Vugar Gashimov, Levon Aronian and Evgeny Bareev finished a half point behind.

5/29/2020 – With a rating of 2676 Parham Maghsoodloo is currently number 61 on the FIDE world ranking list and number one in Iran as Alireza Firouzja now plays under the FIDE flag. But at the moment Maghsoodloo can only improve his online rating. Which he likes to do in the Unity chess event, a regular online tournament that is also a favourite of Elshan Moradiabadi. | Photo: Parham Maghsoodloo | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/7/2019 – 21-year-old German grandmaster Alexander Donchenko achieved the best result of his career so far as he finished in sole first place at the "Ciutat de Barcelona" Masters. Donchenko scored six wins and three draws, thus collecting 7½ points, leaving Gata Kamsky and Tigran Gharamian a half point behind in the final standings table. Argentine IM Tomas Sosa won the eight-round blitz event that was held after round three. | Photo: Official site

8/28/2019 – Soon after summer comes to an end, the traditional "Ciutat de Barcelona" tournament will take place in the beautiful Mediterranean metropolis. For the first time, however, it will be open to all, after having organized a Schveningen match in 2018 and a round-robin from 2004 until 2017. The nine-round Swiss begins on September 27th, and Gata Kamsky is the highest-rated player registered so far. | Pictured: Barcelona seen from the Tibidabo mountain. | Photo: Jorge Franganillo, via Wikimedia Commons

8/3/2019 – Iran no.3 Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei scored 7.0/9, finishing a half point ahead of a pack of ten players who finished with 6½/9, and won Biel Master Tournament 2019. Tabatabaei did not have the perfect start as he lost his third round game against GM Athanasios Mastrovasilis of Greece. Gata Kamsky of USA and Alexander Donchenko of Germany shared 2nd position as they had all their tie-break scores same. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/27/2019 – The Biel Grandmaster tournament has entered its only rest day, after five gruelling days of chess. Along with this flagship event, a nine-round Masters Tournament is being organized for players above 2000 Elo. The top seed is newly minted member of the 2700 club Jeffery Xiong, who faces stiff competition from fellow American Gata Kamsky and Israeli Tamir Nabaty. With 34 GMs and 22 IMs there are a lot of norm chances as well! After five rounds, Croatian surprise package Ante Brkic and German Alexander Donchenko lead the tournament with 4½ out of 5, followed by a host of players on 4 points. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

3/27/2019 – The announcement came as a shock to the chess world: former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, one of the all-time greats of chess, said he would no longer be participating in competitive chess. Journalists rushed to ask him about his motives, and one of the resulting pieces stood out: an interview in the Chennai-based New Sunday Express. We bring you excerpts (with kind permission) and narrative by Frederic Friedel on his first encounter with the super-talent.

3/4/2019 – It was an eventful weekend in the Bundesliga, as leaders and clear favourites OSG Baden-Baden lined up their best squad but ended up giving up two crucial match points, allowing SG Solingen to catch up with them in the standings. It was giant-killing season in Berlin for Peter Leko, Gata Kamsky and Anton Korobov, who took down top-ten stars Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Vishy Anand. Games, standings and great video content from the organisers below. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

5/11/2018 – Peter Svidler won eight Russian Individual National Championships and in 2000, 2001, and 2013 he became Russian Team Champion with St. Petersburg. At this year's Russian Team Championships Svidler won his fourth naional team title for St. Petersburg. Alex Yermolinsky analyses highlights from the event. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

5/6/2018 – The Russian Team Championship has long been one of the strongest team events of the year, often with elite players from abroad mixed with local talents. This year, due to economic difficulties, many times were forced to forego on big names, but as pointed out by author ALEX YERMOLINSKY, this is almost a blessing in disguise as many talented local masters and grandmasters find themselves invited to play. Enjoy this illustrated report with various commented games. | Photo: Russian Chess Federation

4/18/2018 – Today the U.S. Championships start in Saint Louis, Missouri. The open and the women's championships will once again be held in parallel. The first prize in the Open Tournament is $50,000, with $25,000 for the winner of the U.S. Women's Championship. Wesley So is the defending champ, but both U.S. number one Fabiano Caruana and former U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura are also playing. All the key details... | Photos: CCSCSL

3/8/2018 – Just two days in, already three rounds have already been played in Reykjavik. And only three players remain on a perfect score: Mustafa Yilmaz, Vaibhav Suri and Elshan Moradiabadi. Alina l'Ami, this time in front of the camera, started with two out of two but then lost to Moradiabadi. Gerd Densing reports. Game annotations by GM Daniel Fernandez | Pictured: Alina l'Ami | Photo: Gerd Densing

2/28/2016 – The open tournament in Cappelle la Grande in France has a long and vibrant tradition. Its 32nd edition attracted 538 players, among them strong grandmasters such as Kevin Spraggett or Artur Jussupow. With a rating of 2667 US-Grandmaster Gata Kamsky was top seed and did not disappoint: With 7.5/9 he became sole and convincing tournament winner.

8/16/2015 – For the fourth year, the Washington International was held by the Maryland Chess Federation, and once more was a resounding success if one is to judge by the lineup. At the very top was five-time US Champion Gata Kamsky, far from the only GM, but in the mix was a very large number of juniors on the rise, seeking a chance to outshine their peers.

6/26/2013 – Although much has been made of the rising Elos, little has been said of the FIDE titles that rely on them, and their increasing devaluation. It is not just the grandmaster title, but all titles that are losing their value, and even those dropping standards are being tossed aside as FIDE hands out titles to players who are underrated by hundreds of Elo. Here is a look at this worrisome trend.