4/25/2019 – After winning in Shamkir, Carlsen’s live rating was up to 2861, his best since June 2015. After five rounds in Grenke, that's exactly where he remains today (well 2861.6 to be precise!). IM SAGAR SHAH recently took a look at how he's climbing back towards his all-time peak. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis (author of The Open Games - A detailed overview)

4/17/2019 – Ideas and strategies in Grandmaster games can be quite instructive. IM Merijn van Delft presents games like these every Wednesday at 18:00 UTC (20:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT). On this week's show: Magnus Carlsen's win over Alexander Grischuk from the last round of Shamkir. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows.

4/9/2019 – A third consecutive win in Shamkir meant Magnus Carlsen finished on 7 out of 9, two points ahead of his closer pursuers, with an out-of-this-world rating performance of 2988. His last victim was Alexander Grischuk, who was duly overrun both on the board and on the clock. The rest of the games finished drawn. LAWRENCE TRENT took a closer look at the final encounters of the sixth Gashimov Memorial. | Photo: Official site

4/9/2019 – By winning his fifth game in Shamkir, Magnus Carlsen, who had already won the tournament, finished with a stratospheric 7/9 score, a full two points ahead of his nearest rivals. Carlsen's Elo performance was nearly 3000! Wow! All other games were drawn. | Games and video from 11:00 UTC (12:00 CEST / 6 AM EDT) and daily round-up show at 20:00 UTC (21:00 CEST / 3 PM EDT)

4/9/2019 – An implacable Magnus Carlsen beat Sergey Karjakin in the penultimate day of action in Shamkir to secure the title with a round to spare. This is the World Champion's fourth triumph in four attempts at the Gashimov Memorial. Alexander Grischuk and Ding Liren also won and now share second place with Sergey Karjakin, a point and a half behind the champion. LAWRENCE TRENT recapped the action of the eighth round. | Photo: Official site

4/8/2019 – The one decisive game of round seven saw Magnus Carlsen defeat his Twitter arch-enemy Anish Giri to take the sole lead in Shamkir. It was a rather flashy win, which means Magnus will arrive in Monday's showdown against Sergey Karjakin in high spirits. With only two rounds to go, it seems almost impossible for any player other than Magnus or Sergey to win the event. Grandmaster YANNICK PELLETIER analysed the games in depth. | Photo: Official site

4/7/2019 – A theoretical battle ended up with Sergey Karjakin showing great technique to take down Vishy Anand in an endgame, thus catching up Magnus Carlsen at the top of the standings. The other winner of the day was Veselin Topalov, who defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from the white side of a Ruy Lopez. Three rounds remain to be played in Azerbaijan, with co-leaders Karjakin and Carlsen set to battle on Monday. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ analysed all the games. | Photo: Official site

4/5/2019 – There were three wins in Round 5. Vishy Anand won against Anish Giri with the help of his strong pawn centre, David Navara benefited from a tactical inaccuracy vs Ding Liren and Alexander Grischuk showed how strong the bishop pair can be against Veselin Topalov. Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov drew as did Teimour Radjabov and Sergey Karjakin. With 3½ out of 5, Carlsen remains the sole leader. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ examines all the games. | Photos: ShamkirChess.com

4/4/2019 – Five draws — that was the result of the fourth round of the "Gashimov Memorial" in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. As days go, there have been others more exciting. David Navara, who played Black against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, had the best chance of winning. But after more than five hours of play, this game also ended in a draw, leaving Magnus Carlsen with 3 out of 4, as the sole leader. Report with analysis by GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ. | Photo: ShamkirChess.com

4/3/2019 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen looks determined and focused at the Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir. After defeating Viswanathan Anand in Round 2, he also won in Round 3, beating David Navara with Black through good technique and energetic play. He is now the sole leader with 2½ out of 3 alone. The second win of the day was provided by Anand who bounced back from his prior day's loss to beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The remaining three games ended drawn. Report and analyses by GMs ARYAN TARI and DANIEL FERNANDEZ. | Photos: ShamkirChess.com

4/2/2019 – Four out of five games featured big fights in round two of the 2019 Shamkir Chess Tournament. Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin and Ding Liren were the first ones to score in this year’s edition, while David Navara was on the bad side of a draw for a second day in a row, as Veselin Topalov could not make the most of his position. ARYAN TARI provided expert analysis of Carlsen's win over Vishy Anand. | Photo: Official site

3/31/2019 – The 2019 edition of the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir kicked off with all games drawn in the first round — much like last year, when the first decisive game came in round four. That does not mean there was no fighting in the Azeri town, however, as Teimour Radjabov put pressure on Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand had David Navara against the ropes during most of their encounter. | Photo: Official site

2/22/2019 – World Champion Magnus Carlsen will return to Azerbaijan for the 6th edition of the tournament in memory of Vugar Gashimov, a 10-player round-robin set to begin on March 31st. He'll be joined by Ding Liren, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Viswanathan Anand, Alexander Grischuk, Teimour Radjabov, Sergey Karjakin, Veselin Topalov and David Navara.