4/4/2019 – Today's topic: Thematic sacrifices in Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Bg5, live at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 2 PM EDT) 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.

3/21/2019 – Today's topic: The Janowski Variation (3...a6) of the Queen's Gambit Declined, live at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET 1 PM EST) 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.

2/24/2019 – Saturday was a double-round in Moscow but that didn't faze Indian veteran GM Krishnan Sasikiran who remains perfect with five out of five and a full point lead! ALEX YERMOLINSKY takes a look at the highlights of a chess-packed day. | Photo: Eldar Mukhametov / ruchess.ru

2/16/2019 – The Cosmos Hotel, located in north-central Moscow, will host the 17th edition of the Aeroflot Open. Group A currently counts 39 registered players rated 2600 or above, with 19-year-old Wei Yi as the top seed. The event is a great chance for players that are vying to get a place in the elite to prove themselves against formidable opposition. Nine rounds will be played starting Monday, with no rest days in between. | Photo: Amruta Mokal (archive)

1/23/2019 – Early leader Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Vidit Gujrathi's Petroff Defence to join Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand at the top of the standings. Round nine also saw Vladimir Fedoseev bouncing back to 50% after tricking Teimour Radjabov in a rook endgame and Jorden van Foreest holding Anish Giri to a draw from a complex middlegame. In the Challengers, Maksim Chigaev is still the sole leader. Expert analysis by GMs DANIEL FERNANDEZ and DANIEL KING. | Pictured: Pia Sprong | Photos: Alina l'Ami / Official site

1/21/2019 – Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand defeated Richard Rapport and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov respectively to share the lead on 5½/8 at the Tata Steel Masters. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladimir Fedoseev also won in Sunday's eighth round and received a boost of confidence before the second rest day. In the Challengers, Maksim Chigaev got his third straight win and is the sole leader. GM ADHIBAN BASKARAN sent expert analysis. | Photos: Alina l'Ami / Official site

1/20/2019 – On a day filled with remarkably fighting chess in Wijk aan Zee, Vishy Anand defeated his old rival and friend Vladimir Kramnik to join the leading pack on 4½/7 — the Indian now shares first place with Carlsen, Giri, Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren. Meanwhile, Teimour Radjabov and Sam Shankland grabbed their first wins this year. In the Challengers, Maksim Chigaev won and caught up with Vladislav Kovalev on 5/7. | Photos: Alina l'Ami / Official site

1/19/2019 – Anish Giri continued his strong run in the Tata Steel Chess Masters: he won with black against Jan-Krzysztof and extends his black winning streak to three games. The other Dutch player in the group scored as well — Jorden van Foreest even turned in a minor brilliancy. GM DANIEL FERNANDEZ looks at that plus all the games. Magnus Carlsen clinched his second successive win, beating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in a long endgame — Carlsen, Nepomniachtchi, Giri and Ding Liren now share the lead with 4 out of 6 points each. | Photo: Alina l'Ami, Tata Steel Chess

1/18/2019 – GM Vidit Gujrathi has every reason to be happy about his performance thus far at the Tata Steel Masters. Scoring 3/5, he is not only just a half point behind the leaders but has also remained undefeated, saving crucial games against Jan-Krzysztof Duda and even the mighty Magnus Carlsen. On the first rest day of the event, ADITYA PAI caught up with Vidit to talk about how he prepared for his maiden appearance at the Tata Steel Masters, his saves against Carlsen and Duda, his love for the city of Prague and a lot more. | Photo: Alina L'ami

10/28/2018 – The Russians Peter Svidler and Vladimir Fedoseev narrowly won their Hoogeveen matches over Sam Shankland and Jorden van Foreest, respectively. Fedoseev needed a blitz tiebreak match to emerge victorious. In the Hoogeveen Open, the format called for a "final four" — a one-game semi-final and final in lieu of the last two rounds. Rating favourite Bassem Amin was among the four and then proceeded to beat Eltaj Safarli and Dmitry Kryakvin in back-to-back games to win the Open outright.

10/24/2018 – Peter Svidler lost the opening game of his six-game match against Sam Shankland, but in game two he was able to fight back and win with white. Tuesday's game ended drawn. In the second match between Jorden van Foreest and Vladimir Fedoseev the point was shared for the third time, meaning both matches are all tied up at the halfway mark. Wednesday is a rest day in the matches, but the Open games are live. | Photos: Official site

10/22/2018 – The 22nd edition of the traditional "Schaaktoernooi" started over the weekend in the Dutch town of Hoogeveen. 82 players participate in the Open where the top seed is the Egyptian Grandmaster Bassem Amin. But there are also two matches on offer, typically featuring rising stars and veteran players. This year Samuel Shankland (USA) meets Peter Svidler (Russia) and Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia) is pitted against Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands). The tournament director is GM Loek van Wely. | Photos: hoogeveenchess.nl

10/19/2018 – Any of the top teams could have won it, but Mednyi Vsadnik ended up ahead at the European Club Cup in Porto Carras. Valerenga arrived in the last round as sole leaders but barely one point ahead of the four-team chasing pack — the eventual champions from Saint Petersburg defeated Carlsen's squad and edged AVE Novy Bor on tiebreak criteria to take home the gold medals. In the women's section, Cercle d'Escacs de Monte-Carlo finished first thanks to Anna Muzychuk's win on top board. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

10/13/2018 – Less than a month before the World Championship match begins in London, Magnus Carlsen flew to Porto Carras to represent Valerenga Sjakklubb at the European Chess Club Cup. The Norwegian expectedly rested on day one, when all the favourite teams comfortably swept their lower-rated opponents by wide margins. Only in the women's section we saw a surprise, as Caissa Italia Pentole Agnolli had to settle for a draw against the Russian SSHOR. | Photo: Niki Riga / eurochess2018.com

9/6/2018 – The extremely competitive Russian Superfinals finished on Wednesday in Satka. Both the open and the women's sections were decided on two-game rapid playoffs — Dmitry Andreikin and Natalija Pogonina won their games with White and drew with Black, against Dmitry Jakovenko and Olga Girya, to become the 2018 Russian champions. ALEX YERMOLINSKY sent a report with no less than ten games analysed. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili / Russian Chess Federation

9/3/2018 – The open and women's sections of the Russian Superfinal continue in Satka. After eight rounds, both tournaments have two leaders — the main section has Dmitry Andreikin and Dmitry Jakovenko in front, while Olga Girya and Alina Kashlinskaya are ahead amongst the women. A large group of chasers are at a half point distance in both events, so everything is still up for grabs with three rounds to go. | Photos: Eteri Kublashvili / Russian Chess Federation

8/4/2018 – Scoring 4½/7, tournament's top seed, GM Yu Yangyi bagged the title prize of the 9th Hainan Danzhou Super Grandmaster tournament. In the final round, the race for the title was between Yu Yangyi and his countryman Bu Xiangzhi. Going for a comfortable draw in the Petroff, Yu put the onus of catching up on his rival who was half-a-point behind. Bu was never really in a position to win his game but Fedoseev, Bu's opponent, surprisingly pulled out a win at the last moment to score his first win of the event. Le Quang Liem and Wei Yi also scored impressive wins in the finale.

8/3/2018 – Big changes occurred on the leaderboard at the conclusion of the penultimate round at the 9th Hainan Danzhou Masters. Tournament leader, Bu Xiangzhi lost his first game of the event to Jan-Krzysztof Duda. This allowed Yu Yangyi, Bu's closest rival to take over the lead after he won a fine attacking game against Vladimir Fedoseev. Le Quang Liem also scored his first win of the tournament in round six against Sam Shankland.