3/6/2018 – 13 rounds of blitz is tiring. If you are not playing well you want to get over with it as soon as possible. But if you are winning like Sergey Karjakin was at the Tal Memorial Blitz 2018, you would want to keep playing forever! Sergey was in top-notch form as he mustered up 10.0/13 (+8,=4,-1) and finished 1½ points ahead of second-placed Nakamura. The American tried hard but couldn't keep up with Karjakin's pace. Third place was won by Ian Nepomniachtchi. We have the full coverage with interesting games, positions and lot of videos!

3/5/2018 – In memory of Mikhail Tal, the 11th Tal Memorial takes place in Moscow from March 2nd-4th, with a blitz tournament on March 5th. The venue is the Museum of Russian Impressionists in Moscow. Participants are Mamedyarov, Kramnik, Svidler, Nepomniachtchi, Anand, Dubov, Nakamura, Gelfand, Karjakin and Grishuk. Watch live with video updates and more from the venue by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

3/5/2018 – Chess is considered as a young man's game, but a 48-year-old gentleman from India is changing that perception! Vishy Anand seems to be on a mission - to win just about every rapid event that he plays. Gold at the World Rapid Championship 2017 was difficult, but winning the Tal Memorial Rapid was tougher. The field had some of the best rapid players on the globe and Vishy simply cruised to the finish line with 6.0/9, one point ahead of the rest. In this article we try to analyze the reason for his spectacular performance. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

2/26/2018 – The sixth round of the Aeroflot Open was tactics galore. While Vladimir Fedoseev went for broke to rip open his opponent's king in his game against IM Amin Tabatabaei, Krishnan Sasikiran caught Aryan Tari's king in a mating net after the latter gave up a piece for three pawns. Besides, the tournament saw yet another leader dethroned as Kovaleyev defeated Artemiev on the top board to take the sole lead himself. An illustrated report.

2/22/2018 – The Aeroflot open sports a strong field of 60 GMs, 27 IMs, two WGMs and three FMs. In such a tournament the favourites are not likely to have an easy time. For instance, Dmitry Andreikin had a long fight for his draw against Andrey Esipenko in the first round. Another top seed, Rauf Mamedov, actually lost. The second round, however, contained fewer surprises. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

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 – It was a great month to end the year, with exciting chess throughout. Fabiano Caruana retook the no.2 spot after his win at London, but the biggest news was really Vishy Anand's evergreen result, taking the World Rapid title at age 48, facing a player less than half his age, albeit a bit green in tournament strategy, 22-year-old Vladimir Fedoseev. Let's not forget Magnus Carlsen who took the World Blitz title, and many more results. | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

1/1/2018 – Readers may have noticed the final report on the World Rapid had not been by Alex Yermolinsky, who begged forgiveness as he was very ill. A day later he sent this series of notes he had already prepared, saying it would be a pity for them to go to waste and we could not agree more. Enjoy the chosen moments with his highly instructive annotations. Happy New Year! | Photo: Anastasia Karlovich

12/29/2017 – It would be an understatement to describe the last day of the King Salman Rapid Chess Championship as exciting. Round after round, the balance of power was rocked by big games and big results and every time you though it was now clear, something dramatic took place. In the end, it came down to a playoff between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Fedoseev won by the Indian. In the women’s section, Ju Wenjun completed her domination with gold. Enjoy this large illustrated report. | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

12/28/2017 – The second day at the King Salman World Rapid Championship continued its thrilling run with a clash between the leaders Fedoseev and Jobava won by the Russian. He continues as sole leader with 8.0/10. Half a point behind him are Wang Hao, Peter Svidler, and a rejuvenated Vishy Anand, who beat Magnus Carlsen in a big game. In the Women's section, Ju Wenjun leads with 8.0/10. Report and analysis by GM Alex Yermolinsky. | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

12/27/2017 – The incredibly rich King Salman World Rapid Championship has started with a record prize fund only rivaled by that of the actual world championship. The tournament started with a bang as Magnus Carlsen lost his first round game to Bu Xiangzhi! The early leaders are Fedoseev and Jobava in the Open section with 4½ / 5 and Ju Wenjun in the Women's with 5/5. We bring a huge report with 11 games chosen and analysed by Alex Yermolinsky | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

12/16/2017 – Both the open and women's Russian Superfinals in St. Petersburg 2017 could not have been more exciting! In the open event, the two St. Petersburgers Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov were in first place with 7 points each after 11 rounds and had to decide the title in rapid chess (two games 15 minutes + 10 seconds). Svidler took his record eighth title, winning both tiebreak games. The same thing happened in the women's tournament: Alexandra Goryachkina and Natalia Pogonina were tied after eleven rounds also on 7 points each and also followed by an exciting rapid playoff, won by the 19-year-old Goryachkina. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

12/14/2017 – Live from St. Petersburg, it's 70th Russian Championship Superfinal. The final round was December 14th, 2017. The 12-player round-robin, has a first prize of 1 million roubles (~€14,500 euros) plus a Renault Kaptur car. The top three finishers qualify automatically for the 2018 Championship. Peter Svidler, the top seed, defeated Vladimir Fedoseev with black in the penultimate round and also won his final round game to reach 7 / 11 and qualify for a tiebreak with Nikita Vitiugov, who also won. In the 15 minute rapid games that followed, Svidler won both to earn his eighth Russian Championship! | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

12/7/2017 – The secret star of the Russian Championships is the villa in which they are played. Today it is a museum but it was once owned by Matilda Kschessinskaya, the famous ballerina and lover of the future Tsar Nicholas II. The love-story of the Tsar and the ballerina was recently turned into a movie ("Matilda"). Vladimir Fedoseev leads the "Superfinal" after five rounds. | Photo: H X YouTube along with numerous other historical photos

9/18/2017 – Grandmaster Wesley So is in the semifinals where he faces Ding Liren. That puts him one match away from qualification to the Candidates. In the extended video interview, he explains how he beat Fedoseev, why he turns his chair sideways, how he tracks the average rating qualification for the Candidates, the role of his foster mother Lotis Key, and why his fans give him hope. So is unique among the remaining World Cup participants in that he can also qualify by rating, should he lose to Ding. We take a look at the interesting scenarios. | Photo: Macauley Peterson

9/15/2017 – It was a day of three draws and one brilliant game. The two draws between Fedoseev-So and Rapport-Ding were very short. The fight between Svidler and MVL was intense, but at the end they also decided to split the point. It was Levon Aronian who stole the show with a very nice pawn sacrifice in the opening followed by purposeful and dynamic play. Ivanchuk looked completely off-colour and had to resign in 24 moves. We have pictures, Aronian's video explaining his win and in-depth analysis. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

9/11/2017 – Magnus Carlsen made the bold decision to play in this unpredictable knock out format of the World Cup, and on Sunday he was eliminated by world number 35 Bu Xiangzhi of China. Along with Magnus, also Kramnik and Nakamura have had to book their return tickets. Out of the top ten players in the world that were playing at this event, only one has qualified to round four. Five have been knocked out and four will play the tiebreaks. We have a huge round three, game two, report from Tbilisi. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

7/17/2017 – Round two showed a tournament that is clearly hard to define early on. While Vladimir Fedoseev made headlines by beating his compatriot Vladimir Kramnik in the opening round, in round two he was soon in big trouble against Matthias Bluebaum after excessively optimistic opening play, and lost. Joining Bluebaum is Radolaw Wojtaszek, who defeated Wang Yue in a back and forth struggle. Report with analysis by GM Moradiabadi.