Mark Crowther    The th European Women’s Championship takes place Thu th Apr to Tue th Apr in Rhodes, Greece. Top seeds: Yuliia Osmak, Marsel Efroimski, Bella Khotenashvili, Dinara Wagner, Antoaneta Stefanova, Lela Javakhishvili etc

Mark Crowther    The Dutch League took place th September to th April . Kennemer Combinatie had already won the league before this weekend’s final round.

Mark Crowther    The th Karen Asrian Memorial takes place in Yerevan Wed th Apr to Thu nd May . The event returns after missing last year. Top seeds Manuel Petrosyan, Zaven Andriasian, M Pranesh etc.

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi will challenge Ju Wenjun for the World Chess Championship in . The year old player was not the favourite for the event but her confident play dominated with only a round loss to her closest challenger Lei Tingjie as a blemish in the event. In the final round Tan played a very...

Mark Crowther    Dommaraju Gukesh won the FIDE Candidates at the age of years old. He comfortably held a draw against Hikaru Nakamura in the final round of the event. Fabiano Caruana built up a winning position against double defending champion Ian Nepomaniachtchi but a blunder on the first move after first time...

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi could not ask for a better chance to win the Women’s Candidates in Toronto going into the final round. Tan hardly played the most critical continuation against Aleksandra Goryachkina but a quiet game suited her and a draw by repetition was agreed on move . She now leads the Lei...

Mark Crowther    Dommaraju Gukesh is on the verge of victory in the FIDE Candidates tournament in Toronto. A win in the final round with the black pieces against Hikaru Nakamura would guarantee first place. Half a point behind is his opponent Nakamura as well as Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi who face...

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi continues to lead Lei Tingjie by half a point going into the final rest day of the Women’s Candidates tournament in Toronto. They are too far clear of the rest of the field, one of these two players will win the event. Tan Zhongyi was losing against Nurgyul Salimova. By move ...

Mark Crowther    The FIDE Candidates in Toronto, Canada has reached the final rest day. With two rounds to go three players, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh and Hikaru Nakamura lead with . half a point clear of Fabiano Caruana, one of these players will win the event. There will be day of tie breaks on Monday if...

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi took sole lead of the FIDE Women’s Candidates with . after beating Kateryna Lagno in a Reti. Lei Tingjie managed to draw against Anna Muzychuk and is half a point behind. With three rounds to go Kateryna Lagno, Humpy Koneru and Aleksandra Goryachkina are all on . points,...

Mark Crowther    Ian Nepomniachtchi won a really fascinating struggle against Santosh Vidit in the eleventh round of the FIDE Candidates tournament in Toronto, Canada. Not only did Nepomniachtchi win, he won with the black pieces, but it was Vidit who first had winning chances. Vidit chose a side line in a...

Mark Crowther    The tenth round of the FIDE Women’s Candidates saw two decisive games and Lei Tingjie re join Tan Zhongyi in the lead on . points, they’re a point clear of Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno. Goryachkina has the reputation of being one of the most solid of women’s players and she...

Mark Crowther    The tenth round of the FIDE Candidates tournament saw the leaders Gukesh and Ian Nepomniachtchi draw and wins for Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. This leaves Nepomniachtchi and Gukesh on, Praggnanandhaa, Nakamura and Caruana on . and Vidit on all in the mix. A playoff rather than a...

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi scored a quick victory against Rameshbabu Vaishali in Round of the Women’s Candidates tournament in Toronto and that eventually proved to be enough to lead alone on . Tan claimed to have surprised Vaishali with her choice of opening, I’m not sure at what move that was but...

Mark Crowther    The ninth round of the FIDE Candidates in Toronto saw just the one decisive game when Santosh Vidit beat Hikaru Nakamura but the joint leader Ian Nepomniachtchi looked to be in trouble against Alireza Firouzja. In the end Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi share the lead with . half a point clear of...

Mark Crowther    The FIDE Candidates in Toronto is heating up nicely after eight rounds. Gukesh joined Ian Nepomniachtchi in the lead and Hikaru Nakamura moved into contention alongside Praggnanandhaa. Fabiano Caruana’s loss to Nakamura took him back to and is surely a major blow. Gukesh recovered from...

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi was joined by Lei Tingjie and Aleksandra Goryachkina on pts after Rounds of the Women’s Candidates tournament in Toronto. It was all so unnecessary too, Tan turned down a draw by repetition by playing the risky and objectively not very good .f and her position more or less...

Mark Crowther    Ian Nepomniachtchi leads the FIDE Candidates with . at the half way stage. Nepomniachtchi hasn’t looked that steady in the last three rounds and in Round he and Hikaru Nakamura engaged in a memory competition for a mind bending computer line in the Petroff. It seems that Nepomniachtchi...

Mark Crowther    The FIDE Women’s Candidates tournament reached the half way stage and round saw the meeting of the top two placed players. Aleksandra Goryachkina remained half a point behind Tan Zhongyi after their move draw. This was a modern move d pawn Queen’s Gambit move order, that ended up in some...

Mark Crowther    Tan Zhongyi leads the women’s Candidates on . after a round where all the games finished decisively. Tan played the Colle system against Anna Muzychuk and hit a bullseye as black drifted into trouble. Objectively there weren’t early problems but Carlsen won with black playing ...cxd ...