On Wednesday Magnus Carlsen defeated Gadir Guseinov 20.5-5.5 in what was the last match of the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship's first round. The next opponent for Carlsen, in the quarterfinals, will be Wesley So on November 21. Find all...
You're not supposed to work too hard when you're on vacation. In a tournament where he uncharacteristically arrived with no parents, no manager, and no seconds, GM Magnus Carlsen and his girlfriend will leave winners. "It was different," Carls...
Carlsen. Nakamura. Board one. Final round. Sometimes the headline writes itself. GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Hikaru Nakamura have never faced each other in the last round of an open tournament before, or likely in an open event at all. That will al...
One of the Isle of Man's most famous sons is a sprinter. The bicyclist Mark Cavendish, born in the capital of Douglas, is known for breaking out of the pack right at the finish. The "Tour d'Isle of Man," better known as the Chess.com Isle of Man...
King Magnus III ruled the Isle of Man from 1099 to 1103. One millennium later, King Magnus IV is attempting to conquer the quaint island a second time. While Magnus Carlsen is not actual royalty (his name being preceded by "GM" rather than a dyn...
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is the youngest IM in history, earning the title at only 10 years of age. Last year at the Chess.com Isle of Man International, he made headlines by defeating GM Axel Bachmann as Black in only 18 moves. This year, he achi...
Some 12 years after his victory in Khanty-Mansiysk, Levon Aronian has won his second FIDE World Cup title and the $120,000 first prize. In today’s tiebreak against Ding Liren he won both rapid games. After almost a month, the 20...
"The principal mark of genius is not perfection but originality, the opening of new frontiers," the writer Arthur Koestler once opined. In round four of the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man International, the four leading GMs all lost their perfection...
The final of the FIDE World Cup between Ding Liren and Levon Aronian will be decided in a tiebreak on Wednesday as the fourth game also ended in a draw. It was again Aronian who had the better chances. After winning their dramatic semifinal...
GM James Tarjan is either 65, or only three, depending on how you count. Either way, his chess was good enough to take out the former world champion GM Vladimir Kramnik in round three of the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man International. How can h...
Game two and three of the FIDE World Cup final also ended in draws. If Levon Aronian holds the draw as Black vs Ding Liren tomorrow, we'll see a tiebreak on Wednesday. Ding might have two small advantages in what will be the last ...
Thanks to two German IMs in their 20s, now only two of the top five seeds have perfect scores after 48 hours in the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man International. Both GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Viswanathan Anand ceded half-points as Black today in roun...
Two weeks after the most famous missing fabric in chess, the principal participants and some associated parties have responded. Mostly, they've dug in to their positions. On September 9, 2017, GM Anton Kovalyov of Canada left the 2017 World Cup ...
On an island where the largest employer is a poker company, an element of pure chance helped shape the opening round of the 2017 Chess.com Isle of Man International. On the eve of round one, the top eight players gathered on the stage of the Vil...
After nearly three weeks of play featuring 128 players battling against elimination, the World Cup has been reduced to two players, Levon Aronian and Ding Liren. Today, they drew their first game to kick off their four-game finals match. With thre...
Levon Aronian and Ding Liren have qualified for both the final of the FIDE World Cup and for the 2018 Candidates' Tournament. Ding beat Wesley So in the 10+10 games whereas Aronian eliminated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave by winning the Ar...
The second day of the FIDE World Cup's semifinals was identical to the first. Whereas Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian played a quick draw in a Ruy Lopez, Ding Liren and Wesley So were involved in a long, Catalan fight that ...
Both games on the first day of the FIDE World Cup's semifinals were drawn. Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave split the point quickly in a very theoretical line of the Gruenfeld Defense. Wesley So built up serious pressure vs Ding Liren...
The Isle of Man is not big, but it will be plenty big enough to capture the chess world's attention as it expands its annual world-class open tournament. From September 23 to October 1, the Chess.com Isle of Man International revisits the crown ...
In today's tiebreak of their quarterfinal match, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave eliminated Peter Svidler from the FIDE World Cup. On what was the shortest day in Tbilisi so far, the Frenchman won the second rapid game after the first had ended in a draw. ...
Three victories with White secured semi-final slots for Levon Aronian, Wesley So, and Ding Liren in the World Cup. Aronian was the only player to win yesterday; a draw today (though not quickly achieved) was sufficient for him. Rapport leaves th...
He spent 42 minutes on his 10th move and resigned as early as move 24. Vassily Ivanchuk imploded after misplaying the opening and lost quickly to Levon Aronian as the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup took off in Tbilisi. Just f...
Vladimir Fedoseev, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Richard, Rapport, Wesley So and Peter Svidler have joined yesterday's qualifiers to reach round five of the FIDE World Cup in Tbilisi. The deciding moment where MVL eliminates Grischuk. | Phot...
Levon Aronian, Ding Liren and Vassily Ivanchuk have qualified for the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup. Ivanchuk had a winning position but forced a draw vs Anish Giri, Ding Liren slowly ground down compatriot Wang Hao and Aronian won a di...
