The Week in Chess

There is a lot to report today. The 30th Sigeman & Co tournament started with two decisive results. Richard Rapport beat last minute substitute Erwin L'Ami in a long grind in an English, Javokhir Sindarov took a lot of risks, and was objectively losing, against Tan Zhongyi before turning things around for a win. 13 year old youngster Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus had a solid draw against Nils Grandelius and Vasyl Ivanchuk tried to convert an extra pawn against Ray Robson but the game was drawn in 112 moves. This tournament has a special place in my heart, the first edition was in 1993, the very year I started reporting chess on the internet. It's still one of my favourite events. They do their very best to invite interesting fields and they have a no draws before move 40 rule.

The second and final Champions Chess Tour event the Chess.com Classic started today. Favourite Magnus Carlsen beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2.5-1.5 and MVL 3-0 in the first two rounds, there seems no reason to look beyond him for a winner in this blitz (10 minutes per side) event. World Champion Gukesh's troubles continue as he bombed out of the event altogether losing both his matches today. The event is a qualifier for the Esports World Cup, 12 players progress from the tour. Carlsen had a little less luck in his match vs The World when he had to conceded a draw.

The African Championships concluded today with wins for Bilel Bellahcene of Algeria and Shrook Wafa of Egypt in the open and women's sections.

The Sharjah Masters is a very strong open and after 4 rounds Anish Giri and Aleksandar Indjic lead with 3.5/4 after wins with black today, Giri has white in their meeting tomorrow.

In the German Championships Vincent Keymer (5.5/6) has a one point lead over Matthias Bluebaum going into their meeting in tomorrow's round 7, he also has the white pieces. Dinara Wagner leads the women's event.