1. The Metropolitan Open: Michael Adams took clear first with 7.5/9 in this strong open Swiss in Los Angeles, finishing a point ahead of six players with 6.5. (Scroll down on the linked page to see the crosstable, and note that - oddly - the results are given in seeding order rather than order of finish.)
2. The Manhattan Open: Across the continent, another strong open Swiss took place, and this time the top seed did not come in first. IM Vladimir Romanenko won on tiebreaks over GM Alex Shabalov; both players finished with 7/9. Four players finished half a point behind, one of whom was the top seed - German GM Jan Gustafsson. Quite a strong event, and it - and the aforementioned Metropolitan Open - might have been stronger still if it wasn't competing with the other tournament.
3. The French Championship. After 9 of 11 rounds, four players are tied for first: Laurent Fressinet, Etienne Bacrot, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Andrei Istratescu. They have 5.5 points, putting them ahead of their two closest pursuers, one of whom has no business playing FIDE-rated chess.
4. The World Cup: It doesn't start until Sunday, but this will be a mouth-watering feast for chess lovers. Have a look at the list of participants and get ready for some action!