Ongoing and Completed Events: Gelfand-Inarkiev, the British Championship, and Giri-Ding Liren
1. The classical and rapid chess rematch between Boris Gelfand and Ernesto Inarkiev has gone much better for Inarkiev this year than last. (Non-Russian readers may prefer this link.) Last year Gelfand won both 4-2 at both time controls, but this year has been another story. Gelfand leads in the classical games 3-2 thus far, but is trailing in both of the rapid time controls. In 25'+10" he's down 3-1, and in 10'+10" he's down 2.5-1.5. Nevertheless, his most recent win in classical chess was something special - have a look.
2. When I last left off with the British Championship, Luke McShane and John Emms were the co-leaders after round 7. Each had six points and were paired for the penultimate round. They drew, and were caught by Gawain Jones, who defeated Nicholas Pert. In the last round McShane had White against Jones, and they drew. If Emms would have beaten David Howell with Black, he would have become the British Champion for the first time - and at the age of 50. A draw would have put him into a playoff, but he lost. Thus Howell joined the tie for first with 7 points, and so did Craig Hanley thanks to his win with Black against Zhou Yang-Fan. And the playoff winner was...Gawain Jones, who had previous won the title in 2012.
3. The four-game match between Anish Giri and Ding Liren may have slipped under the radar for most readers, as it was overshadowed by the Sinquefield Cup, but whenever two players rated near 2780 face off it's worth taking note. Giri won the match 2.5-1.5, winning game two on the black side of the ubiquitous Giuoco Piano.