USA and Uzbekistan, together with India and China, hold the planet's leading four chess squads at present, making the news that they will clash in Miami on 27-28 July in an all-play-all rapid and blitz Scheveningen setup certain to spark curiosity as an indicator of likely outcomes at the 200-nation classical Olympiad scheduled for Samarkand, Uzbekistan from 15-27 September. Complete information on the upcoming encounter appears here.

Both sides in Miami will compete close to maximum strength. USA plans to field world numbers 2 and 3, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, along with world number 7 Wesley So and world numbers 17 and 22 Leinier Dominguez and Levon Aronian. Only world number 19 Hans Niemann could have added further power.

Uzbekistan will feature world numbers 4 and 6 Javokhir Sindarov and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, world number 39 Nodirbek Yakubboev, world number 62 Shamsiddin Vokhidov and world number 132 Mukhiddin Madaminov.

The highly seasoned US squad, holders of six Olympiad gold medals, averages 38 years of age, whereas their rivals average just 21.

How do England's leading grandmasters measure up? The signs are not encouraging. In February England's number 5 Luke McShane contested a six-game series against Madaminov and fell 1.5-4.5 without securing a single victory.

The match format serves an added goal. The site at Faena Miami Beach supplies resources for streaming, hospitality and live commentary that will improve the viewer experience.

The Miami encounter receives backing from WR Chess's Wadim Rosenstein as part of his effort to secure the Fide presidency. Voting occurs during the Olympiad at the Fide general assembly in Samarkand, where Rosenstein's opponents will be current president Russia's Arkady Dvorkovich and Rosenstein's fellow German multi-millionaire Jan Henric Buettner, whose partner will be England's international director Malcolm Pein.

The Quantbox Chennai Grandmasters, an elite classical GM single round all-play-all, opened on Thursday morning in Chennai, India. Seven of the eight entrants hold Fide ratings above 2700. Abdusattorov is arriving with minimal rest, having only one day between Chennai and Miami.

Round one outcomes: Abdusattorov 0.5 Niemann, Arjun Erigaisi (India) 0.5 Dmitry Andreikin (Fide/Russia), Pranesh Munirethinam (India) 0-1 Alireza Firouzja (France), Gukesh Dommaraju (India) 0.5 Nihal Sarin (India). Contests can be watched on Lichess beginning at 10am BST.

Supratit Banerjee moved nearer a record-setting international master title at age 12 when the Sutton Grammar pupil secured his second IM norm last week at an invitational tournament in Sheffield. Banerjee now requires only one further IM norm plus a 2400-plus published rating, which he is approaching, to rank among the globe's youngest IMs. He already stands as the world's top-rated player born in 2014.

Banerjee tied for first prize with Sam Chow of Australia on 6.5/9 and captured a striking attacking game in round eight that concluded with a queen sacrifice leading to checkmate against Lithuanian IM Gediminas Sarakauskas.

In transatlantic prodigy contests staged on a large screen on Sunday at ChessFest in Trafalgar Square, Banerjee fell 0.5-1.5 to Argentina's Faustino Oro, 12, the world's youngest grandmaster, while England's 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan overcame USA's Megan Paragua, 13, by the identical 1.5-0.5 margin.

Banerjee will aim to sustain his strong run and complete the IM title this weekend when he takes part in the Wood Green Invitational, arranged at Stafford by IM Loz Cooper, Wood Green's team manager.

This represents a markedly tougher contest than Sheffield, with the top two seeds being nine-time British champion Michael Adams and England's youngest grandmaster Shreyas Royal, plus several other strong players vying for GM and IM norms. Banerjee would perform impressively to post a plus score amid such elite opposition.

Progress in the 12-year-old's pursuit of an English age record can be tracked game by game here.

4033: 1 Ng5! Bxg5 2 Qe8+! Rxe8 3 Rxe8+ Kf7 4 Rf8 mate.