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"In Alireza Firouzja I see a young Anand" - GM Ivan Sokolov

13/09/2018 -

Ivan Sokolov is a well known Dutch Grandmaster and coach. In the last two years, he has been working with the Iranian team and has helped develop young Iranian talents. In this interview with IM Sagar Shah, GM Sokolov talks about the country's chess potential, the rise of young talents -- especially, those of Alireza Firouzja, Amin Tabatabaei and Parham Maghsoodloo -- and the reasons for their success. He also tells about their struggles due to economic difficulties and the sanctions against Iran and compares them to other strong players from the west, India and China.

World Juniors 2018 Round 8: Abhimanyu Puranik stuns Jorden van Foreest

13/09/2018 -

Karthik Venkatraman on the top board suffered a loss to Parham Maghsoodloo. Indians chances for someone winning a medal at the World Juniors are still alive as both Karthik and Abhimanyu Puranik are on 6.0/8 and in top ten spots. Abhimanyu played a highly entertaining game to beat Jorden van Foreest with the white pieces. In this report we have both the critical games - Karthik-Maghsoodloo and Abhimanyu-Jorden analyzed as well as video interviews of Parham and Abhimanyu. In the girls section Isha Sharma and Meenal Gupta have been performing admirably, but Saskhi Chitlange and V. Varshini have a realistic chance of winning a medal if they win their games in the ninth round.

World Juniors 2018 Round 6+7: Can Karthik Venkatraman stop Parham Maghsoodloo?

12/09/2018 -

The Indian team at the World Juniors has had a mixed bag of performance. Our star players Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali and S.L. Narayanan have not been able to reach the top. But there is one guy who is simply in cruise mode at this event - that's GM Karthik Venkatraman - India's latest GM. Karthik has beaten three extremely strong juniors in the last three rounds - Haik Martirosyan of Armenia, Aravindh Chithambaram of India and Amin Tabatabaei of Iran. With three wins in last three rounds he is now on 6.0/7, just half a point behind the leader Parham Maghsoodloo. On 12th of September 2018 at 5.30 p.m. IST he takes on Parham Maghsoodloo on the first board. Will Karthik manage to stop the Iranian super talent?

World Juniors 2018 Round 5: Karthik Venkatraman beats the top Armenian junior Martirosyan Haik

10/09/2018 -

In 2017 a match was held in USA between the stars of USA and the World. The world team consisted of some of the best players from the world, who got excellent coverage and became well known personalities in chess circles. A few of them were Haik Martirosyan from Armenia, Andrey Esipenko and Aleksey Sarana from Russia, Anton Smirnov from Australia, Pragg and Aryan Chopra from India, and a few more. Of course these are extremely talented players, there is no doubt about it. But there are many in the world who are equally good, but haven't received the same amount of exposure or coverage. One such boy is Karthik Venkatraman, the latest GM of India and based on his sheer playing skills managed to outplay Haik Martirosyan, who was rated 2597.

Chess coaching - tips for parents by IM Nisha Mohota

10/09/2018 -

IM Nisha Mohota is one of the strongest female chess players of India. Even after 30 years of actively playing chess, her love for the game is very much intact. To become a stronger player she has worked with many coaches. On the other hand, she herself has worked as a serious coach helping many young players improve their game. She has seen both the sides of the coin - as a student and as a coach. She is in an ideal position to give you the right guidance on what chess coaching really means. There are some do's and dont's when it comes to finding the most appropriate trainer for your child. After this article, as a chess parent, you will be better placed to wade through the muddy waters of finding the best chess trainer for your kid. 

Catch Them Young: An initiative to empower children through Chess!

09/09/2018 -

"Catch them young" is a very unique initiative started by the Chess Parents Association, a non-profit organisation in Rajasthan, with the goal of training kids between the age 4-6 years and prepare them for under 7 chess tournament next year. The project kick-started in the Aug of 2018 and already has 400 students enrolled. Rishi Kaushik has sent us a detailed report about the project and its progress.

World Juniors R3+4: Harsha Bharathakoti's magnificient day!

08/09/2018 -

India has a strong contingent at the World Junior 2018. We have four GMs representing our country - GM Karthikeyan Murali, Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthik Venkatraman and Abhimanyu Puranik. However, the star of the tournament so far has been IM Harsha Bharathakoti who has scored four points in four rounds and is clearly on track to achieving his GM title. Harsha already has three GM norms already and now needs just 10 Elo points to become 56th GM of India. On the third day of the World Juniors, which was a double round day, Harsha showed some high class chess to beat to strong GMs - Alan Pichot and S.L. Narayanan. In this report we have both the games lightly annotated as well as an interview with Harsha. You will also find the link to follow the live games, along with live commentary, where Harsha takes on Maghsoodloo in round five.

Arvind Shastry & Yashas D. wins 17th BNCF-Akshayakalpa Grandprix Qualifier

07/09/2018 -

The 17th BNCF-Akshayakalpa Grandprix Final Qualifier was held on 26th Aug 2018 at BEL Officers Club, Jalahalli, Bengaluru. 2nd seeded Yashas D. edged out top seed Gahan M.G with a better tie-break score to emerge triumphant in category-A after both had finished with 6/6 points. In category-B, it was Karnataka State Chess Secretary and former state champion Arvind Shastry who won it with perfect 7/7 score. Below is a pictorial report sent to us by Hinduja Reddy.

The Petroff: dependable or dangerous?

07/09/2018 -

The placid outwardly appearance of the Petroff Defence could easily trick one into believing that he or she could use it to enjoy a quiet draw. It isn't unusual these days to see grandmaster games that drift into this line end in quick draws. But the Petroff has been around since the times of Greco and white players have found their fair share of traps, tactics and attacking opportunities in it. Even in some of the very recent games from master practice, black players have fallen prey to brilliant attacks. So, is the Petroff really as innocuous as advertised?

World Juniors 2018 Round 2: Karthikeyan, Aravindh, Harsha and Karthik on 2.0/2

07/09/2018 -

After two rounds of the World Junior Championships 2018 we have four Indian players who are on 2.0/2. They are GMs Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali, Karthik Venkatraman and IM Harsha Bharathakoti. Abhimanyu Puranik, S.L. Narayanan, Nubairshah Shaikh are on 1.5/2. In the girls section we have Sakshi Chitlange, Ivana Maria Furtado and M. Mahalakshmi who are all on 1.5/2. The tournament is heating up and 7th of September will be double rounds. For now we bring you an interview with Karthikeyan Murali on how he was able to outplay his strong IM opponent from the black side of the two-knights Tango.

Live Games from the 29th National U-17 2018

06/09/2018 -

The 29th National U-17 Open & Girl's Chess Championship 2018 is being held from 3rd Sept to the 11th of Sept 2018 at Gateway Education, Sector 11 , Sonipat, Haryana. FM Mitrabha Guha 2376 of West Bengal and WFM Arpita Mukherjee 2207 of West Bengal are the top seeds of Open category and Girl's category respectively. On this page you can follow the live games of the round in progress and also replay the games of all the previous rounds. Also you get games lightly annotated by the tactical analysis feature.

World Juniors 2018 Round 1: Isha Sharma stuns WGM Hojjatova, Indians off to a good start

06/09/2018 -

The World Juniors is an extremely exciting tournament where some of the best junior players in the world of chess have gathered together in Gebze, Turkey from the 5th to the 16th of September 2018. The competition is stiff with the likes of Maghsoodloo, Van Foreest, Donchenko, Martirosyan, Esipenko, Firouzja and others participating. However, Indians are no less. Three of our GMs are extremely strong - Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali and S.L. Narayanan. We also have Abhimanyu Puranik, Karthik Venkatraman, Harsha Bharathakoti and a few other strong players. In the girls section Sakshi Chitlange, Mahalakshmi lead the pack, but the surprise of day one was surely young Isha Sharma from Karnataka who won an excellent fighting game against the sixth seeded Aydan Hojjatova. Report from Turkey by IM Sagar Shah with photos by Amruta Mokal.

ACL 1st Super League 2018 review

05/09/2018 -

ACL 1st Super League 2018 concluded after 52 days of non-stop action in over 700+ games spanning across more than 350 players in over 50 different teams from various academies in India. The aim of the tournament was to make sure players get to play some high quality chess and coaches get some ready material to analyze and rectify the students' mistakes. So no prizes were announced until after the winner was decided. Each category winners received ChessBase products worth €200 (almost ₹16000) sponsored by ChessBase. Players took part from Oman, Sri Lanka, USA and India, from the comfort of their homes. We bring you some of the best games played in the entire tournament along with photos and feedback from the coordinators of the event.

Don't give up on your dreams, "Pursue your chess" scholarship is here!

05/09/2018 -

On this Teacher's Day, we come up with the third scholarship under The HelpChess initiative of the ChessBase India Foundation. A lot of people come close to their goal, they score their IM, WIM, GM, WGM norms, but are not able to make it to the title because of many problems. One of them is the lack of funds. With the "Pursue Your Chess" scholarship we would like to address this problem. This scholarship goes out for the people who have made one or more of their norms but are unable to reach their title. We want that such people should not give on their dream due to lack of finances. Rs.50,000 scholarship awaits you. 20th September is the last date to apply the form for the scholarship in this article. 

Diptayan Ghosh wins Gujarat-Goa Online Blitz 2018

05/09/2018 -

GM Diptayan Ghosh wins Gujarat-Goa ChessBase India Online Blitz Chess Tournament 2018. Diptayan scored 8.5/10 and finished half point ahead of a pack of four players who finished 8.0/10. They are GM Abhimanyu Puranik, Sankalp Gupta, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and GM R Pragnnanandhaa. The tournament witnessed the participation of over 150 players including 10 GMs, 15 IMs and 3 WIMs. Over 700 games were played within a span of just over 90 minutes. For the first time the tournament was conducted from ChessBase's headquarters at Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Amruta Mokal