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ChessBase for classroom chess instruction

02/04/2020 -

Although ChessBase is the international standard for top players, it also facilitates teaching chess to groups of children. For the past 15 years, for 10-20 hours per week, US Chess Master Jeff Ashton has taught using ChessBase. Ashton’s Panda Chess Academy transitioned from in-person classes to online instruction, due to his city’s closure of non-essential businesses. WIM Alexey Root interviews Jeff Ashton.

The complete chess improvement pack

A ChessBase 15 Mega Pack includes: ChessBase 15 (Rs.3149), Mega Database 2020 (with one year weekly updates) - (Rs.4999), 1 year of ChessBase Premium Account - (Rs.1499), 1 year of ChessBase Magazine (6 issues of CBM) - (Rs.699*6 = 4194). Actual cost: Rs.13841. But CB 15 Mega Pack cost: Rs.8999+GST Total savings: Rs. 4842! Get your CB 15 mega pack now!

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"Hang in there and this will pass soon" - Vishy Anand

02/04/2020 -

Vishy Anand is one of the most prominent personalities of the country who has been locked out of India due to the Corona virus. Vishy was in Germany for a Bundesliga match for his team OSG Baden Baden. The situation of Corona virus started getting serious by the day and flights back to India were cancelled. Anand is currently in Germany, but the good news is that he has his own apartment near Frankfurt to stay in and he is healthy. We ask him about his daily schedule, work regimen and what he thinks about the Candidates 2020 and Radjabov's situation.

"Adhiban - The Beast" to make his debut in reality TV show Bigg Boss

01/04/2020 -

Bigg Boss is one of the most popular TV reality shows in India, followed by millions of people. Usually they have contestants who are TV actors, models or well known celebrities from the world of Bollywood. But in 2020, the show is coming in with a twist! The Beast of India chess, B. Adhiban known for his witty humour and interviews will be one of the contestants and will look to win the prize of Rs. 1 crore (US$ 131000). This is only the second time in the history of Bigg Boss that a sports player has been roped in after wrestler Sangram Singh participated in 2013. We bring you the exciting story.

The Indian-Lion tames all in 2nd Saturday Online Blitz Open 2020

01/04/2020 -

Indian-Lion (GM Arjun Erigiasi) scored 8.0/9, remained undefeated to win 2nd Saturday Online Blitz Open 2020. This is his third ChessBase India Online Blitz event triumph. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. Diptayan, STRANGE, ZavenGrozny and chessworld1 finished at 7.5/9 each and they were placed second to fifth respectively. The second edition of five tournament series witnessed the participation of 225 players comprising of 20 GMs, 29 IMs, 2 WGMs and 4 WIMs from India, Armenia, Algeria, Bangladesh, Colombia, England, France, Singapore, USA. There were eight 2600+ players among them. The third edition will take place this Saturday 4th April 2020. Photo: Puneet Jaiswal

Improve your chess with IM Sagar Shah during the 21 day lockdown raises funds for the fight against Covid-19

01/04/2020 -

An early morning inspiration has resulted in 21-day training program where IM Sagar Shah conducts LIVE sessions and interacts with 300+ people and teaches them chess during the 21-day lockdown period due to Corona virus. The training revolves around understanding the imbalances in chess and how to improve your thinking in any given position. At the same time funds are being raised to be donated to the PM CARES fund. Until now Rs.13,129 have been raised in seven days. You too can be a part of this initiative, learn something interesting and donate money to a good cause! Read more: 

The Unpublished Games of Nigel Short

31/03/2020 -

Before the era of digital board and computers, the only way to keep a game safe and saved was to save the physical score sheet. While most of the games are available on Mega Database, there are a few games of World famous legend Nigel Short which are not published anywhere. Some of them were discovered by Nigel Short by the man himself, the others were helped put together by various people of the chess universe. We decided to compile all games of Nigel Short which are unpublished in Mega Database along with a few photos of his score sheets and some of the literature he possessed all these years which he shared on his social media pages. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Organize your online events with the ChessBase India team on Playchess

31/03/2020 -

Organizing an online event can be quite a difficult process. As an organizer, you need to have cheating controls in place, you need to collect the entry fee, you need pay the prize money. At the same time there are always issues related to the server or the player's internet connection that you have to take care off. For the uninitiated, this is quite a worrisome process. But for the capable team at ChessBase India, this is just another day at the office. We have a solid track record of organizing some of the biggest online events ever in the history of Indian chess. And now we would like to throw open the platform for ambitious organizers and academies. Learn how you can be a part of it. 

Levon Aronian's wife WIM Arianne Caoili is no more (1986-2020)

31/03/2020 -

The chess world experienced a huge blow when on 31st of March 2020, Arianne Caoili passed away after a road accident and fighting for 15 days at the Astghik Medical center. Arianne was an excellent chess player with the highest Elo of 2309 and WIM title. In 2017, she tied the knot with Levon Aronian. Apart from being a chess player, Arianne was a visionary, social worker, political advisor, MD at a strategy consultant firm, dancer, boxer, mountain climber, biker and excelled at just about everything she did. Her death at the age of 33 comes as a huge shock. 

13-year-old Aditya Mittal analyzes an AlphaZero inspired opening trend from Candidates 2020

30/03/2020 -

The Candidates 2020 came to an abrupt halt due to the growing COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. But despite all the tension, the first seven rounds didn't cease to deliver the usual high-quality, cutting-edge chess that is expected of such mega-events. In this article, the 13-year-old IM Aditya Mittal, delves into one of the curious AlphaZero inspired opening trends that recurred in several of the games in the tournament. Aditya is one of the most promising up-and-coming talents of our country. Read this article to learn how he critically investigates these top-level games to enhance his own understanding and knowledge.

Sundararajan Kidambi goes deep into Vishnu Prasanna's analysis of a B+N vs B+N endgame

29/03/2020 -

Chess, in its very essence, is a constant struggle to either seize or give up control of certain key squares on the chessboard. Grandmaster Sundararajan Kidambi realizes this fundamental truth while going through the analysis of a very instructive ending that happened recently between Wang Hao and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in their game from Candidates 2020. In this article he puts down his musings in his characteristic clear and concise manner. For anyone who wants to improve their understanding of endgames in general and the dynamics of minor pieces ending in particular, this beautiful piece is a must read.

Donchenko, Sethuraman, Aravind and more in action in March Masters Online Blitz 2020

29/03/2020 -

This Sunday will be a double header in ChessBase India Online Blitz tournament as Saturday we will have the 2nd edition of Saturday Online Blitz tournament, but Sunday we will have the Mega event of March Masters Online Blitz with Laxman which has the five times the prize money of a Saturday Online event. The total Prize fund is ₹50000 with the first prize being ₹10000. Laxman has contributed ₹15000 to the tournament prize fund as he loves playing Blitz on Playchess. Total 24 GMs, 34 IMs, 3 WGMs and 8 WIMs have confirmed their participation for the event. Entry is FREE for GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. Photo: Various sources 

The Friedel Chronicles Part I - Tales of the nonpareil chess raconteur

28/03/2020 -

There are very few individuals in the chess world who have met and known the many legends of the royal game as closely as the ChessBase co-founder Frederic Friedel. For years, Frederic traveled to chess tournaments, covering events after events and running the ChessBase newspage. In this process he rubbed shoulders with greats like Kasparov and Karpov, became friend and mentor to talents like Anand and Short. Well, one can only imagine the experiences that he accumulated over the years interacting with all these super-talents. The wonderful raconteur that Frederic is, he always makes sure to treat IM Sagar Shah with a story or two every time they meet. The Knowing the Chess Greats series is an effort to bring some of these much cherished conversations to the general chess audience! 

Guseinov, Aravindh and Pragg star in strong 2nd Saturday Blitz Tournament 2020

27/03/2020 -

We are back again with the 2nd Saturday Online Blitz 2020 after a super strong first edition. To give you a clue of the lineup, we have 18 GMs, 31 IMs, 2 WGMs and 4 WIMs taking part in the second edition. Players from India, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Colombia, England, France, Singapore and USA have already confirmed their participation. The entry fee to the tournament is *FREE, however you need an active ChessBase Premium subscription. There are prizes worth ₹10000 to be won for the top three finishers. That's not all, the circuit winner at the conclusion of five Saturday Blitz event will win an additional ₹10000. Currently Praggnanandhaa is leading the table after winning the first edition. Photo: Various sources

BREAKING: FIDE stops Candidates 2020

26/03/2020 -

The Postponement of the Candidates 2020 was hanging on the heads of the players, organizers, and spectators like a damocles sword throughout the last ten days. Finally it has happened. The Russian Government announced that starting from 27th of March 2020, Russia will interrupt air traffics with other countries without indicating any time frames. This could mean that the players could be stuck in Russia for months together. As a result FIDE has stopped the tournament and the FIDE President Arkadij Dvorkovich has published a press release on the FIDE website. What's interesting is that the tournament has only been postponed and not cancelled. It will resume from round 8 onwards after the Covid19 pandemic situation cools down.