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The man who never gave up - Shailesh Nerlikar (21.05.1977 - 10.03.2018)

13/05/2018 -

Shailesh Nerlikar was one of the most special players who graced the game of chess in India. He was 100% disabled suffering from an illness named Quadriplegia and multiple contracture. He could not sit or stand. Lying on the bed he learnt the game of chess! His bones were brittle and his health was always an issue, but he didn't let them come in way of his dream of becoming a GM. Shailesh fought hard, but on 10th of March 2018 he passed away. IM Sagar Shah who spent a good deal of time with this legend, shares his experiences with you. At the same time you are invited to take part in the Shailesh Nerlikar Memorial tournament to be held in Pune on the 20th of May 2018. 

12-year-old Raunak Sadhwani is just 22 Elo points away from becoming an IM

12/05/2018 -

Chess prodigies are sprouting from all parts of our country. We have Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh from Tamil Nadu, Nihal Sarin from Kerala, Prithu Gupta from Delhi. One more such phenomenal talent who is going to make India proud in the years to come is Raunak Sadhwani from Maharashtra. The boy hails from the fertile chess city of Maharashtra called Nagpur. Born on 22nd December 2005, Raunak is just 12 years and six months old, but he is already on the brink of becoming an IM. He has achieved all his three IM norms and achieved a rating of 2378. In this article he shares with us two of his annotated games from the Sharjah Masters 2018 where he made his final IM norm.

Money is the only barrier in Om's dream of becoming a world beater!

11/05/2018 -

He is one of the brightest little stars of Indian chess. Meet Om Kadam the current under-9 national champion and the reigning Asian under-10 Champion 2018. His current rating is 1844 but he aims to become an IM by the end of the year. To ensure that his son gets the best shot at achieving his aim, father Manish Kadam has planned a series of events in India and Spain. Hailing from a humble background it is becoming difficult for the Kadams to make their ends meet. But one thing that they cannot afford is compromising on their dreams. Can you help the young boy achieve his goal?

Vidit Gujrathi and Nils Grandelius win TePe Sigeman & Co.

10/05/2018 -

After winning the Tata Steel Challengers, Indian number three, Vidit Gujrathi added yet another feather to his hat by finishing first at the TePe Sigeman & Co. beside tournament's defending champion GM Nils Grandelius. With players like Grandelius and Alexander Morozevich in the fray, winning the six man round robin was no mean feat for Vidit. In fact, he was a full point behind Grandelius two rounds before the close of the event. But with great determination and a bit of luck, the Nashik lad succeeded in beating the odds. In this illustrated report, we take a close look at Vidit's performance. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ideas to help your child discover the joy of chess!

10/05/2018 -

We all know that teaching chess to little kids can be very tricky. People who tried teaching their six or seven year old's will know how the experience can either be a cherishable memory or a slow torture you somehow want to survive, especially with a group of naughty kids. The way the pendulum swings depends on how much you understand them and what your approach is towards teaching. In this article Arun J, who is a chess coach based in Pondicherry, will share with us some ideas which we can use to help our children to discover the joy of chess.

At the age of 42, Dinesh Kumar Sharma wins National Blitz with a fractured arm!

09/05/2018 -

Age, fractured arm, facing a barrage of youngsters - nothing stopped IM Dinesh Kumar Sharma from becoming the National Blitz Champion 2018. Uttar Pradesh's only IM was on fire as he beat one grandmaster after another to score 9.5/11 and finish a half point ahead of the star sudded field. Enroute to his victory he beat GM Swapnil Dhopade, GM Lalith Babu, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and many other IMs. And all of his with a fractured right hand! Becoming the national blitz champion at the age of 42 is not a joke and Dinesh Kumar Sharma once again proves that although age is an important factor in chess, the will to win can overcome any deficiency.

Miro brings joy to the City of Joy, Kolkata

07/05/2018 -

The voice of maximum elite level chess tournaments, Ukrainian GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko visited Kolkata in April to train two of his secret students. On 6th and 7th April, there were open sessions for anyone to attend his workshop and play a simultaneous match. He is not only a commentator but a mentor, trainer and FIDE Instructor too. He has trained Anna Muzychuk. He himself won Ukrainian championship and finished joint first in Mumbai Mayor's Cup in 2009. Mind Game Chess Academy organized a two-day workshop cum simultaneous event in Press Club Kolkata. In this report, you will find a few positions discussed by Miro in the session, simultaneous matches played by him and an interview of him.

Sakshi Chitlange cleansweeps Sangli!

07/05/2018 -

Sangli has been continuing its great work on chess for 51 years now. This year, WIM Sakshi Chitlange ruled with first place. Apart from the Late Shri Babukaka Shirgaonkar Memorial, she also recently won the Women's Championship held in Sangli. The girl from Maharashtra has been performing consistently under the watchful eye of her coach - father Dinesh Chitlange. She recently also won the Shiv Chhatrapati award and also the outstanding achievement award by AAI. And did you know, she is a fantastic singer! In this article by Avathanshu Bhat, you get to know more about this amazing emerging talent in women's chess.

Impersonator caught after leading in Kottayam with 7.5/8

06/05/2018 -

A unique incident took place at KCA's 17th below 1400 Fide Rated Chess Tournament in Kottayam Kerala. An unrated player was leading the tournament after eight rounds with a score of 7.5/8. The arbiters could feel that there was something fishy and decided to interrogate him. A phone call with one of India's top arbiters revealed the player's true identity. Who is the player and who is the top arbiter who was able to uncover this impersonator. Read on to know more.

Lalith Babu is the National Rapid 2018 Champion

05/05/2018 -

Lalith Babu is the reigning national champion of India in classical chess. He added another feather to his cap when he became the National Rapid Champion in Ahmedabad on 4th of May 2018. It was a closely contested battle between Lalith Babu and Aravindh Chithambaram, just like the National Premier 2017. But Lalith had the edge as he had beaten Aravindh in their personal encounter. In the end Lalith took home the championship with 9.5/11, Aravindh was second and Dinesh Kumar Sharma finished third. We have two games of Lalith annotated by IM Sagar Shah and also a very simple and straight forward victory of Aravindh Chithambaram. 

6-year old Nivaan Khandhadia is the youngest rated player of India

04/05/2018 -

On 1st May 2018, 6-year old Nivaan Khandhadia created history by becoming the youngest rated player in India. The little kid from Pune has an Elo rating of 1137 and currently his world ranking is 10 in under 7 according to FIDE Rating List for the month of May 2018. He participated in the World School Chess Championship 2018 in Durrës, Albania. He scored 4.0/9 and was the youngest participant from Indian contingent. He scored his rating from 2nd Holi Cup Lakecity Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament 2018 where he defeated two players who were rated 1124 and 1120. Photo: Nivaan Khandhadia's Facebook page

Nandan Buragohain wins 5th Kurukshetra Open 2018 in Dibrugarh, Assam

04/05/2018 -

Nandan Buragohain of Assam became the champion of the 5th Kurukshetra Open FIDE Rated Tournament by scoring of 8.0/9 points. He remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and gained 40 Elo rating points. Souradib Deb of Tripura scored 7.5/9 points and took the 2nd position adding 73 elo rating points. For the third position there was a seven way tie with 7.0/9 points each which was secured by RK Bhogen Singh of Manipur with better tie-break score. We bring you a detailed report of the event along with some exciting games. Photo: Arun Singh and Biswajit Bharadwaj.

A thrilling online match between DBCA and KCA ends in 8-8 draw

04/05/2018 -

Students in any academy are often bored playing repeatedly against each other! So we thought why not make them compete against students of another academy! In the first of its kind match two of India's biggest and finest chess academies were pitted against each other in a unique exhibition online match. Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy from Kolkata and Kunte's Chess Academy from Pune. It was held on the Playchess server and the time control was 45 minutes + 10 seconds increment. The match was keenly contested and it ended in a thrilling 8.0-8.0 draw. We have a lot of videos, pictures, games and analysis from this online match.

Samriddhaa Ghosh wins 44th West Bengal State Women Chess Championship 2018

02/05/2018 -

Samriddhaa Ghosh won 44th West Bengal State Women FIDE Rated Chess Championship 2018 by scoring 5.5/6. This tournament has been won by WFM Arpita Mukherjee from 2014-2017, however this year she was unable to defend her title as she was on national duty at Asian Youth 2018. The tournament was so close that there were five players at 4.5 points heading into sixth and final round. Samriddhaa was the top seed of the tournament and she remained undefeated. and the only draw was against the eventual runner-up of the tournament, Pallabi Roy who also scored 5.5/6. Mehendi Sil who gave a strong competition to the champion of the tournament, scored 5.0/6 and finished at third position. In this report, we bring you photos, videos and annotated game by the champion along with an interview of her.

Jacob Aagaard on his bets with Sam Shankland and more!

02/05/2018 -

We all know that Jacob Aagaard is one of the world's most prolific author and trainer from Scotland. He is the only one to win all four major book of the year awards! And if you follow him on Facebook then you would know that he is a die hard fan of rock music and known to give free guitar lessons along with high quality chess training classes. Earlier this year he was appointed as the coach of the Indian women team for the upcoming Olympiad in Batumi and he was recently in New Delhi for a pre-olympiad preparation camp. This article is about the blog which he wrote recently with the title "Sam Shankland in the news" sharing some of his secret memories with the current US champion! Thumbnail Photo: David Llada