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Superbet R&B 2023 Day 1: Wojtaszek checks Carlsen!

22/05/2023 -

Magnus Carlsen took a bold approach of playing Polish Defence against the Poland no.2 Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Eight years later, Wojtaszek defeated the World no.1 in a rated game in the first round of Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2023. Carlsen admitted to not playing or studying chess recently, which showed in his games. He drew the next two games against Wesley So and the Poland no.1, Jan-Krzysztof Duda respectively. So, Levon Aronian and Duda are currently in the lead 5/6, followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wojtaszek at 4/6 each. Carlsen is currently at seventh place with only 2/6. Round 4 starts today from 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

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6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R5: Haik Martirosyan emerges sole leader

22/05/2023 -

Haik Martirosyan defeated Wenjun Ju (CHN) to emerge sole leader 4/5 after the fifth round of 6th Sharjah Masters 2023. The Armenia no.2 got the better of the reigning Women's World Champion, when she blundered in an already dwindling minor piece endgame. R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin drew against Vladislav Kovalev and Samuel Sevian (USA) respectively. D Gukesh defeated the current three-time National Rapid and Blitz champion, Aravindh Chithambaram to stay in the hunt 3.5/5. Aryan Chopra missed a good opportunity to subdue M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI). Nihal, Pragg, Aryan and Gukesh are at 3.5/5 each along with nine more players. Round 6 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Nitish Belurkar wins 1st Unity Club Rapid Rating Open 2023

21/05/2023 -

IM Nitish Belurkar, IM Ameya Audi and Ethan Vaz scored 8/9 each at 1st Unity Club Rapid Rating Open 2023. Nitish won the tournament due to better tie-breaks. Ameya and Ethan were adjudged second and third respectively. The champion of the event, Nitish drew against the eventual second runner-up, Ethan in the penultimate round. Both of them remained undefeated. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹155000. The top three prizes were ₹30000, ₹20000 and ₹10000 along with a trophy each respectively. The two-day rapid rating tournament was organized by Unity Club in association with Salcete Taluka Chess Association at Manohar Parrikar Indoor Stadium in Margao, Goa. Photo: Yeshwant Naik

Magnus Carlsen returns to action at Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2023

21/05/2023 -

The second event of the Grand Chess Tour 2023 season is Superbet Rapid and Blitz. Magnus Carlsen returns to over-the-board action for the first time in over two months. Speaking of firsts, this will be the first tournament Carlsen will play as not a world champion in almost 9.5 years. However, one must not forget that he is still the world champion in Rapid and Blitz. Three rounds of Rapid games will be played today. Magnus' first round opponent is Poland no.2, Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Who do you think will this tournament? The tournament takes place at Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. Round 1 starts today from 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R4: Aryan Chopra outplays Arjun Erigaisi

21/05/2023 -

The highly anticipated game of the fourth round between Praggnanandhaa and Nihal ended in a draw. Pragg has never beaten Nihal in a Classical rated game. He had a good opportunity to change that statistic, when Nihal made an incorrect exchange sacrifice in time trouble. However, he was unable to seize it and his opponent accepted the draw offer. Aryan Chopra defeated Arjun Erigaisi for the first time in a Classical game. The former outplayed the Arjun when he made a few positional mistakes. D Gukesh missed a clear winning combination against Mustafa Yilmaz. Later the Turkey no.1 missed his chance and the game ended in a draw. Round 5 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

Double delight for Neelash Saha at LBHM Chess Festival 9th Rapid Rating Open 2023

20/05/2023 -

IM Neelash Saha scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win Late Bharatbai Halkude Memorial Chess Festival 9th Rapid Rating Open 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the field. This is his second consecutive rating tournament in as many days. GM Sayantan Das, CM Soham Datar and Shriraj Bhosale scored 8/9 each. They were placed second to fourth respectively. Neelash drew against Sayantan in the penultimate round. Both of them remained undefeated. Soham missed the first round. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹200000. The top three prizes were ₹25001, ₹15000 and ₹10000 along with a trophy each. This was Neelash's third rating tournament triumph overall in 2023. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Arpith S Bijoy wins Cademic Chess Carnival Rapid Rating Open 2023

20/05/2023 -

Arpith S Bijoy, Goutham Krishna H and IM Ratnakaran K - all four scored 8/9 each at Cademic Chess Carnival Rapid Rating Open 2023. 14-year-old Arpith won the tournament due to better tie-breaks. 12-year-old Goutham and Ratnakaran were placed second and third respectively. Arpith drew against Goutham in the final round. Both of them remained undefeated. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹300000. The top three prizes were ₹25000, ₹18000 and ₹10000 along with a trophy each respectively. The two-day rapid rating tournament was organized by Cademic Chess Center. This was Arpith's first ever rating tournament triumph. Ratnakaran went on to win the Blitz Rating Open of the Carnival on the following day. Photo: Cademic Chess Center

6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R3: Nihal superb against Suleymanli

20/05/2023 -

The top board encounter between R Praggnanandhaa and Wenjun Ju (CHN) ended in a draw. Both players tested their opponent and neither one made any mistake. A draw was agreed after 40th move in an equal queen and rook endgame. S L Narayanan seemed to have a slight edge over D Gukesh. However, it was not enough to gain anything substantial. Nihal Sarin scored a fantastic win against Aydin Suleymanli (AZE). He joined Praggnanandhaa, Wenjun and M Amin Tabatabaei (IRI) in a four-way lead 2.5/3. Praggnanandhaa will be up against Nihal, while the reigning Women's World Champion, Wenjun will face Tabatabaei in Round 4 which starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

The Big Chess Summer Camp celebrates the beauty of chess

19/05/2023 -

The Big Chess Summer Camp has completed three days and more than 220 players have been trained. The camp is held at the Phoenix Marketcity mall in Kurla, Mumbai and is open to all. There are no charges and people can learn chess in a fun and engaging way through sheets at their own pace. The camp has trainers and volunteers who help to educate the people and guide them in the right direction. This article shows how chess is being celebrated at the camp and how there is so much diversity to the people attending the camp. 

Ratnakaran wins Cademic Chess Carnival - 3rd Cademic Blitz Rating Open 2023

19/05/2023 -

IM Ratnakaran K, Nithin Babu, FM Harsh Suresh and IM Nitin S scored 8/9 each at Cademic Chess Carnival - 3rd Cademic Blitz Rating Open 2023. The 'Indian Tal' won the tournament due to better tie-break score and the remaining three were placed second to fourth respectively. He started with eight consecutive wins, including a victory over the eventual runner-up. Nithin in the penultimate round. A last round loss against IM Nitin did not deter Ratnakaran's championship hopes. All top four finishers lost a game each. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹99999. The top three prizes were ₹10000, ₹9000 and ₹8000 along with a trophy each respectively. The one-day blitz rating tournament was organized by Cademic Chess Center. Photo: Cademic Chess Center

6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R2: Praggnanandhaa and Wenjun win two in-a-row

19/05/2023 -

When the tournament has all Grandmasters as participants, a draw is a natural result and upsets are virtually non-existent. The second round of 6th Sharjah Masters 2023 witnessed only two decisive games out of the first 13 boards. It is not surprising at all as the field is quite strong. R Praggnanandhaa defeated his 44th Chess Olympiad teammate, Raunak Sadhwani when the latter went for a wrong exchange of minor pieces. It resulted in him arriving at a positionally lost endgame. The only other player at 2/2 is the reigning Women's World Champion, , Wenjun Ju. She defeated Vidit Gujrathi. Praggnanandhaa will inevitably face Wenjun in Round 3 which starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

17-year-old Divya Deshmukh is the 12th Indian female to become an International Master

18/05/2023 -

The reigning two-time National Women's champion, WGM Divya Deshmukh scored her final IM-norm on Thursday 11th May at Baku Open 2023. Despite losing her eighth round game against IM Aditya S Samant, Divya's final norm was secured. Her last round result became immaterial. As the 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 individual Bronze medalist, mentioned in an interview, she scored her norms in two years of gap. The first norm was when she was 13-years-old at AICF-Velammal WGM Round Robin in February 2019. She crossed 2400 in April FIDE 2019 Rating list. A little over two and a half years later, she earned her second IM-norm at First Satuday GM October 2021. She will make her FIDE Women's World Cup debut in almost 2.5 months from now. Photo: Maharashtra Chess Association

Neelash Saha wins Late Bharatbai Halkude Memorial Chess Festival 7th Rating Open 2023

18/05/2023 -

IM Neelash Saha, IM Kushagra Mohan, GM Saptarshi RoyChowdhury and IM Chakravarthi Reddy M - all four scored 8/9 each. Neelash won Late Bharatbai Halkude Memorial Chess Festival 7th Rating Open 2023 due to better tie-breaks. The remaining three were placed second to fourth. Neelash defeated Kushagra and drew against Saptarshi. Apart from Kushagra, the remaining three out of top four remained undefeated. The total prize fund of the tournament was a staggering ₹1400212. The top three prizes were ₹122222, ₹101111 and ₹55555 along with a huge and beautiful trophy each. This is Neelash's second tournament triumph of the year after he won the Vezerkepzo Winter Carnival GM where he scored his maiden GM-norm in February this year. Photo: IA R Anantharam

6th Sharjah Masters 2023 R1: A good start for the Indians

18/05/2023 -

The top seeds have made a solid start at 6th Sharjah Masters 2023. The Masters event witnesses the participation of 78 GMs from 29 countries across the world. Players are rated 2519 and above, eight 2700+ players are taking part. The reigning Women's World Champion, Wenjun Ju is playing a rated tournament for the first time outside of China since March 2020. D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin made a winning start. Leon Luke Mendonca held Sanan Sjugirov to a draw from an extremely difficult and at one point, totally lost position. Volodar Murzin denied a winning start to Vidit Gujrathi. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Cong Khon triumphs at Golden Week Rating Open 2023

17/05/2023 -

Mayur Gondhalekar and his good friend, Sheldon Donaldson keeps us updated about the Japan chess scene. Sheldon writes a blog about his experience in the Golden Week Open 2023. It was a FIDE rated event. The Canadian origin, currently residing in Japan, Sheldon's takes on his games are a nice light read. He does not go too hard on himself for the losses, yet he makes us all enjoy various moments from his games. Check out his experience taking part in the tournament which took place just in the capital - Tokyo. He also talks about his games with analysis and shared photos of the tournament. All photos in this article: Sheldon Donaldson

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