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Deep Dive into Day 1 of Tata Steel Chess India 2021

18/11/2021 -

IM Sagar Shah brings you a few positions from day one that will help you to go deeper into the games. That's why we call the series as Deep Dive. You will be able to understand some of the best moves played by players and also you will get to know which were the great possibilities missed by them. On day 1 of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid, we had 15 games and we have chosen six positions for you. Levon Aronian leads the tournament with 3.0/3 followed by three Indian players - Pragg, Arjun and Vidit.

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Tata Steel Chess Rapid R1-3: Arjun bests Karthikeyan in 17 moves

17/11/2021 -

Levon Aronian has taken the sole lead at the end of the first day of Tata Steel Chess India 2021 Rapid. The two-time World Cup winner beat Shankland, Adhiban and Vidit. Although Shankland was not completely lost in their game, it's just his misadventures with the king cost him the full point. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun and Vidit are at 2.0/3 each. Only Praggnanandhaa has remained undefeated. The opening match between the siblings did not disappoint. At one point, Vaishali had the upper hand. However, the younger one, Praggnanandhaa, managed to wriggle out of trouble and save the day. His other draw was against Shankland. Round 4 starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes

Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz 2021 preview

17/11/2021 -

Tata Steel started India's first super tournament in 2018. World champion Magnus Carlsen won it in 2019 which was also a part of Grand Chess Tour. The tournament could not take place last year due to Covid-19 pandemic. As we slowly move towards restoring normalcy, Tata Steel is back to organize India's strongest chess tournament once again. This year there is a good mix of world's best players and talented youngsters. For the first time in Tata Steel Chess India, two women will take part - Vaishali in Rapid and Harika in Blitz. Adhiban got married the day before and flew the next day to take part in this event. Who is your pick to win the Rapid and Blitz event? Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Raahul VS is the latest International Master of India

16/11/2021 -

18-year-old Raahul VS scored his first IM-norm back in March 2017 at  Sharjah Open. He scored his second IM-norm at Prague Open 2018 and in the next ten months, he scored his final IM-norm at 1st Goa GM Open. He reached 2381 in December 2018, but a few setbacks moved him further away from 2400. The Chennai lad played his last over-the-board tournament 4th Shaastra Rapid Rating in February 2020. The Covid-19 delayed his opportunity to fulfill the rating criteria. 14-months later he returned to Classical chess tournament. He scored his fourth and fifth IM-norm before crossing 2400 in the live ratings on Children's day, 14th November to become India's latest International Master. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Pranesh gets a boost for his GM title journey with October 2021 YouTube memberships fund

15/11/2021 -

Pranesh is one of the biggest talents in the country. The reason? The boy was born in 2006 and as on March 2020, he had an Elo of 2437, IM title and 1 GM norm. And this he did by playing most of his tournaments in India. Due to the pandemic its been 20 months since Pranesh played a rated game. Hailing from a humble background where his father is a Javuli worker and mother is an Anganwadi worker, Pranesh's GM dreams (2 GM norms and 63 Elo points left) need financial backing. That's the reason why the October fund of our YouTube memberships of Rs.62,194 goes to Pranesh for his upcoming Europe trip. Rs.45,000 are contributed by Prakhar Gupta and the total amount comes to Rs.1,07,194. 

My first ever ‘first’ place (U-1600) in an OTB event

14/11/2021 -

NCS Japan’s official over-the-board event in Tokyo area resumed with the Halloween Rapid Tournament after almost seven months. Full participation and a lot of fun games ensued. It was a one-day rapid tournament which took place on 24th October, a week before Halloween. Mayur Gondhalekar, currently residing in Japan, a chess enthusiast who loves to play chess and follow the sport, writes his experience after winning his first ever over-the-board tournament in under-1600 category. He also shares a picturesque checkmate which he did on the board and shares a few games from the event. For those who are yet to attend an otb event, there is a very nice video made by WCM Natsumi Kojima which shares dos and don'ts of visiting and spectating tournament games.

New: ChessBase Magazine #204

13/11/2021 -

The new ChessBase Magazine #204 dedicates its "Special" to the strongest female chess player of all time: Judit Polgar! The CBM authors annotate their favourite games of the attacking artist, Mihail Marin shows her great strategic skills and Karsten Müller shows her virtuosity in the endgame. The issue also contains the best from the European Championship 2021 - with analyes by the new Champion Anton Demchenko, Viktor Erdos, Daniel Fridman, Nils Grandelius, Maxime Lagarde, Aleksei Sarana, Ivan Saric and others. In his first opening video for the magazine, Austrian GM Markus Ragger presents an idea of World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the 3.Bb5+ Sicilian. Plus 11 opening articles ("A clear attacking plan against the Rubinstein Variation: 7.Be3", "Modern and simple vs. the Najdorf: 7.Nf3/8.Bg5" etc.), as well as training columns on tactics, strategy and endgame. All in a new layout!. Photo: ChessBase

Nur-Sultan will host World Rapid and Blitz 2021

12/11/2021 -

FIDE World Rapid and Blitz championship is back after a yearlong hiatus due to Covid-19 pandemic. The eligibility criteria and total prize fund remains the same, however the total number of rounds in the Rapid format gets reduced to 13 in Open and 11 in Women, previously it was 15 and 12 respectively. The total number of rounds in Blitz remain unchanged. Magnus, Humpy and Lagno are the defending champions. They would definitely like to defend their titles. Among the Indians, it would be great to see Anand and Harikrishna return to the event along with Vidit, Adhiban, Narayanan, Nihal, Sasikiran, Ganguly, Arjun Erigaisi, Gukesh, Raunak, Harika and others. Photo: Alexey Tarakanov

Against All Odds - Marimuthu K and his inspiring story

12/11/2021 -

ChessBase India has a thriving YouTube channel with more than 100 videos being released each month. It is a rich place for chess education, learning and keeping yourself updated with all the happenings of the chess world. As a result a lot of people visit it and have become members of the channel by paying a fee. This membership amount each month is used to support a young talent and push him on his journey of chess improvement. In the month of September K. Marimuthu, one of India's top visually impaired chess players has been chosen. The youngster from Sivakasi gets Rs.68,907.

Nitish Belurkar becomes the latest International Master of India

12/11/2021 -

20-year-old Nitish Belurkar crossed 2400 in the live ratings on 9th November as he drew with GM Andrei Kovalev at First Saturday GM November 2021. The Goan lad scored his maiden IM-norm over five years ago, August 2016 in the Czech Republic. The second one in April 2019 at GM Third Saturday 110 in Novi Sad, Serbia. He reached his then peak rating of 2353 in June 2019. Then he earned his final IM-norm at 26th Abu Dhabi Open 2019. However, he was only missing the 2400 rating requirement until a few days ago. He made two more IM-norms before crossing 2400 in the live ratings to become India's latest International Master. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Raunak Sadhwani: The strongest under-16 player in the world

11/11/2021 -

Raunak Sadhwani gained 7 Elo points at the FIDE chess.com Grand Swiss 2021. This pumped up his Classical rating to 2616, thereby surpassing Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa to become the strongest 2600 in the world. The 15-year-old, who will turn 16 this December, is growing in strength every day and in this article you get to know some of the reasons why Raunak is constantly improving as a player. The boy has a single minded focus on his ambition and has built a strong core team of trainers and individuals who are helping him towards his eventual goal - to become the World Champion.

The First and Last Game of Mikhail Tal

11/11/2021 -

There is no chess player in the world that does not know or have never heard about Tal. He is genuinely famous for the absurd and miraculous queen sacrifice that he made out of nowhere. He had such a unique style of playing the game that at that time it was quite remarkable and to some extent, revolutionary. It had changed people’s perspectives. In this modern era, many people are attracted to the game only because somewhere they came across Tal’s game or seen his signature move, which is the queen's sacrifice. It was Tal's 85th birth anniversary on 9th November 2021. Ragib Shahriar writes on the maestro's first and last game. Photo: Ron Kroon/Anefo

Indian kids win 15 medals at Asian Youth 2021

10/11/2021 -

Indian kids shined brightly at Asian Youth Championships 2021. IMs Bharath Subramaniyam H and Pranav Anand, Pooja Shree R and Susmita Bhowmick are the Gold winners. Ananya Rajan P, WGM Divya Deshmukh, IM Aditya Mittal, and WFM Saina Salonika secured the Silver. Bronze winners are - Samhita Pungavanam, A Aarav, Ananya Raman, Atharav Singh Naruka, CM Bhavesh Mahajan, FM Aaryan Varshney and IM Anuj Shrivatri. India won the overall medal tally in the Girls section, while in the Open section, India finished second behind Vietnam. Check out the article for detailed rankings and games of the event. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Breaking News: Mitrabha Guha becomes India's 72nd Grandmaster

09/11/2021 -

20-year-old Mitrabha Guha scored his final GM-norm at GM Third Saturday Mix 220 as he defeated GM Nikola Sedlak (SRB) in the penultimate ninth round at Novi Sad, Serbia on 8th November 2021. He had already crossed the 2500 in the live ratings when he beat FM Aradhya Garg in the second round of the tournament. 13-days after scoring his second GM-norm at Sheikh Russel GM tournament in Bangladesh, Mitrabha became India's latest Grandmaster. He becomes Kolkata and West Bengal's ninth GM, the second ever from his childhood school South Point. Let's take a look at Mitrabha's journey towards the GM title. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Astounding Arjun Erigaisi finishes third in Lindores Abbey Blitz, now World no.31 in Blitz

09/11/2021 -

Kirill Shevchenko (UKR) made a strong comeback after losing three games in-a-row including two against Fabiano Caruana (USA). The Ukrainian finished the event 14.0/18, a half point ahead of the competition to win Lindores Abbey Blitz in honor of Mikhail Tal's 85th birth anniversary. Both Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi scored 13.5/18. The former once again secured second position, just like in Grand Swiss 2021. The most spectacular performance was of Arjun's as he started the event with nine consecutive wins, including two wins over Aronian, Howell, Mamedov and Korobov. He beat Caruana once and drew the duel. Arjun gained a massive 107 Elo rating points to become World no.31 in Blitz. Photo: Mark Livshitz/FIDE

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