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GM Karthikeyan Murali on balancing chess and academics

21/05/2020 -

At the age of 16 Karthikeyan Murali became the national champion of India. A title that he defended next year! He has already been two time World Youth champion and has a current rating of 2600+! Apart from these achievements, he is a well-known chess solver and his battle against Firouzja from Asian Championships 2019 is deemed as one of the greatest queen sacrifices in the history of the game. It is clear that Karthi is an overachiever when it comes to chess. But what about academics? How did Karthikeyan do in his 10th and 12th grade exams? Turns out he scored more than 95% in both these exams! How did Karthikeyan manage to do it? In this article he tells us his recipe of success!

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Champions Combat Corona - Aradhya Garg

20/05/2020 -

To find out how the champions are dealing with the global pandemic Covid-19, we decided to start a new series titled Champions Combat Corona where the current National Champions talks about how they are coping with the unprecedented adversity. In this article, the current National Junior (Under-19) Open champion Aradhya Garg of Delhi, talks about how he is spending his lockdown days. How he was wishing that the pandemic wouldn't reach India, playing online tournaments regularly, reading various books as well as enriching himself to explore his philosophical side. We also take a look at one of his online Blitz game win against IM Harshit Raja. Photo: Amruta Mokal

When the King comes forward for the kill

19/05/2020 -

India's 33rd GM Vishnu Prasanna is a prolific trainer. He has trained World's second youngest GM in history GM Gukesh D and also worked with GM Adhiban B, he is also training with GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly. He launched his new official website on 1st May 2020. The website has all the information about Vishnu and it is rich with features. One of the feature of the site is blog where Vishnu himself discusses various themes about chess. In his second blog post, he talked about King Walk, a topic which we are quite familiar about. He discusses some of the lesser known games with his annotations on the theme. Read the article to find out which four games he chose. Photo: Clipart and Shahid Ahmed

Hone your chess skills with the beast during this lockdown period

18/05/2020 -

The coronavirus has well-nigh brought the whole world to a stand still, but for chess players this is a crucial time to work hard and improve on their game. ChessBase India is accordingly hosting some great instructive shows with top Indian players during these lockdown times. And recently our guest was none other than the beast, Grandmaster and India no.4 Adhiban Baskaran. In a long conversation with IM Sagar Shah which lasted almost ninety minutes, Adhiban analysed games, solved positions, and also answered questions from fans. The whole show was published earlier as a series of three separate videos on the ChessBase India YouTube channel, in this article we present you a gist of the entire thing.  

FIDE Checkmate Coronavirus - 30 days of non-stop online chess

18/05/2020 -

FIDE has taken an initiative to launch FIDE Checkmate Coronavirus - 30 days of non-stop online chess fun for everyone all over the world as this is the online sport which can be played online without huge modifications in this unprecedented times. Starts from 18th May 2020, there will be 80 daily tournaments everyday for the next 30 days till 16th June in various chess platforms all across the internet. There are over 1500 prizes with the highest prize being one-week invitation to the 2021 Chess Olympiad in Moscow. There is also a prize for online GM training. All prizes are raffle based and all participants will be eligible. For more details, please visit the official site. Photo: FIDE Press Release

Remembering Wilhelm Steinitz

18/05/2020 -

On 184th birth anniversary of the first Official World Champion, a retired Sports Editor in one of the leading Bangla newspaper of India, Aajkaal, Mr. Nirmal Kumar Saha decided to pen his memoir of Wilhelm Steinitz on his blog. We are all aware of the 'Father of Modern Chess' and his classic game against Von Bardeleben in Hastings 1895, but what about Steinitz the man himself? How did he start his career, why did he get such a moniker, what are his contributions to the sport, a lot of this are lesser known facts among the general populace. In this article we take a quick glance at Steinitz's life as well as his World Championship and few games which showed early signs of things to come. Photo: Austrian National Library

Three tips to improve your pattern recognition during a chess game

17/05/2020 -

Pattern recognition is an important concept in chess. Strong players often arrive at the correct move in very less time because they have seen the pattern before and can apply it in their own game. This entire process of pattern recognition and application happens at a subconscious level. This process has been explained in exquisite style by GM Swapnil Dhopade in this article. He not only tells you about how pattern recognition works in chess with the help of examples, but also tells you three tips on how you can improve your patter recognition abilities. A must-read article for every player who wants to improve at chess.

From Greece with Love!

16/05/2020 -

Andreas Tzermiadianos is a Greek IM with a career high Elo of 2462 and has two GM norms. He is a FIDE trainer and a very well known coach. A year ago, he realized that one of the biggest problems that is faced by his students and friends who want to get better at chess is that they have no structured approach to get better at the game! That's when he decided to launch a YouTube Channel. It started with an inspiration to help others, but Andreas managed to keep going and after a year, he now has 89 videos uploaded on his channel. Through this interview we would like you to know more about this wonderful chess personality and also request you to give a visit to his YouTube channel.

The future of chess books (1)

15/05/2020 -

People are urging me to write a book (or books) with stories about my encounters with famous players. And with puzzles and chess pleasantries. Most of the material has appeared on our news page, but the articles have descended into the obscurities of the archives. So people want a collection in printed form, to read in the garden, in bed, on trains. But what about the chess games and moves? Who is going to set up a board to replay them? Ahh, but perhaps there is a solution, a way to make printed games easily replayable. Curious? Here's what that would (will) look like.

The $1m Magnus Carlsen Tour: A new era for chess

14/05/2020 -

The reigning World Champion and World no.1 Magnus Carlsen has taken it upon himself to revolutionize online chess. After the conclusion of Magnus Carlsen Invitational little over a week ago, in a press release Carlsen decided to announce Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour which will be a series of four super tournaments. The Grand Final will be played between each of the winners of the four tournaments. It will be the new "majors" for online chess. The entire tour will have a combined prize fund of $1m which is the highest ever for online chess. Read the article to know the participants of the next event Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge which starts in five days on May 19th. Photo: Fred Jonny / Press Release

Your chess tutor with a double major in Economics and Statistics!

14/05/2020 -

The biggest two problems that every beginner faces in a game of chess are - starting out right and not blundering pieces! Openings and Tactics are truly the two most essential cornerstones of becoming better at chess. And there is no one better than WGM Qiyu Zhou to be your trainer! Qiyu is not just a WGM and a former World under-14 champion, she is also doing her double major in Economics and Statistics, with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Toronto. Zhou is an intelligent and charming presenter and if you are a beginner then these two DVDs are just what you need to improve at chess! 

Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Tania Sachdev and others to feature in Chess for Charity 2

14/05/2020 -

One of the best things to have happened to the sport of chess in this lockdown is more and more people taking it up in their free time. One such individual who is a chess lover and is using the sport to make a big difference is the stand-up comedian Samay Raina. Samay won the Comicstaan 2 reality show in August 2019. Although he has a fine career in stand-up comedy, he decided to focus his attention on the game of chess during the lockdown! And he has made a big impact by bringing a lot of casual chess players back to the sport. Apart from his entertaining streams with fellow comedians and top chess players, Samay also indulges in charity with chess. The first edition starring Vishy Anand raised Rs.8,33,000. The second Charity for Chess stream will be LIVE on 14th of May from 5p.m. onwards and will be headlined by stars like Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi, Tania Sachdev, Yuzvendra Chahal and also has ChessBase India's Sagar Shah!

Andrew Tang wins Sultan Khan Cup

13/05/2020 -

Penguingm1 (GM Andrew Tang) of USA scored 9.0/10 to win IPS Academy presents Sultan Khan Cup 2020, the strongest ChessBase India Online Blitz event, also having the highest prize fund. Andrew Tang won ₹20000 cash for his efforts. Peruvian GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara and GM Aryan Chopra of India, both finished at 8.5/10, they were placed second and third respectively according to their tie-break scores. The tournament witnessed the participation of 34 GMs, 35 IMs, 3 WGMs and 10 WIMs from twelve countries across the world including India. Among the women, reigning National Women's Champion IM Bhakti Kulkarni won the first prize, followed by WIM Priyanka Nutakki and WGM R Vaishali. Photo: Andrew's twitter

Play against GM P. Iniyan, Play for the Nation!

13/05/2020 -

GM Iniyan P, 17 years old from India, World Youth Olympiad Gold medalist, Asian Sub-Junior Silver Medalist, Commonwealth U-14 and U-18 Gold Medalist and Indian National Sub-Junior Champion invites you to join his Marathon Chess Fundraising event for COVID-19! Play online against him and get your games analysed too! There are no restrictions on any location, age, rating or title and open for all to play. Participants and those who are not playing can donate to the fund raiser, and only a minimum of Rs. 150 is required to donate to play. All the money that is raised in this event will be sent to the Chief Minister and PM Cares relief funds to combat COVID-19. The evnt is taking place from the 15th of May to 17th of May. Find out how to play the event and how the idea surfaced in Iniyan's mind!

Vishnu Prasanna explains Harmony in Chess

12/05/2020 -

India's 33rd GM Vishnu Prasanna launched his website on 1st May 2020. The site is rich of various content, one of the main features of the site is 'blog' where Vishnu himself explains various chess themes with illustrative games and diagrams. Vishnu is an accomplished player and a prolific trainer. He has trained second youngest GM in the world D Gukesh, he is training with GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and he has also worked with GM Adhiban Baskaran as a second for his debut in Wijk aan Zee. In his first blog post, Vishnu talks about Harmony in Chess by showing an example of Steinitz's game with beautiful explanation on using imagination to understand harmony and more. Photo: Austrian National Library and Shahid Ahmed

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