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Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram steal the show on day one of the World Rapid 2019

27/12/2019 -

The first day of the World Rapid Championships 2019 proved to be quite a successful one for Indian players. Nihal Sarin showed his class as he outwitted three strong grandmasters and with a performance rating of 2758, is gaining 56 Elo points. The only other Indian to have performed better than him on day one was Aravindh Chithambaram, the reigning national champion of India who managed to not only beat Boris Gelfand, but also Alonso Alvar, and Bartosz Socko. Aravindh has an Elo performance of 2800+! In the women's section, we have only two players taking part - Humpy and Harika, but both of them have played extremely well and are on 3.5/4, a half a point behind the leaders. We bring you an illustrated report from day one of the event taking place in the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow!

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Bhopal GM Open 2019 Round 8: Yakubboev maintains his sole lead

27/12/2019 -

Bhopal International GM Open 2019 has entered into its final stage. Top seed GM Nodirbek Yakubboev has taken sole lead with a score of 7.0/8, India's highest rated player in the event, GM Venkatesh M R is just behind the leader at 6.5/8 along with nine other players who are also at the same score. It is going to be a close contest since so many players are closing in on the leader. IM Nguyen Van Huy showed fantastic opening preparation and gave no chances to Yakubboev. All top four boards ended up in draws. Only Venkatesh scored a victory among the top five boards. Read round 8 report by Niklesh Jain from the venue. Photo: Niklesh Jain

The World Rapid and Blitz 2019 begins with a colourful opening ceremony at the Russian Chess Museum

26/12/2019 -

The King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2019 is here! It is one of the most exciting events of the year with the participation of almost all of the top players in the world including World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen will be looking to win the title in both rapid and blitz and make it a triple crown for himself! The opening ceremony was held on the 25th of December at the Russian Chess Museum on the Gogolevsky Boulevard in Moscow. IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal were present at the venue and bring you some of the first-hand impressions from the place. We also have some very interesting interviews with Carlsen, Wang Hao, Sara Khadem, Anton Korobov and Peter Leko.

Bhopal GM Open 2019: Yakubboev beats Bogdanovich in just 18 moves

26/12/2019 -

Top seed of the tournament GM Nodirbek Yakubboev defeated overnight sole leader GM Stanislav Bogdanovich in just 18 moves to take sole lead at the conclusion of round 7 in Central India's biggest tournament Bhopal GM Open 2019. It will be interesting to see if Yakubboev will be able to maintain his lead in the last three rounds of the tournament. Among other matches, Colombia's Cristhian Rios saved his game from a difficult situation against Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaev and managed to salvage a draw. Indian GM Venkatesh M R was held to a draw by Slovakian GM Manik Mikulas. Only three rounds left in the tournament and everyday one round will be played. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Young siblings organize DCA-Samvedna Open

26/12/2019 -

In chess young kids are breaking various records every now and then over-the-board. However, two siblings from Delhi, Bhavik and Bhushita Ahuja who are twelve and fifteen-years-old respectively formed Samvedna which has organized a Rapid, Blitz, Bughouse, Academy quiz and Tactis fight on 14th and 15th December at Banyan Tree School in Delhi. Over 130 players participated in all the events from various schools across NCR. Santu Mondal and Saksham Rautela won the Rapid and Blitz event, Saksham and Bhushita won the Bughouse, Champions Chess Academy won the Academy quiz and Sandeep Chitkara won the Tactics fight. The young siblings formed Samvedna to spread chess across various basti (locality) all over Delhi. Photo: Team Samvedna 

Vishy's December #14: From Soup of the Day to Mango Lassi

25/12/2019 -

Vishy Anand was asked by Tania Sachdev at the Tata Steel Chess India 2019 - if you are stranded on an island and you have to choose one of the participants of the Grand Chess Tour to spend your time with, who would it be? Vishy smiled and in a flash said, "Anish Giri!" Vishy and Giri share a special bond with each other. While Anand was the World Champion, Anish was one of the rising talents in the world of chess. Giri used to admire Anand and learnt from his games. Over the years, this admiration hasn't diminished. In fact a new dimension of friendship has been added to their relationship. This #14 edition of Vishy's December is Anish Giri's dedication to one of the greatest champions that the game of chess has ever seen.

My first chess book - GM K. Priyadharshan

25/12/2019 -

When you see an article entitled, my first chess book, you almost always assume, it is the first chess book that the author has read. However, in this case, we have a person who is talking about not the first book he has read, but the first one he has written! GM K. Priyadharshan is India's 44th GM and recently he wrote his first chess book. It is for the Thinkers Publishing. The book will be available soon in the ChessBase India shop. However, we wanted to know more about what the book contains. After all not many Indian players have gone on to write books for well known publishers. In this article, the author K. Priyadharshan speaks about his motivation of writing the book, what it contains and what a buyer can expect from it. 

Bhopal GM Open 2019: Bogdanovich takes sole lead, Shivansh impresses

25/12/2019 -

GM Stanislav Bogdanovich of Ukraine took a sole lead with six consecutive wins after round 6 of Bhopal International GM Open 2019, the biggest international tournament of Central India and now he will face Uzbekistan's top seed Nodirbek Yakubboev in round 7. This match can prove to be extremely decisive. The defeat of Venkatesh M R in the sixth round was a setback for India. 17-year-old Shivansh Tiwari emerged as the new sensation of Madhya Pradesh. In the last three rounds he scored some upset victories and is currently at 5.0/6 points. Currently he has topped the state's players. Bhopal International GM Open will have a Blitz tournament today. Report of rounds 4, 5 and 6. Photo: Niklesh Jain

632 players participate in Lakecity Winter Below 1600

24/12/2019 -

Satyam Prakash of Delhi scored 7.5/9, remained unbeaten to win Lakecity Winter Below 1600. He got richer by ₹111000. Sanjib Mali of West Bengal drew with the eventual champion in the final round and finished with the same score 7.5/9. However due to a lower tie-break score, he had to settle for the runner-up place. He won ₹71000. 14-year-old Sailesh R of Tamil Nadu scored 7.0/9 and he was placed third. He took home ₹40000. The three-day eight round Swiss league event witnessed a mammoth participation of 632 players from all over the country along with a player from USA. A pictorial report of the tournament. Photo: IA Swapnil Bansod

The biggest gainers at the Sunway Sitges 2019

24/12/2019 -

The exciting Sunway Sitges Chess Festival 2019 has come to an end. It was dominated right from the start to the end by Ukrainian GM Anton Korobov, who scored 8.5/10 and with a performance rating of 2845, took home the winner's cheque of 5000 euros. The best performing Indian at the tournament was GM Abhimanyu Puranik, who scored 7.5/10. Also on 7.5 points were Karthikeyan Murali and Nihal Sarin. A total of 10 norms were scored at the event and six of them went to the Indian players. We tell you all about the best performing Indians at the event and also the norm makers. The Sunway Sitges 2019 was well and truly a successful tournament for the Indian contingent. 

With two back-to-back GM norms, Harshit Raja is racing towards the GM title

23/12/2019 -

Harshit Raja, the 18-year-old International Master from Pune, has been literally doing wonders over the last few weeks. He first scored his maiden GM norm at the Elllobregat Open by defeating strong players such as Karthikeyan Murali and Gukesh D, and then in his very next event at Sunway Sitges, achieved his second norm beating none other than the former World Junior Champion Parham Maghsoodloo. From 2447 and no GM norms, he has now climed up to 2482 with 2 GM norms. Harshit is now knocking on the doors of becoming India's next GM. ChessBase India spoke to him just after his performance at El Prat de Llobregat event and Harshit discussed his games in quite some detail.

Bhopal International GM Open Round 2+3: Top ten seeds maintain lead

23/12/2019 -

Top ten seeds maintain their lead with a 100% score 3.0/3 after round 3 of central India's biggest chess tournament Bhopal International GM Open 2019. There were double rounds on day 2 of the event and several upsets took place. 13-year-old Prakhar Bajaj of Madhya Pradesh held experienced GM Manik Mikulas (2379) of Slovakia to a draw. Karnataka's Shriya R Revankar scored the biggest upset of round 2 by defeating IM Denis Eraschenkov of Russia. In round 3, Shivansh Tiwari of Madhya Pradesh defeated Maksad Sapaev of Uzbekistan and he is now among the leaders with a score of 3.0/3. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Vishy's December #13: My Great Predecessor

22/12/2019 -

Vishy Anand has been credited in a big way for the current chess boom that is taking place in the country. Anand's exploits over the chess board have inspired the entire nation. And it is one of the primary reasons why we see such a huge crop of talents developing in the country. While we have read this in several news reports in different periodicals and websites, it feels nice when we get to read about Anand's contribution to the world of chess by one of India's biggest talents. Aditya Mittal is just 13 years old and is already an International Master. In this #13 edition of Vishy's December, Aditya analyzes five of Anand's best games and also recounts his meet with the Indian legend seven years ago! Aditya was just six years old back then. 

Somendra and Megha win National School Championship for the Visually Challenged 2019

22/12/2019 -

Top seed Somendra B L of GSSSB, Delhi scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win Indusind Bank National School Championship for the Visually Challenged 2019 in the Boys section. Megha Chakraborty of Calcutta Blind School, won all her games to win the girls section with a score of 9.0/9, finishing two full points ahead of the competition. Total 224 players including 150 boys and 74 girls participated from 12 states across the nation. The tournament was organized by All India Chess Federation For The Blind with the support and patronage of IndusInd Bank from 18th - 21st December 2019 at Alandi, Pune, Maharashtra. Photo: Charudatta Jadhav

He has crossed 2650 Elo, is India no.6, but is still looking for a job

22/12/2019 -

The fastest growing player in Indian chess is currently GM S.L. Narayanan. From reaching 2600 earlier this year, he has raced up to 2650 on the live rating list. With a string of powerful and consistent performances, he has now become India no.6 after Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit, Sasikiran and Adhiban. Recently, he won the strong Ellobregat Open 2019, which was his first victory on international soil. Before leaving for Sunway Sitges 2019, Narayanan was kind enough to spend some time for an interview with ChessBase India. In it we realized that even though the 21-year-old is doing so well in chess, has completed his graduation in English Literature, he is still struggling to find a job under sports quota. 

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