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A fifth round of blood, sweat, and tears at the Cairns cup 2020

12/02/2020 -

In what was a remarkable day at the Cairns Cup 2020, all five of the total five encounters ended decisively. The players summoned every ounce of their strength in the fifth round prior to the rest day of the event and gifted the spectators a truly scintillating show. Nana Dzagnidze was ousted from the lead by Koneru Humpy who clearly came much better prepared today in the Tartakower variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. On the other hand, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Ju Wenjun got the better of Mariya Muzychuk and Kateryna Lagno respectively to climb atop the leaderboard. Harika Dronavalli was convincingly taken down by Valentina Gunina and lady luck finally smiled on Yip Carissa who managed to score her first point in the event by beating compatriot Irina Krush. We bring you a comprehensive and detailed report from St.Louis, Missouri.

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National Teams 2020 Day 5: PSPB maintains sole lead, AAI closes in

11/02/2020 -

Team PSPB maintained their sole lead with a 100% score of 14.0/14 by beating Air India 3-1. Adhiban and Abhijeet scored the wins for their team PSPB against Srinath and Satyapragyan respectively, while Karthikeyan and Deep was held to a draw by Swayams and C S Gokhale respectively. AAI and Telangana are at tied second position with a score of 11.0/14. They drew their match with each other 2-2. Odisha A, RSPB B, RSPB A and Delhi A are tied at 10.0/14 each at fourth place. Among the Women's, PSPB beat Air India 3-1 to maintain their sole lead. Mary and Soumya beat Bhakti and Viji respectively, Padmini drew with Tania and Nisha drew with Meenakshi. AAI defeated Tamil Nadu 2.5-1.5 to get into sole second position. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Cairns cup R04: The World Champion deals her first blow

11/02/2020 -

The fourth day of the Cairnes Cup 2020 wasn't as eventful as the first three. Many of the players tended to play it safe and conserve energy for the next round which is scheduled just before the rest day. There were two decisive games in all. On one hand, Ju Wenjun defeated Valentina Gunina in a complex topsy-turvy game and on the other Alexandra Kosteniuk took down Yip Carissa who has been having a really luckless run right from the beginning. Nana Dzagnidze continues to lead the field but now there are as many as five players breathing down her neck just half a point behind. In this comprehensive report we bring you the games, analyses, photos, and more. 

Adhiban's watch incident - The arbiter's clarification

11/02/2020 -

As an anti-cheating measure FIDE came up with the rule that a player is forbidden to have any electronic device not specifically approved by the arbiter in the playing venue. In its central council meeting in 2018 AICF decided, "AICF has banned the use of Wrist Watches while playing any official National Chess championship and FIDE Rated events henceforth." During the round three of the National Team Championships 2020, when Adhiban lost the game because of wearing an analog wrist watch, the chief arbiter who awarded the point to his opponent was R. Anantharam. In this article we tell you the arbiter's viewpoint and why this decision was made, not just at this event, but also during the AICF Central Council meeting in 2018.

"I talk more frankly" - Vishy Anand

11/02/2020 -

Vishy Anand is a private person at heart. He likes his space and he likes to keep his stories to himself. That's the reason why his book Mind Master is such a fascinating read. Vishy treads the uncomfortable path where he reveals so much more about himself than what he had in the past. Speaking to Rakesh Rao from 'The Hindu', Vishy says, "I talk more frankly. May be, it's just the sense that, now everything's in the past and I can talk about it without the pains and so on.” In this article Anand talks about his experience of promoting his book Mind Master, what are the impressions of the chess community about the book and what the year 2020 looks like in terms of his playing schedule. 

National Teams 2020 Day 4: PSPB takes sole lead in both Open and Women

10/02/2020 -

PSPB took sole lead in both Open and Women section of National Teams 2020 with a 100% score. In the Open, PSPB defeated AAI by 3.5-0.5, after Karthikeyan played a marathon Queen ending and saved a half point, he managed to score the only win in the following round against Deepan of RSPB A. The defending champion PSPB defeated the former champion RSPB A 2.5-1.5 finishing round 6 at the top of the table. In the Women's section, Mary and Padmini scored the decisive victories for their team PSPB against Tamil Nadu B as Soumya lost to Vaishali and Nisha was held to a draw by Mahalaxmi. AAI is trailing behind the leader in the Open section while AAI, Tamil Nadu B, Air India, Kerala are trailing behind the leader in Women's section by a full match point respectively. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Cairns cup R03: Harika tames the chess queen of Russia

10/02/2020 -

Harika Dronavalli defeated the former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk with surgeon like precision today in the third round of Cairns cup 2020. In what was a completely one-sided game, the Indian showed some fantastic technique and positional acumen to bring the full point home. Harika is now just half a point behind Georgia's Nana Dzagnidze, who is currently leading the field with 2.5/3 points, and is all set to take on the seven-time US Women's Champion Irina Krush in the next round. We bring you a detailed report with photos, analysis, and more from St. Louis, Missouri.

National Teams 2020 Day 3: AAI, Tamil Nadu B and PSPB in the lead

09/02/2020 -

AAI maintained their lead by beating Air India by 3-1. Only IM Harshit Raja of AAI suffered a loss against GM Srinath Narayanan of AI. PSPB defeated Telangana 3-1 without losing a single game. GM Abhijeet Gupta and GM Lalith Babu were held to a draw by GM Harsha Bharathakoti and IM Rahul Srivatshav P respectively. RSPB A whitewashed Odisha B by 4-0 and Gujarat D lost to RSPB B by 0.5-3.5. In the Women's section, PSPB and Tamil Nadu B are the leaders at the conclusion of Round 3. PSPB defeated AAI by 2.5-1.5, Mary Ann Gomes was held to a draw by Priyanka Nutakki and Rakshitta Ravi lost to Srija Seshadri. Tamil Nadu B defeated Air India. Tania Sachdev was the only victor from her team in Round 3. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

What can we learn from Adhiban's watch incident

09/02/2020 -

A game of chess comes to an end when a player checkmates his opponent or there is a stalemate on the board or when the player resigns or when there is a mutual draw agreement. Sometimes a participant doesn't turn up for a game and you have a walkover and a full point is given to the player who is present. These were the ways in which games were decided a few years ago. However, recently because of the technological developments, a new clause has been added where carrying any kind of electronic devices with you can lead to a loss. Mobile phones, smart watches, tablets, etc. are banned. However, what about an analog watch? That's not an electronic device. At the National Team Championships 2020, B. Adhiban was given a loss for wearing an analog watch. What exactly happened and why was this decision given? We find out.

Cairns cup R02: Mariya Muzychuk crushes Koneru Humpy with brilliant attacking play

09/02/2020 -

Mariya Muzychuk registered a convincing victory against Koneru Humpy of India in the second round of Cairns Cup 2020. The former World Champion played a rather unorthodox continuation against the Petroff defense and arranged a devious kingside attack early on in the game. Koneru made just a single slip dealing with the complications and that was enough for the Ukrainian to rip her apart. In this illustrated article, we bring you the detailed analysis of this instructive encounter along with a comprehensive second round report from St. Louis, Missouri.

Adhiban loses for possessing analog watch in National Teams 2020

08/02/2020 -

Airport Authority of India leads both open and women section at the conclusion of day 2 of 40th National Team Open and 18th National Team Women. The biggest shock of the day came in round 3 of open section when GM Adhiban Baskaran of PSPB had to forfeit the match for possessing an analog watch after 16 moves against IM C R G Krishna of RSPB-B. GM Karthikeyan Murali scored a marathon victory against GM Thejkumar to make sure his team beat RSPB-B. In the women's section, all top seeds scored a victory. Only AAI did a whitewash again, resulting in them jumping into the lead ahead of all other teams. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Humpy strikes in the very first round of Cairns cup 2020

08/02/2020 -

Two out of the five encounters yielded decisive results in the first round of Cairns Cup 2020. India's Koneru Humpy and Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia emerged as victors by defeating Yip Carissa and Valentina Gunina respectively. The remaining three encounters saw their own fiery moments but ended peacefully with the split of points. The Cairns cup is being widely reckoned as the strongest women's tournament in the history of chess and is featuring some of the best female players in the world today including the reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun and former World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Mariya Muzychuk. We bring you a detailed report from the first day of this high-class event.

Adhiban's be(a)st game of the day in round 1 of National Teams 2020

07/02/2020 -

Defending champions PSPB is on a hat-trick in both Open and Women's section of National Teams. While Deep is the only player from last year's championship winning team, PSPB is looking extremely strong. Adhiban got his 'beast mode' on in the very first round of the tournament. PSPB, RSPB-A, AAI, Telangana, Air India and RSPB-B each were victorious for their team. 10-year old Kshatriya Nitin Vekhande held GM Visakh N R to a draw after missing out a very good chance. Among the women, 14-year old Kritee Shah held Soumya Swaminathan to a draw. All top seeds PSPB, Air India, Tamil Nadu B, AAI and Tamil Nadu A scored victories. Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Humpy and Harika will feature in the strongest women's tournament ever - Cairns Cup 2020

07/02/2020 -

The strongest women's tournament in the history of chess will begin from the 7th of February in Saint Louis, USA. The tournament is named the Cairns Cup 2020 and will see the participation of nine strong GMs along with one young WGM. The top seed is the reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun. The tournament also has the world rapid champion Koneru Humpy taking part and also the world blitz champion Kateryna Lagno. Harika will be the other Indian in the fray. With the first prize of US$45,000 and a rating average of 2510, this is a tournament worth following. Local talent, 16-year-old Carissa Yip, has an excellent opportunity to match her wits against some of the best female players in the world. A curtain raiser by Niklesh Jain. 

Your Spanish is Fab! Part 3

07/02/2020 -

All eyes are on the Candidates 2020, which will determine the challenger in the World Chess Championship to be held later this year. The top seed of the tournament, Fabiano Caruana, also has the unique distinction of publishing most of his findings on one of the most complex openings, the Spanish, in a 16 hour 3 DVD package for ChessBase. Having loved the first two parts, Tanmay Srinath in a detailed look at the DVD takes you through the last part, and tells you why listening to one of the greats of the modern game is a shortcut to chess improvement! | Photo: World Chess

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