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Sonakshi Rathore wins Rajasthan State Senior Open for a record third time

26/08/2019 -

Sonakshi Rathore of Jaipur wins Rajasthan State Senior Championship for a record third time in her career. Unlike the first two of her triumphs, Sonakshi scored an unbeaten 6.5/8 to win the tournament. AGM Chandrajeet Singh Rajawat of Udaipur also finished with the same score, however since she beat him in round 6, Sonakshi clinched the title for the third time. This time it was difficult for her to win because she was not feeling well from the beginning of the tournament and she had viral fever too. This article contains an interview with Sonakshi and her best game annotated by herself on her third State Open triumph. Photo: Sonakshi

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India's hunt for medals at World Cadets 2019 begins!

26/08/2019 -

The FIDE World Cadet Chess Championships (under-8, under-10, and under-12) have commenced in Weifang, China. Often dubbed as the kite capital of the world, Weifang is a prefecture-level city of the central Shandong province which is famous for its flamboyant kite festival celebrations that take place in the spring of every year. However, this beautiful chinese port city is in the spotlight these days for an entirely different reason as it is hosting the most important contest for budding chess talents from around the world. The Indian contingent, with thirty-one of its players, makes for one of the largest representations in this grand event. With promising youngsters like Savitha Shri B, Shahil Dey, Dev Shah, Ilamparthi A R, Yash Bharadiya, Vivaan Saraogi, Aishani Pathak, and Lakshana Subramanian competing in different categories, the country's hope for medals this time is soaring high.

Anand's agonizing miss against Ding

25/08/2019 -

The seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup followed the same pattern of the previous day – all draws and status quo continued in tournament standings, with another heartbreak for Vishy Anand who once again missed converting a clearly better position. Thus, Anand along with Caruana and Ding continue to lead the tournament jointly with 4 points. But other games almost didn't show the fighting content worthy of a top tournament, though most of them were decently fought out. IM Venkatachalam Saravanan reports all action from the venue. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Courtalam Saaral International Rating Open Preview

25/08/2019 -

Want to enjoy the best season in Courtalam with competitive chess? Come to Courtalam, a health and spa resort in the western ghats of south Tamil Nadu, bordering Kerala, with perennial rivers and plenty of waterfalls and cascades. The cold breeze with constant minute and continuous drizzling will take you to the climax of ecstasy. Coming back to chess, the tournament is held from 29th August to 2nd September for five days by Tirunelveli District Chess Development Association. The field includes a strong contingent of grandmaster in Rodrigo Schroeder Vasquez of Chile and a plethora of international masters. Vasquez has defeated the world champion Magnus Carlsen time and again in blitz games and people say that Rodrigo is +2 against Carlsen on internet chess. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Kramnik Microsense India Chess Program Day 8: The Labyrinth of Dynamic Play

24/08/2019 -

"You are going to fall at my feet and ask me to go back to positional chess and endgame!" said Vladimir Kramnik jokingly after an extremely intense session on day 8 of the Kramnik Microsense India Chess 2019 on Dynamic Play. What exactly does dynamic play mean? Does it mean tactical play? Does it mean aggressive play? In this article we tell you all about what Dynamic chess means with the help of an example from the game Ivanchuk vs Kramnik, 1993. We also give you a fresh question for the day, which Kramnik posed the students during the lunch session. It is not related to chess. No one was able to solve it! We hope that you, dear reader, would fare better than these young prodigies! 

Anand's heartbreak against Giri

24/08/2019 -

Vishy Anand missed a great opportunity to finish off Anish Giri while holding the upper hand - many times during the game - to settle for a heart-breaking draw in the sixth round. He continues to share the lead with 3.5 points along with Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren after another all-draw round at the Sinquefield Cup. Caruana versus Vachier-Lagrave was a fantastic fight from a razor sharp Sicilian Najdorf, showing the depth of the players' opening preparation and boldness. Other games were progressively lesser in fighting content. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Karthikeyan Murali wins 1st A S Subbaraman Memorial Trophy Blitz Rating 2019

23/08/2019 -

Karthikeyan Murali scores 10.0/11 and wins 1st A S Subbaraman Memorial Trophy FIDE Rated Blitz on 15th August. Reigning National Triple Crown champion Aravindh Chithambaram scored 9.5/11 and he was placed second due to a better tie-break score. GM Vishnu Prasanna and India's one of the latest IM Rathanvel V S also scored 9.5/11, they were placed 3rd and 4th according to their tie-break score. The tournament was the brainchild of IM and India's first WGM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi in the memory of her father who passed away 12 years ago on the very same day. Total 468 players participated from all over the country including 8 GMs, 3 WGMs and an IM. Sasikiran, Aruna Anand and Murali Vijay were among the most celebrated guests who graced the event. Photo: Queens Chess Academy

Kramnik Microsense India Chess Program Day 7: Secrets of top level opening preparation

23/08/2019 -

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!" This is a very famous proverb and it is exactly what we are trying to achieve at the Kramnik Microsense India Chess Program. Instead of Kramnik teaching an opening variation which maybe useful for a couple of games, what he decided to share was his technique of opening preparation. How does Kramnik prepare for an opponent? On the 7th day of the camp, he sat down with a laptop, with the six youngsters huddling around him and he practically showed secrets of top level opening preparation. It was an eye opening session for the kids as they understood how a World Champion readies himself for a serious game.

Anand, Caruana and Ding in a three-way lead at Sinquefield Cup 2019

22/08/2019 -

Ding Liren joined the leaders Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana at the top of the table with 3 points after a round of hard fought battles in almost all games at the Sinquefield Cup. Nepomniachtchi was the other winner of the round after his opponent Hikaru Nakamura played unevenly to lose a game where he didn't seem to be in his best of form. Anand, Caruana and So demonstrated very sharp opening preparations which made this round the most memorable of the tournament so far. IM Venkatachalam Saravanan reports from the venue. Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

Kramnik Microsense India Chess Program Day 6: World Champion's positional understanding

22/08/2019 -

The first half of the Kramnik Microsense India Chess Program was dedicated to the study of endgame play. In the second half Kramnik has now shifted his attention to middlegame play and has begun with the art of positional chess. Many experts in the chess world believe that when it comes to positional, strategic and technical chess there is no one better than the 14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. On the sixth day Kramnik shared some of the secrets of what has made him one of the finest positional chess players on the globe. In this article we bring you an interesting game from Linares 1998 and also give you a couple of positions to solve as tests!

R Balasubramaniam wins Thalavaipuram All India Open

22/08/2019 -

Seasoned International Master R Balasubramaniam of Tamil Nadu added one more trophy to his collection by winning the Thalavaipuram Rotary Club & Perunthalaivar (great leader) Kamarajar Matric HSS FIDE rated tournament held at Thalavaipuram, a small town near Rajapalayam in Tamil Nadu. The other three International Masters namely VAV Rajesh of Tamil Nadu, C Praveen Kumar of ICF, and M Chakravarthy Reddy (top seed) of Telangana secured sixth, seventh and fifteenth ranks respectively. IA Rathinam Anantharam sends us a detailed pictorial report. Photo: R Anantharam

IM Praveen Kumar wins 2nd RCPA Open 2019

21/08/2019 -

2nd RCPA Open FIDE Rating Tournament concluded with six players finishing at 8.0/10, however second seeded Tamil Nadu's IM Praveen Kumar C came out at the top due to a better tie-break score. Two weeks after winning Thalavaipuram Open Rating IM Ramnathan Balasubramanian of Tamil Nadu finished second. AICF Vice-President IM Sekhar Chandra Sahu secured third position. Total 172 players participated in this six-day ten round swiss league tournament. Top seed GM Raset Ziatdinov of USA scored 7.5/10 and secured tenth place. Total ₹300000 worth of prize fund was distributed among 88 prize winners. Photo: RCPA

Caruana joins the lead with Anand

21/08/2019 -

The spell of draws was finally broken when Levon Aronian blundered under time pressure handing over Fabiano Caruana a well deserved victory in the only decisive game of the fourth round. All other games ended in draws, as Vishy Anand messed up a complicated calculation to miss a certain win against Wesley So, while Magnus Carsen missed another opportunity to grind his opponent Shakhriyar Mamedyarov down. IM Venkatachalam Saravanan reports from the venue. Photo: Justin Kellar / Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Harikrishna enters top 20 in world rankings with a win over Wei Yi

20/08/2019 -

On 20th of August, Harikrishna played at the 12th round of the Chinese League 2019 for his team China Mobil Shanghai. He played on the top board and faced one of the China's finest players Wei Yi from team Jiangsu. Recently Surya Ganguly had got the better of Wei Yi right out of the opening and had won his game in 16 moves. Hari scored quite a contrasting win where he ground down his opponent with slow and methodical play. There is definitely a lot to be learnt from the Indian no.2's play. IM Sagar Shah brings you the analysis of this game. Hari also gained 4.8 Elo points, taking his live rating to 2743 entering the top 20 in the world once again!

Vishnu Prasanna becomes the best Indian performer in Riga chess gala!

20/08/2019 -

The ninth edition of Riga Technical University International Chess Festival was held from 3rd to 11th of August in Riga, Latvia. The Grandmaster Open of the event saw a total of 275 players participating from about 40 different countries. India was the second most represented country in the tournament (second only to Latvia!) with as many as 31 players competing. Among them Gopal G.N. was the highest rated followed by an array of several other strong Grandmasters including Lalith Babu M R, Abhimanyu Puranik, Deepan Chakkravarthy, and Gukesh D. After nine rounds Latvia's number one Igor Kovalenko and Šarūnas Šulskis of Lithuania were tied with 7.5/9 points but based on a better tie-break score the former was declared as the champion. Among Indians, the best performer was Vishnu Prasanna V. who finished fifth just half a point behind the leaders scoring 7.0/9

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