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Praggnanandhaa wins the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019

07/12/2019 -

2019 has been a special year for R. Praggnanandhaa. He won the super strong Xtracon Open in Denmark, he became the World Youth Champion under-18, he crossed the live rating of 2600 and now has become the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019 champion! More good news? He is not yet finished for the year! He will be taking part in the Sunway Sitges Open 2019 beginning from the 13th of December. Pragg finished the London Chess Classic with a score of 7.5/9 and a rating performance of 2699. He was joined at the top by Anton Smirnov, who also scored 7.5/9. Third place went to Aravindh Chithambaram. Both Sahaj Grover and R. Vaishali had a respectable finish with 6.5/9. Overall a successful event for the Indian players. 

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Vishy's December #05: Tyger Tyger burning bright

06/12/2019 -

Vishy Anand lost his World Championship crown in 2013 to Magnus Carlsen. After his loss it seemed as if an era had come to an end. Anand was 44 years old and it didn't seem that he would compete again for a World Championship Match. But Vishy is Vishy! Just when everyone writes him off, he rises from the ashes like a phoenix. And this he did at the Candidates tournament in 2014, finishing ahead of some of the best players in the world and securing another shot at the World title! This victory of Vishy was so inspiring for Upendra Rawat that he decided to pen down a wonderful poem. In this article we bring you that poem along with some of Upendra's answers where he explains why he is one of Vishy's biggest fans!

NEW: Mastering Pattern Recognition in the Opening

06/12/2019 -

Pattern recognition is an important tool in modern chess, as it helps you to better understand the characteristics of a position. Particularly when you have been confronted with a surprise opening system played by your opponent, relying on general principles is an asset. In this video series, IM Robert Ris explores ten key elements of opening play. While these themes are found throughout chess literature this time you will get actively involved yourself as well by trying to solve the patterns you learned in over 50 examples, through which you will understand how much you learnt and what you need to work on. Read the article to know more about this dvd.

Monaco GP R3: Anna Muzychuk halts Humpy

06/12/2019 -

Anna Muzychuk halted Humpy Koneru's winning streak by holding her to a draw. The Ukrainian grabbed a pawn and trapped her own bishop which was not possible for Humpy to capture by any means. The most exciting game of the round was between Mariya Muzychuk and Kateryna Lagno. Although Mariya won the game with brilliant sharp play, but there were moments where Lagno could have salvaged her position. Goryachkina got back to winning ways by beating Zhao Xue, Nana Dzagnidze scored her first win of the tournament and jumped to tied second position, Gunina also made a comeback by staying true to her style and beating Alexandra Kosteniuk, after suffering two losses in the first two rounds. Harika had a tepid draw with Pia Cramling. Photo: Karol Bartnik / FIDE

Are you ready to play chess in Houseboat?

06/12/2019 -

Chess Train tournament launched in the year 2013 covering Czech Republic, some parts of Germany and Austria. The tradition still continues with an annual event starting in Prague with varied destinations. Similar to that, Chess Houseboat in India will take place from 26th January - 2nd February 2020 in the state of Kerala. Everyday double round will be played, each round consisting of 20 minutes each inside houseboat in various scenic location. Total €5000 prize fund is up for grabs. The tournament will be a non-rated Swiss league event. Only first 100 registered players will be able to participate. This is your unique chance to combine chess with sight seeing in one of the most beautiful destinations in India. For more details read the article. Photo: Official site

No-Castling Chess - Vladimir Kramnik proposes an exciting variant!

05/12/2019 -

From lay fans to top Grandmasters, more or less everyone in the world of chess feel upset today about the huge number of draws that take place in virtually every classical elite tournament. Too much of theory reinforced by extensive engine work is seemingly rendering the game of chess sterile and lifeless. One therefore wonders what lies in the future of the royal game. Thankfully, solutions are being proposed and some of them are also being welcomed with open arms. The successful organization and popularity of the first FIDE Fischer Random World Championship is a testament to the same. Very recently the legendary Vladimir Kramnik has also proposed a lucrative solution to the problem which surprisingly appears to be even simpler and more efficient than the Fischer Random. Read on to know more. 

MVL stops the Magnus juggernaut

05/12/2019 -

Just when it seemed like Magnus is unstoppable and MVL has an outside chance, Maxime made the most out of his opportunity and defeated Carlsen in the Rapid Playoff to advance to the finals. In the final rapid tie-break game, MVL had a decisive advantage, but he missed it and managed to make a draw which was sufficient enough for him to book a berth at the finals against Ding Liren. Levon Aronian's woes continued as he lost both rapid games and then he drew a blitz game, only to lose the next two. He redeemed himself by beating Ding in the last blitz match. The Finals Classical game 1 will take place on 6th and game 2 on 7th December. The Rapid and Blitz part of the Finals will take place on 8th December. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Vishy's December #04 - India having 65 GMs is unthinkable without Anand

05/12/2019 -

He met Anand at the airport when he was just a nine-year-old boy! He played a simul with him and grew up with Vishy as his role model. Today Surya Sekhar Ganguly is one India's strongest GMs. He has not only won innumerable accolades for the country as a chess player, but has helped Anand to become a World Champion for a record three times as his second. In this article Surya relives some of his most precious moments with the Indian legend. This December, ChessBase India is celebrating the month as Vishy's December in honour of the Indian chess legend Vishy Anand turning 50 years old. If you have a story, experience or an anecdote related to Anand which you would like to share with the chess world, you can send it to us at chessbaseindia@gmail.com.  

Monaco GP R2: Humpy continues her sole lead

05/12/2019 -

The second round of FIDE Women's Grand Prix at Monaco witnessed four decisive results and four game went for over four hours. Humpy continued her lead by beating Mariya Muzychuk. Harika Dronavalli scored the first victory of the round by defeating Germany no.1 woman IM Elisabeth Paehtz. Lagno won the All-Russian battle and handed Gunina her second consecutive defeat. Newly crowned European Individual Rapid and Blitz champion Alexandra Kosteniuk continued her momentum and broke Goryachkina's mystique by defeating her convincingly. Both Anna Muzychuk and Pia Cramling missed wonderful winning opportunities against Nana Dzagnidze and Zhao Xue respectively. A detailed report of round 2. Photo: Karol Bartnik / FIDE

Praggnanandhaa becomes the youngest Indian to cross 2600 Elo ever, second youngest in the world

05/12/2019 -

On 4th of May 2019, Nihal Sarin had become the youngest Indian to cross 2600 at the age of 14 years and 10 months. It took only seven months to break this record when Praggnanandhaa, won his seventh round game at the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019 against GM Jules Moussard (2600) to move to 2602. Pragg has achieved the feat of crossing 2600 at the age of 14 years, 3 months and 24 days, making him the youngest 2600 ever in Indian chess history and the second youngest in the world. In this report we bring to you the game that helped Pragg cross 2600 with detailed analysis and also quotes from his trainer Ramesh. Truly, a big moment for Indian chess! 

Vishy's December #03 - In India, chess = Anand!

04/12/2019 -

Today Sethuraman is well-known and respected grandmaster in the world of chess. He has won the national title, the asian title and also been a member of the bronze medal winning Indian team at the Tromso Olympiad. But around 15 years ago when he was taking his first few steps in the world of chess, his meetings with Anand changed the way he looked at the sport. In this article Sethuraman recounts his meetings with the legend and how they inspired him to become a stronger player. This December, ChessBase India is celebrating the month as Vishy's December in honour of the Indian chess legend Vishy Anand turning 50 years old. If you have a story, experience or an anecdote related to Anand which you would like to share with the chess world, you can send it to us at chessbaseindia@gmail.com. 

Wesley So on becoming the first Fischer Random World Champion

04/12/2019 -

The Fischer random chess or Chess960 is hailed to be a game of pure wits where elements of theory and extensive home preparation are rendered practically useless and the players are demanded to rely more on their intuition and over-the-board creativity. It therefore came as a surprise to many chess fans last month when Magnus Carlsen, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest natural talents that the game of chess has ever seen, was sheerly dominated by Wesley So in the World Fischer Random Championship 2019. The 26-year-old Filipino-American Grandmaster created a sensation by beating the mighty Norwegian in the finals of the tournament with a sweeping score of 13.5-2.5! How did he do it? IM Sagar Shah caught up with the man himself at the Tata Steel Chess India.

Will MVL have the final laugh?

04/12/2019 -

The second classical game between MVL-Carlsen and Ding-Aronian also ended up in a draw which means there is no clear favorite going into the faster time control matches. Today each player will play two rapid and four blitz games against the same semi-final opponents. A win in rapid is worth four points and in blitz it's two points. The two players to score 15 points will advance to the finals. At this point MVL and Carlsen seem to be evenly matched, while Aronian is still trying to recover from his ailment. It will be interesting to see who grabs the final two spots in the GCT Finals. It starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Chess Gurukul domination in London!

04/12/2019 -

The London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019 is being dominated by two Indians R. Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram. Both of them hail from Chennai and go to the Chess Gurukul academy of GM R.B. Ramesh. It is quite heartening to see that both the youngsters have performed above an Elo of 2750 and gained close to 10 Elo points. While this takes Aravindh to 2615, Pragg is inching close to breaking the 2600 Elo mark and is currently 2596. The other two Indian top performers Sahaj Grover and R. Vaishali are also playing well with 4.5/6. With three rounds to go, it will be interesting to see if Pragg or Aravindh can win the title. Currently they are in the joint lead on 5.5/6 along with Anton Smirnov.

Monaco GP R1: Humpy starts with a gritty win

04/12/2019 -

FIDE Monaco Women's Grand Prix starts with a solitary win by Skolkovo GP winner Humpy Koneru. She had to fight for over five hours against Valentina Gunina from an inferior position to score a victory after enduring the longest grind of the day. Legendary Pia Cramling made a good start against Alexandra Kosteniuk but she missed capitalizing on good opportunities and eventually ended up making a draw. The World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina held World Blitz champion Kateryna Lagno, Harika Dronavalli met her match in the form of Nana Dzagnidze, FIDE GP 2019-20 debutant Zhao Xue held Elisabeth Paehtz and the Muzychuk sisters made a peaceful draw in round 1. Photo: Karol Bartnik / FIDE

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