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From untitled to IM in six months: Journey of Neelash Saha

26/04/2019 -

Neelash Saha secured his third IM norm in Delhi Open 2019, the very same tournament where Gukesh made history which we are all aware of. He fulfilled the final criteria to become an IM as he touched 2400 in the live rating last year in Spain. His journey in chess started at the age of 5 years because his father was a fan of the game. Neelash's first triumph in chess was winning West Bengal State under-7 in 2009. He won State under-9 in 2011, under-13 in 2015. His first major breakthrough was winning National under-13 in 2015. He also won West Bengal State Open in 2017. In this article, we will get to know his journey of becoming an International Master. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

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Shenzhen 2019 Round 7+8: Two Chinese players stand in between Harikrishna and his first super tournament victory

26/04/2019 -

In 2001 when Harikrishna became a GM, he was the youngest one in India chess. He then went on to become the National Champion, Asian Champion, the Commonwealth Champion and the World Junior Champion. Hari has also won some of the most prestigious open tournaments across the world like the Biel Masters, Isle of Man International and many others. He also won the Tata Steel Challengers and qualified for the masters. In 2016, he reached to a career high Elo of 2770 breaking into top 10 in the world. In this illustrious career, if there is something missing, it's a super tournament victory. And currently at the Shenzhen Masters Hari is as close as he can be to his first super tournament victory. What stands in between him and the title are two of China's best players.

The Problemist Diary - Part I

26/04/2019 -

Welcome to the beautiful world of compositions and study solving. The problemist diary is an initiative by one of our regular readers Satanick Mukhuty. While we publish a lot of articles on improving your playing strength as a practical player with tactical, positional and endgame exercises, one thing we have realized is that having a keen interest in solving studies and compositions can really help you improve your imagination and creativity on the chess board. But doesn't the world of problem solving look daunting and difficult? Well, in the problemist diary series, Satanick will hold your hand and make you understand the basics of solving, the common terms and phrases used, with the final aim that you too, like him, will fall in love with the beautiful world of chess composing. 

FIDE's gesture to support seniors above the age of 65

25/04/2019 -

In chess we see a lot of investment being made towards the growth of juniors. They are the future and naturally appropriate care has to be taken of their progress. However, in any ecosystem it makes sense to look out for the seniors as well. Some of the veterans in our country have dedicated their life towards the betterment of chess. Their passion towards the sport led them to make decisions which have landed them in financial difficulties in the old age. In such a situation there cannot be a better gesture from FIDE than to allocate some of their funds for the seniors of our sport. In their presidential board FIDE has made an announcement that any individual who is 65+ years of age, financially unstable and has contributed towards the growth of chess is eligible to receive support. More information.

Gukesh sizzles at the Grenke Open 2019 with a 2700+ performance

25/04/2019 -

In 2018, a 13-year-old boy stunned the chess world by winning the Grenke Open and qualified for the Grenke Chess Classic 2019. That youngster is IM Vincent Keymer, who is currently fighting against the best players in the world at the main Grenke event. At the Grenke Open 2019, another youngster had a chance to make history and that was 12-year-old D. Gukesh. India's youngest GM and the second youngest in the world, Gukesh scored 7.5/9 and finished joint first at this extremely strong open event which had 56 GMs and 81 IMs among the 904 players who took part. Finally Gukesh had to settle for the fifth spot due to his tiebreaks. Yet another 2700 performance for Gukesh after he became a GM. How does the boy do it? We analyze this by checking all of Gukesh's games. 

Melkumyan wins O2C Doeberl Cup, Deep and Kunte finish tied third

24/04/2019 -

Top seed of the tournament, Armenia no.3 GM Hrant Melkumyan won O2C Doeberl Cup Premier 2019 in Canberra, Australia. He scored 7.5/9 to finish a half-point ahead of the runner-up FM Raymond Song of Australia. Indian GMs Deep Sengupta and Abhijit Kunte finished tied at the third place along with GM Anton Smirnov of Australia at a score of 6.5/9 . The only other Indian to participate in this tournament, reigning Asian Continental Women's Champion IM Padmini Rout scored 5.5/9 and finished at 10th position. She won the 'Best Female player' prize. The tournament was first organized in 1963. The report contains games, photos and interviews. Photo: Chesslife

Endgame Magic with Gukesh and Karsten Mueller is LIVE!

24/04/2019 -

Karsten Mueller is an endgame legend. His knowledge of endgame play is tremendous. Every few days he has the endgame magic show with one of the well-known guests who visit the ChessBase office in Hamburg. On 24th of April at 7.30 p.m. IST, Karsten's guest is India's youngest GM Gukesh. After a successful tournament at the Grenke Open 2019, Gukesh is now at the ChessBase studio in Hamburg. Check out this article where you can follow this endgame magic show LIVE!

Vishy Anand beats Vallejo, joins Carlsen in the lead

24/04/2019 -

We had four out of five games ending decisively in round four of the Grenke Chess Classic 2019. The biggest win of the day was for Vishy Anand, who beat Spanish GM Francesco Vallejo Pons with the black pieces. This was Vishy's third game with the black pieces in four rounds at the event. To have scored 3.0/4 is quite creditable. Anand essayed the Caro Kann and it seemed as if he would be under severe attack. However, Vallejo didn't play in the most resolute manner and Anand was at his best combining attacking and defensive ideas at the same time. Vincent Keymer lost to Naiditsch, while Aronian got the better of Svidler. MVL's game against Meier was heading to a draw, when MVL found some endgame magic to beat his opponent! Caruana against Carlsen was an exciting Sveshnikov battle that ended in a draw. Detailed round four report.

Bangladesh's next hope: Fahad Rahman becomes the youngest IM of his country

23/04/2019 -

Mohammad Fahad Rahman became Bangladesh's youngest IM at the age of 16 years by winning Asian Zonal 3.2 last month. Despite losing to Bangladesh's no.1 GM Ziaur Rahman in round 3, Fahad made a strong comeback and finished at 7.0/9 along with GM Reefat Bin Sattar. Due to a better tie-break score, Fahad clinched the championship and earned the IM title. He won National Sub-Junior and National Junior title four times each from 2014-2017 and 2014, 2016- 2018 respectively. He has also won Gold medal in Western Asia Youth under-14 Blitz in 2014 and Asian Schools under-9 open in both Standard and Blitz in 2012. In this article we will see his road to becoming an IM, an interview with him and of course few annotated games by Bangladesh's man of the hour. Photo: Fahad Rahman

Shenzhen 2019 Round 6: Hurricane Hari scores his 4th consecutive win at Shenzhen Masters 2019

23/04/2019 -

After grinding out a phenomenal win against Yu Yangyi in round five of the Shenzhen Masters 2019, Harikrishna went to the rest day with half a point lead. Rest days often affect the players who are in good form and most of the times their winning streak comes to an end. However, at the Shenzhen Masters 2019, nothing of that sort happened with Hari as he played another sublime endgame to beat Dmitry Jakovenko in round 6. This was Harikrishna's fourth consecutive win in the tournament and the thing to note is that all of the wins have come in the endgame! Hari now moves to 2733 on the live rating list and is world no.24! If Hari continues this form, we might well see him breaking into top world 20 by the time this tournament ends.

Vishy Anand dodges a bullet, holds Magnus Carlsen to a draw

23/04/2019 -

The rivalry between Anand and Carlsen has been legendary. Carlsen has had the upper hand in 2019 with two classical wins (Tata Steel and Shamkir) to Vishy's nil. Would Carlsen score his third win at the Grenke Chess Classic 2019? Well, he was right on track as he played an excellent opening, made Anand sweat and came extremely close to winning. But Vishy hung on. The Madras Tiger, who usually loves active defence, had to sit with a passive position, while Magnus could improve his position in whichever way he liked. But Anand didn't budge. Carlsen had quite a few winning opportunities, but he didn't manage to find them and Anand drew the game. A great psychological victory for the Indian no. 1. 

It's Carlsen vs Anand at 6.30 p.m. IST. Are you ready?

22/04/2019 -

Two top Indian players are in action this April - Vishy Anand is playing at the Grenke Chess 2019 in Germany, while Harikrishna is fighting it out in China at the Shenzhen Masters 2019. On this page you can follow the games of both Anand and Harikrishna as they take on some of the best players in the world. Anand will be up against guys like Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian, MVL and others, while Hari has his plate full facing Ding Liren, Anish Giri, Yu Yangyi and co. Harikrishna's games begin at 11.30 a.m. IST while Anand's games begin at 6.30 p.m. IST. It's a great time for Indian chess to have one of our players in both the super tournaments that are currently in progress!

Grenke 2019 Round 2: Old is Gold! 49 years old Vishy Anand beats 14-year-old Vincent Keymer

22/04/2019 -

Round two of the Grenke Chess 2019 saw a very interesting pairing. The oldest player in the field Vishy Anand took on the youngest - 14-year-old Vincent Keymer. Just as we had expected Keymer went for the most aggressive line - the Sicilian Najdorf and tried to put pressure on Anand from the word go. But Vishy's experience helped him to tackle the youngster's aggression in the perfect manner. Rather than lashing out, Anand played in a calm manner, improving his position bit by bit. Very soon Vincent went wrong and Vishy managed to bring home the full point quite easily. Two other important news of the day were Magnus Carlsen's magical endgame play against Vallejo Pons and Peter Svilder excellent knight manoeuvre to beat Arkadij Naiditsch. Check out our illustrated round two report.

Shenzhen 2019 Round 5: Harikrishna's hattrick - Rapport, Ding Liren and now Yu Yangyi!

22/04/2019 -

Beating Rapport was not easy, but Hari managed it. Defeating Ding Liren was even tougher but Harikrishna achieved that as well. But what he did in round 5 was just extra special. Why? Because he had the black pieces! Against a world class player like Yu Yangyi (2751), when you reach an equalish position like Hari did in the game, you would more often than not agree to a draw. But Harikrishna is in phenomenal form. Just like Magnus Carlsen, Hari is also grinding down his opponents in a royal manner. That's exactly what he did to his Chinese opponent. The game against Yu Yangyi had some special moments which we analyze in this report. With this third win in a row the Indian GM is now the sole leader as we move into the rest day.

Grenke 2019 Round 1: 14-year-old Vincent makes Carlsen toil for 6.5 hours for the full point!

21/04/2019 -

When you sit opposite the World Champion it is already a difficult feeling. You know that man is the best chess player on the planet and when he gives it his all, he is able to perform at an Elo of 3000 like he did at Shamkir just a couple of weeks ago. But for a 14-year-old such statures and titles do not matter. Youngsters are fearless and that is what Vincent Keymer showed in round one of the Grenke Masters 2019. He fought for nearly 6.5 hours against Magnus Carlsen and made the World Champion stretch for the full point. In fact the position was even until move 67 but then Keymer blundered. This was the only decisive game of the day. Vishy Anand playing MVL with black drew easily with the Caro Kann. Full report.

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