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Deepan Chakkravarthy Wins 5th Athens of East, Fedorov Alexei Second and Srihari L Third

31/12/2025 -

After fighting for 10 rounds and 8 days, the Athens of East Grandmaster tournament is finally over, and Deepan Chakkravarthy of ICF won the 5th Edition of the Athens of East Grandmaster Open Chess tournament, which concluded at Hotel Amika, Madurai. Deepan secured the first place with 8.5 points by drawing his final round against 2nd placed GM Alexei Fedorov of Belarus. He scored 7.5/10, and it was the same as 3rd placed IM Srihari L, but because of better Tie-Breaks, Fedorov secured the second place while Srihari L secured the third place. In the last round, IM L Srihari drew his game against GM Rohith Krishna, and Rohith secured 4th place. Though the top 8 boards all drew their games, most of the games were well fought to the end. The prizes were distributed by Shri Velmurugan, Regional Sports Manager, Shri Raja, District Sports Officer, Shri Arun Vallapan, Correspondent, Vallabha Vidyalaya CBSE School, Madurai, and in the presence of State and District Officials. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy.

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Christmas Puzzles 7 – long and short

31/12/2025 -

Take a look at this relatively simple position. Can you figure out how White can win? And how many moves it will require to overcome Black's most resolute defence? You won't believe it. To relax we bring you the arguably easiest chess study ever composed, and other entertaining puzzles, many from the out-of-the-box legend Karl Fabel. Photo: ChessBase

Deepan Chakkravarthy Strikes Again, One Point Lead Going Into The Last Round at Athens Of The East

31/12/2025 -

Nine Rounds are completed at Athens Of The East 5th GM International Open Chess Tournament, and after 7 days of battles fought over the chessboard, it's Indian Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy who is leading the event with 8/9 points, even after losing his first game. This comeback puts him in clear 1 point lead going into the last round. In round 9, Deepan Chakkravarthy maintained his lead after defeating GM L R Srihari. The result was quite unfortunate for Srihari, who fumbled placing his rook on e6 square and lost on time. A lot of play was still left on the board, with White maintaining a slight edge. For second place, it's a tie between GM Fedorov Alexei and IM Srihari Lwith 7/9 Points, and there are 9 players on 6.5/8 Points. In the last round on board 1, Deepan will be playing against Belarusian GM Fedorov Alexei for the title. A draw is enough for him to win the championship, but he will be eyeing another win to get that champion title in style. The 10th and final round starts at 10 am IST on 31st December. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy.

World Blitz 2025 Day 1: Magnus Carlsen drops the queen and loses on time against Arjun Erigaisi

30/12/2025 -

Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Fabiano Caruana (USA) are the three leaders at 10/13 each after Round 13 of FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship 2025 Open. Arjun defeated the reigning World Blitz cochampion, Carlsen in Round 9 and then defeated the former World Rapid champion, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). Six players are trailing them by a half point. Then five Indians - GM Pranesh M, IM Goutham Krishna H, GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Raunak Sadhwani and GM Naraynanan S L are at 9/13 each. Goutham is the only IM among the top 30 players at the moment. He had a fantastic day by defeating eight GMs. In the Women's event, the new FIDE World Under-20 Girls Blitz 2025 Gold medalist, IM Eline Roebers (NED) emerged sole leader 8.5/10. Round 14 Open and Round 11 Women starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Christmas Puzzles 6 – cover the board!

30/12/2025 -

In August 2019 I spent a week in France, at the training camp I had organized (together with ChessBase India) for young Indian super talents. Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik did the chess training, while I pestered the kids with logic puzzles. Most did not involve chess, but some did. Here are a couple for you. Photo: ChessBase

Deepan Chakkravarthy Takes The Sole Lead Going Into Penultimate Round

30/12/2025 -

After 6 Days at the Athens of East 5th GM International Open Chess Tournament, 8 rounds have already been played, and with a magnificent performance of 7/7 after losing the first game, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy is leading the event with 7/8 points. Deepan utilised a blunder by the Belarusian GM Aleksei Aleksandrov, who lost a piece, and won in 40 moves. While in the second spot its GM L R Srihari with 6.5 points after defeating IM Tologon of Kyrgyzstan in 49 moves. The GM won a pawn on the 30th move and weaved a powerful mating attack to win a crucial point. On board number 2, Sri Sai Baswanth drew with GM Fedorov, when both repeated the moves in equal position. We have 8 players on 6/8 points who will be fighting hard for the podium finish in the last two rounds. The 9th round will start at 10am IST on Tuesday. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy

Christmas Puzzles 5 – Rotary problems

29/12/2025 -

In rotary problems the board is rotated by 180° for a second position with a different solution. It is usually pawns that make a different when you turn the board around. Or the king/queen positions, or castling is involved. Can one devise problems where these factors do not play a role? Yes one can, as our expert for out-of-the-box problems, Werner Keym, proves. Photo: ChessBase

Carlsen and Goryachkina are World Rapid 2025 Open and Women Champions, Bronze for Arjun and Humpy

29/12/2025 -

Magnus Carlsen won his sixth World Rapid title scoring 10.5/13 at FIDE World Rapid Championship 2025 Open. He needed just a draw in the final round to become a clear champion. In the penultimate round, he defeated Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR) whom the World no.1 touted as the strongest 14-year-old he has ever known. Vladislav Artemiev drew all four of his games to finish second 9.5/11. Arjun Erigaisi defeated Aleksandr Shimanov to score 9.5/11 and finish third on tie-breaks. Arjun became the second Indian after Vishy Anand to win a medal at a World Rapid Championship. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) 1.5-0.5 in the Playoffs to win the Women's event. Jiner secured second place. GM Humpy Koneru secured a Bronze medal scoring 8.5/11. She missed a win in the endgame in the last game of the day, for two days in-a-row. This time against IM Savitha Shri B. A total of 13 rounds in Open and 10 rounds in Women Blitz games will be played today. Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Christmas Puzzles 4 – Retractors

28/12/2025 -

These days it is not easy to challenge anyone with problems or studies. Loading the PGN and clicking Start will usually get you the solution in seconds. So we are trying to provide you with "computer resistant" puzzles in this year's Christmas Puzzle Week. Today the subject is taking back a move in a given position and looking for a move to fulfil the condition. As in this 100-year-old problem by Thomas Dawson: it requires you to take back one move and then mate the opponent in two. Can you think how? Photo: ChessBase

Deepan Chakkravarthy Scores 6/6 after 1st Loss at Athens of The East

28/12/2025 -

Things are heating up at the Athens of the East after 7 rounds. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, who suffered a loss in the first round of the event against CM Aarav A, is now leading the event with 6/7 points and is half a point ahead of the field. For second place, it's a tie between 6 players right now: GM Srihari L R, GM Aleksandrov Aleksej, GM Fedorov Alexei, Sri Sai Baswanth P, GM Laxman, R.R., and FM Jai Sankar Subramanian. All the mentioned players are on 5.5/7 points. The hero of the starting rounds, Sharnarthi Shlok suffered a Loss against Sri Sai Baswanth P in the 6th round, but he held a draw with IM Srihari L in the 7th round, and now he is on 5/7 points. Aarit Kapil from Delhi won his 7th round against IM Gochelashvili David, and he will be facing GM Vladimir Burmakin in round 8. The action of round 8 will start from tomorrow at 10 am IST, and now only 1 round will be played on each day in the last 3 days. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy

World Rapid 2025 Day 2: Humpy and Jiner emerge coleaders

28/12/2025 -

The reigning and defending champion, GM Humpy Koneru and GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) are the coleaders at FIDE World Rapid Championship 2025 Women. They will inevitably clash against each other in Round 9. Humpy crushed IM Sara Khadem (ESP) to gain sole lead after Round 7. Then she missed few winning chances against GM Aleksandra Goryachkina in the following round, allowing Jiner to catch up with her. GM Harika Dronavalli is among the ten pursuers at 6/8 each. In the Open section, GM Vladislav Artemiev handed the World no.1, GM Magnus Carlsen (NOR) his first loss of the event in Round 7. Currently, Artemiev and GM Hans Niemann (USA) are the coleaders at 7.5/8 each. Carlsen is trailing by a half point with GM Alexey Sarana (SRB), GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR) and GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) at 7/8 each. Round 10 Open and Round 9 Women starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Christmas Puzzles 3 – Just some text

27/12/2025 -

There are chess puzzles which only consist of a line of text, asking you to construct a position or a game that it describes. Some can be awesomely difficult, like the puzzle we first posted 41 years ago. Two world champions were not able to solve it. We tell you about that, and present a new ones, not quite as tough, for you to solve. Photo: ChessBase

Shlok Sharnarthi leading at 5th Athens of The East GM

27/12/2025 -

The 5th Athens of the East International Grandmaster Open is currently taking place in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Organized by the Ananthi Chess Academy, this event is a major part of the Tamil Nadu Chess Festival.The tournament began on December 24 and will conclude on December 31, 2025. Games are being held at the Amika Hotel.The total cash prize pool is ₹48,00,000 In addition to money, the tournament is famous for giving away 8 brand-new cars, 3 bikes, and 100 cycles to winners in different categories. Untitled Sharnarthi Shlok beat 2nd seeded Grandmaster L R Srihari in the 4th round and GM Alexei Fedorov of Belarus and Sharnarthi Shlok are now leading with 4 points, and now both of the players will face each other in round 5. Youngster Aarit Kapil successfully drew his game against Arpan Das in round 4. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V / Ananthi Chess Academy

World Rapid 2025 Day 1: Great start for Goutham Krishna, Arjun shows true grit against Carlsen

27/12/2025 -

IM Goutham Krishna H made a great start at FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship 2025 Open. He scored an unbeaten 4/5 against all-star opponents. World no.1, Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Arjun Erigaisi and World Champion, D Gukesh are in a five-way lead 4.5/5 with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Vladislav Artemiev. Arjun showed incredible resilience against Carlsen in the fifth round. GM Sandipan Chanda and GM Nihal Sarin are at 4/5 each. Sandipan played some wild games to score a hat-trick of wins including victories against Levon Aronian (USA) and R Praggnanandhaa in consecutive battles. In the Women's section, GM Harika Dronavalli is trailing the leader by a half point at 3.5/5. Four rounds of Rapid games will be played today in each section. Round 5 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Christmas Puzzles 2 – Not that easy!

26/12/2025 -

Take a look at this position, in which White should mate in two. Looks very easy, and hundreds of readers of the newspaper in which it appeared submitted a solution. But it was not correct. In our Christmas Puzzle week the consummate expert of unusual chess problems, Werner Keym, asks you to look carefully at the position and find a genuine way for White to mate Black in two moves. There are two other problems to solve. Photo: ChessBase

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