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IBCA World Teams 2018: India finishes third in Group B

29/07/2018 -

The Indian blind team played well in the group stages and finished third ahead of some strong teams like Spain, Slovenia, Bulgaria and others. The team missed its chance to move to the semi-finals by not finishing in top two in their group, but they now have a chance to fight for the fifth spot. They take on Venezuela on the 29th of July. So how have Kishan Gangolli, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan, Aryan Joshi, Ashvin Makwana, and Subhendu Kumar Patra played at this event. In this report which covers all 16 games of Indian players from rounds four to seven, we look at the games in detail, trying to assess how strong our blind players really are. We request you to join in and let us know what you think about the games! 

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Asian Nations Cup Rapid 2018: Silver for the girls, Men take home bronze

29/07/2018 -

Team India began it's campaign for Asian Nations Cup 2018 in Hamadan, Iran by winning Silver and Bronze medals in Women's and Open category respectively in the rapid section. Vaishali scored the maximum from the women's team and in the men's team, Adhiban, Sasikiran and Sethuraman, all three were the equally highest scorers for their team. In the open section, Iran Green won the gold, China won the silver and in women's category China won the gold and Iran Green won the bronze. In this report, you will find games, positions and photos of the Indian team from day 1 of Asian Nations Cup 2018. We also have games and results of round one of the Classical section. Photo: Swapnil Dhopade

Hainan Danzhou Masters: Vidit holds Fedoseev to a solid draw

28/07/2018 -

Going into round two after a loss in the opening round, Vidit Gujrathi played in his usual solid style against Vladimir Fedoseev of Russia to hold to a draw with the black pieces. In the meanwhile, the tournament saw a new co-leader emerge in Bu Xiangzhi who defeated his compatriot Yu Yangyi in a 70-move marathon. While it looked like Yu Yangyi had saved a difficult endgame, he blundered and allowed Bu Xiangzhi to take home the full point. The other two games of the day ended in tepid draws. Round 2 report. 

Breaking the break - 4th IM from Gujarat and his story of not giving up on his dream

28/07/2018 -

He started playing chess as early as 5 years old and became the youngest rated player of India in 2002. Soon he became a rising star in the world of chess. Fenil Shah is a known name in the chess circuit of India who recently was crowned with the International Master Title and became only the 4th person from his state Gujarat to achieve it. He is among the very few players to win all the age categories and senior title in the state championships. He has won various national age groups, Asian, Commonwealth and also the British championship U-9 and U-11 in the very same year (2003). But in the year 2010 all of a sudden Fenil disappeared! Yes, he put all his chess progress on hold to pursue his studies and joined an Engineering college only to return back in 2017. Within 10 months he completed all his norms and rating criteria to achieve the IM title. Read this article to know more about Fenil Shah and how he managed to break the break!

Hainan Danzhou Masters: Vidit suffers his first loss of the year

27/07/2018 -

A brilliant win and an amazing miss were the highlights of the opening round of the 9th Danzhou Super Grandmaster Tournament. Continuing his great form from the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda registered an emphatic win over Indian number three Vidit Gujrathi to take an early lead in the tournament. Bu Xiangzhi also had good winning chances against Samuel Shankland but messed up quite remarkably and had to settle for a draw in the end. An illustrated report with games.

ACL 1st Super League 2018 Unrated category Semi-finalists revealed

27/07/2018 -

Dynamic Chess Academy, d'pawn Chess Academy, City Chess Club and Kunte's Chess Academy are the four academies who have qualified to the semi-finals in ACL 1st Super League 2018 in Unrated category. Each team will play a best of two matches, then they will qualify to the finals. The finals will also consist a best of two matches. Teams from Gujarat and Maharashtra have qualified for the semis. We also come to the end of group stage in the other two categories. In this report, you will find games, team standings, positions from week 3 of Academy Chess League 1st Super League 2018.

"Collecting those trophies made no real difference" - Harika

27/07/2018 -

Harika Dronavalli is one of the strongest woman players in the world of chess. After Humpy Koneru, she is only the second Indian female player who has achieved the GM title. A lot can be learnt from Harika's life and experiences. Sagar Shah met Harika at the pre-olympiad camp in Delhi and asked her questions ranging from her beginnings in chess to her ambitions and also covering the personal side of her life, her parents, coach and fiance Karteek Chandra. But two of the most important things that we would like our readers to get acquainted with are Harika's views on education and on why India has only two female players who are full-fledged GMs. These two sections have been transcribed in the article while the rest you can enjoy in the video interview.

Sri Lanka to host the 9th Kandy Open

26/07/2018 -

The Kandy International Chess Festival is slated to be held from 6th to 13th August 2018 in the historical Sri Lankan city of Kandy. In its 9th edition this year, the festival will feature a Grandmaster Open and a Blitz tournament. FM Rajeendra Kalugampitiya sends us a report with all the details about the event.

Gujarat and Goa to host their first Grandmaster Open!

26/07/2018 -

Indian chess is progressing with each passing year. A sign of this is the growing number of Grandmaster tournaments in India. Today, the country hosts at least six grandmaster events annually. This October, two more GM tournaments will be added to India's trove of International GM events: one in the heritage city of Ahmedabad and another in the party capital of India, Goa! The events will be held from 5th to 12th October in Ahmedabad and 13th to 20th October in Goa. Both the places are have their own specialities and being the first time, the organizers are extremely motivated to provide the best possible service to the players. Here's all you need to know about the forthcoming events! Make sure to mark the dates on your calendar.

Ajay Karthikeyan and Divya Deshmukh are National Sub-Junior 2018 Champions

26/07/2018 -

Ajay Karthikeyan of Tamil Nadu drew his final round game against defending champion Sankalp Gupta of Maharashtra, finished half point ahead at 9.0/11 and won his first national championship. Divya Deshmukh had already won the tournament at the conclusion of the penultimate round, so in spite of losing the last round, it did not affect the final outcome. Divya also finished half point ahead of everyone else in her group with a score of 9.0/11. In this report, we bring you games, positions, photos from the last round and prize distribution ceremony. Photo: Swati Biswas

Ajay maintains sole lead and Divya becomes champion with a round to spare in National Sub-Junior 2018

25/07/2018 -

Ajay Karthikeyan of Tamil Nadu continues his dream run and maintains half point lead heading into the final round. He will face the defending champion Sankalp Gupta in the last round of the tournament. In the girls section, Divya Deshmukh won the National Championship for second year in a row and this time with a round to spare. While the open category is still open for anyone to win, in the girls category there is a close fight for second position as eight girls are at 7.5 points each, followed by five girls at 7. We bring you games, positions and photographs from round 8 and 9 of the 44th National Sub-Junior Open and 35th National Sub Junior Girls 2018. Photos: Swati Biswas

Barbera Del Valles 2018: Iniyan finishes clear second, CBIP groups gains 1355 Elo points!

25/07/2018 -

Even though the A group of the Barberà del Vallès Open in Spain was won by the experienced Azerbaijani GM Gadir Guseinov, the Indian contingent in the tournament did not fail to impress with their performance. Erode's youngster IM P. Iniyan, with an unbeaten score of 7.0/9, not only finished clear second in the tournament but also completed his third and final Grandmaster norm. All that remains now is for him to touch the 2500 Elo mark. Among norm makers, there were also the names of Neelash Saha and Kumar Gaurav who scored IM norms. Saloni Sapale completed her final WIM norm to clinch the title! Anuj Shrivatri came very close to scoring an IM norm but a last round defeat dissipated his chances. Om Kadam had to miss out on his norm due to some technical difficulty. Meanwhile, Asia's first Grandmaster, Eugenio Torre inspired all with his presence. ChessBase India Power Group gained a whopping 1355 Elo points in the event. Report from Barcelona.

IBCA World Teams Round 3: India stuns Spain 3-1

24/07/2018 -

The third round at the World Team Championships 2018 was a very successful one for Team India. We were facing Spain which had a rating average of 300 points above our team. But the team of Kishan Gangolli, Soundarya Pradhan, Aryan Joshi and Ashvin Makwana played some sublime chess to win the match 3-1. Wins came for team India on boards one and two. Kishan beat his 2196 rated opponent in positional style, while Soundarya made sure that the tactical skirmishes ended in his favour. Aryan was better and Ashvin was worse, but both of them managed to hold on to a draw. India now face a stiff challenge in round four against the Polish team which consists of one GM and two IMs. Here's round three report with pictures, videos, games, analysis and more.

IBCA World Teams Round 2: Focussed Indian team beats Romania 3.5-0.5

23/07/2018 -

There were questions in the air whether Indian team would be able to fight back after their loss to Ukraine in the first round. The boys fought back in a big way and beat Romania with a score of 3.5-0.5. More than the scoreline, it was the quality of the games. Everyone gave it their all and the games were well played by the Indian players. In this report we not only bring you the results, pictures and analysis, but also detailed videos with all of the four Indian players explaining their games. In the third round India will face Spain and it will be a stiff challenge, but after the match with Romania, the Indian lads seemed to have warmed up pretty well. 

Sankalp, Ajay, Utsab, Soham and Divya lead after round 8 in 44th National Sub-Junior 2018

23/07/2018 -

Sankalp Gupta, Ajay Karthikeyan, Utsab Chatterjee, Soham Kamotra and Divya Deshmukh are in the lead after round 8 in 44th National Sub-Junior Chess Championship. 2018 in the open and girls category respectively. Second seed of the tournament, Sankalp Gupta defeated overnight leader Koustav Chatterjee to join a four-way lead. Ajay, Utsab and Soham defeated higher rated players to join the leaders fray. Top seed Divya Deshmukh extended her lead when she defeated Bhagyashree Patil with Black pieces. Saina Salonika and Bristy Mukherjee trail behind her by half a point. In this report we bring you games and photos from the round 8 of the tournament. Photos: Swati Biswas

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