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First Friday shifts from Kuala Lumpur to Manila

16/03/2018 -

The March edition of First Friday 2018 was won by Uzbek WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. She scored 6.5/9 but narrowly missed her norm. Three Indian players participated in the event but couldn't achieve anything special. In this article, organizer of the event Peter Long shares with us his experience of organizing the First Friday tournaments. He has organized four editions and made a loss of nearly 5,000 USD. Hence, the First Friday events will no longer take place in Kuala Lumpur. But the good news is that it is not the end of the road for First Friday as the next edition will be held in May in Manila, Philippines. Read on to know more.

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Reykjavik Open: Adhiban takes the title!

15/03/2018 -

After his penultimate round win against co-leader Richard Rapport, Adhiban Baskaran only needed a draw in the final round of the Reykjavik Open 2018 to win the title prize at the event. However, Mustafa Yilmaz, Adhiban's opponent also had a shot at the title if he were able to defeat Adhiban. But Adhiban played out a well-balanced game in the finale and took home the champion's trophy in his very first appearance in Reykjavik. On board three, GM Vaibhav Suri pushed hard for a win against the second-seeded Pavel Eljanov but, after a 143-move-long marathon, ended up signing peace. Praggnanandha missed a GM norm in Reykjavik but the little genius finished the tournament on a high note beating Niranjan Navalgund in the final round. An illustrated report. 

Candidates 2018 Rd 04: Caruana overtakes Kramnik

15/03/2018 -

The fourth round of the FIDE Candidates 2016 was truly a spectacle. Nailbiting action was witnessed in almost all the games of the round. To start with, Vladimir Kramnik lost his lead to Fabiano Caruana after losing to the latter in a thrilling encounter that, quite paradoxically, began with a tepid looking Petroff. Alexander Grischuk sacrificed a piece very early in the game but missed the critical continuation and had to settle for a draw in the end. In another exciting game, Levon Aronian scored his first win of the tournament while Wesley So kept up his safety first approach and held Mamedyarov to a draw comfortably. Round 4 report. 

Reykjavik Open Rd 08: Adhiban beats Rapport to take sole lead!

14/03/2018 -

In the penultimate round of the Reykjavik Open, GM Adhiban Baskaran outsmarted the top seed of the tournament GM Richard Rapport with some excellent opening preparation and took sole lead in the tournament. This win means that the Chennai lad only needs a draw in the final round to etch his name on the champion's trophy. Half a point behind Adhiban is his final round opponent Mustafa Yilmaz who beat GM Daniel Fernandez to keep himself in title contention in round 8. In another important game of the round, IM R Praggnanandhaa came very close to defeating GM Emre Can but failed to find the killer blow at the crucial moment and had to settle for a draw. An illustrated report with game analysis by IM Sagar Shah. 

Rahul Gurung wins 18th North East Championship 2018

14/03/2018 -

Did you know Indian chess has a north-east championship that has been held since the past 18 years! This was the 18th edition and it happened for the first time in the history that a player from Sikkim won the North Eastern Championship. Until now it was Assam and Manipur who had dominated the event. What was even more surprising is that amidst many champions of the north east, the winner was 16-year-old Rahul Gurung! The young boy aims to become an International Master as soon as possible. Our reporter from north-east Angom Nongsha sends us a detailed summary of what happened at the 18th North East Championship.

Candidates 2018 Rd 3: Kramnik wins the day!

13/03/2018 -

The third round of the FIDE Candidates witnessed the first big brilliancy of the year in the game between Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian. Surprisingly, Levon was caught off guard in the Berlin, an opening which has been pretty much in vogue at the top level in the last few years. All the other games of the round were drawn. However, special mention needs to be given to the highly complex and entertaining game played between Fabiano Caruana and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Round three also saw Wesley So open his score. After losing in the first two rounds, So finally added half a point to his tally after his draw against Ding Liren. An illustrated report with games and analysis. 

Reykjavik Open 07: Adhiban and Rapport lead

13/03/2018 -

Only two out of the six tournament leaders were able to maintain their lead after the antepenultimate round of the Reykjavik Open.The two who prevailed were India's Adhiban Baskaran and the tournament's top seed, Richard Rapport. Nihal Sarin also had good chances to pull out yet another sensational win but he failed to find the best continuation and had to settle for a draw. Regardless, the young genius has scored his second Grandmaster norm with this draw and is now only one norm away from the coveted title.  

Nihal Sarin scores his second GM norm with two rounds to spare!

13/03/2018 -

The seventh round of the Reykjavik Open brought some great news for Indian Chess fans. IM Nihal Sarin, after his draw against GM Mustafa Yilmaz, has recorded his second Grandmaster norm with two rounds to spare! As of round 7, Nihal's rating performance stands at an incredible 2767. In his run so far, Nihal has not lost a single game -- not even against bigwigs like Richard Rapport and Gata Kamsky! This is a huge achievement for the 13-year-old and given that he has already crossed 2500 Elo, all that remains between him and the GM title is just one more Grandmaster norm.

Candidates 2018 Rd 2: Grischuk comes back strong!

12/03/2018 -

The second round of the FIDE Candidates tournament wasn't as explosive as the first one but it did feature lots of exciting chess. The only decisive game of the round was played between Wesley So and Alexander Grischuk. Grischuk had the white pieces in the game and utterly demolished Wesley after the Filipino-American GM slipped early in the game. In another fascinating encounter, Fabiano Caruana sacrificed an exchange very early in his game against Ding Liren and tried to push for a win but had to be content with a draw in the end. Round 2 report.

It's time to #StyleYourChess!

12/03/2018 -

"I love chess related accessories but I never found them in Indian tournaments," says Amruta Mokal, co-founder and Creative Head of ChessBase India. She took it upon herself to introduce new chess designs that will give you options to wear chess-related accessories with which you can proudly flaunt your love for the game! After the successful introduction of ChessBase India t-shirts, we have now introduced Chess Calendar, motivational posters, and mini photo frame. Apart from this, we have also introduced chess related pendants and earrings with all the chess pieces - king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn. It's a perfect gift for your loved ones who love chess! 

Reykjavik Open 06: Adhiban joins the leaders; Nihal holds Kamsky

12/03/2018 -

At the conclusion of the sixth round, as many as six players are leading the Reykjavik Open 2018 as all three leaders ended up splitting points. On the top board, Mustafa Yilmaz and Alexander Lenderman had a 67-move marathon. But at the end of it, only two kings remained and peace was signed. The third co-leader, Nihal Sarin tried to push for a win but his opponent sealed off all routes of entry. Not a single pawn was traded in this entire game and there seemed no way of making progress when players agreed to a draw on move 30. As the leaders drew, Adhiban Baskaran, Richard Rapport and Maxime Lagarde pulled out victories to jump up to the top spot. Round 6 report.

Candidates 2018 Round 1: Some amazing bit of chess!

11/03/2018 -

The first round of the Candidates 2018 was an extremely exciting affair with three of the four games ending in decisive results. Even the drawn game between Aronian and Ding Liren was filled with great fireworks. ChessBase India will try to bring you in-depth coverage of the games with video analysis by IM Sagar Shah and also some test questions. This is the best way to know about the games and also improve your understanding of the game.

Reykjavik Open 05: Nihal joins Yilmaz in the lead

11/03/2018 -

Reaching halfway stage, the Reykjavik Open witnessed some thrilling games and results. The biggest result of the round was IM Nihal Sarin's win against GM Elshan Moradiabadi. With this win, not only has Nihal joined Mustafa Yilmaz in tournament lead, he has also made a huge stride towards his GM norm. As of round 5, his rating performance stands at a whopping 2858! In another exciting game of the round, GM Vladimir Hamitevici tried to catch Richard Rapport by surprise by playing 1.a3 on his first move. However, the boot was on the wrong foot when Rapport answered with 1...h6?! A report with games and pictures.

The Launch of ChessBase India Juniors

10/03/2018 -

ChessBase India has been meticulously covering each and every Indian talent who is making it big in the world of chess. Recently we have been receiving a lot of content from our young audience! In order to ensure that we do not miss any of this material we are starting from today - ChessBase India Juniors! CBI Juniors is an initiative by our young author Avathanshu Bhat, who will compile material about under-13 kids (born on and after 1.1.2005) regularly and create fun reports containing short interviews, annotated games, stories, poems and more. And the best part is that if you are a junior - you can contribute to these reports!

The joy of being a spectator! (2/2)

10/03/2018 -

WGM Soumya Swaminathan is an extremely strong chess player. She is a former World Junior Champion. More often than not you see her hunched over the chess board trying to find the best way to beat her opponent. However, there are times when she is 'relegated' to being a spectator. Every once in a while when Soumya did this, she realized that it was a refreshing experience. She learnt things that helped her grown stronger as a player and as a person. These tips she now shares with you. Since Candidates 2018 starts today, we decided to bring you the first hand experience of a strong player who was present at the last Candidates Tournament 2016 in Moscow, Russia. Let's delve into Soumya's mind and take a flashback into her Candidates memories.

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