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The story of how M.S. Thejkumar became a GM at the age of 36 years without a chess coach

30/05/2018 -

"Your dream doesn't have an expiration date. Take a deep breathe and try again" - KT Witten. GM M.S. Thejkumar has a story that can inspire millions. The amount of risks he took to achieve his dream of becoming a grandmaster in chess is just mind numbing. Every time he was close to his goal, he failed. But he didn't give up. He always came back with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. He blazed new paths, opened new doors, by believing in himself and becoming a GM at the age of 36 years. Without any formal training in chess he achieved all his six norms (three IM and three GM) within six months! This is a story of a man who believed that he could achieve anything he set his eyes upon. This is the story of India's 50th GM and Karnataka's first M.S. Thejkumar.

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Norway Chess R1: Carlsen begins with a bang; Anand holds Aronian

29/05/2018 -

Magnus Carlsen is known to be a slow starter in tournaments. But on his home turf in Norway, the world champion has begun with a bang. Not only has he won his inaugural round game, he has won it against his newly appointed world title challenger, Fabiano Caruana! In the other games of the day, it all ended peacefully: Anand was held by Aronian, Mamedyarov drew MVL while So and Karjakin fought until bare kings remained. Nakamura came close to beating Ding Liren but that game also fizzled out into a draw after Naka missed some chances. A report with pictures and games. 

Karpov Poikovsky R2: Nepo races past all rivals; Vidit held by Kovalev

29/05/2018 -

The second round of the Karpov Poikovsky International witnessed only one win. Deploying some sharp tactics in the French Classical, Ian Nepomniachtchi registered an elegant victory to secure sole first. Meanwhile, Indian number three, Vidit Gujrathi looked like he was slightly worse in a Sicilian Najdorf but managed to hold on to a draw against Vladislav Kovalev. All the other games of the round were also drawn. We have an illustrated report with games.

25% off on Komodo 12 and the 12 hour ChessBase India flash sale!

29/05/2018 -

Komodo 12 has been released and it comes with a new feature - Monte Carlo Tree Search. This means that along with the normal classical engine, you will also get the Monte Carlo feature where the engine's evaluation are dependent not on the brute force method but on playing games against itself. This results in much different evaluations than the classical methods and makes Komodo 12's playing style much more aggressive. While Alpha Zero used the Neural Network Method to play more like human, Komodo 12 uses the Monte Carlo approach! And guess what, you can buy it today, only on 29th of May for 25% discount!

Karpov Poikovsky R1: Vidit beats Bologan in his trademark style!

28/05/2018 -

The Karpov Poikovsky tournament went off to a flying start on Sunday as a decisive game was witnessed on every board: Vidit Gujrathi won in Karpovian style in his very first appearance in Poikovsky; Emil Sutovsky ground Vladislav Kovalev in an 80 move Marathon; Nepomniachtchi and Jakovenko won after winning a pawn apiece out of the opening; while Anton Korobov crushed Fedoseev's dubious opening. Here's an illustrated report with analysis.

Norway Chess Blitz: Anand finishes joint second; So clinches Blitz

28/05/2018 -

For the first time in many years, if not decades, the Madras Tiger, Viswanathan Anand will be playing as the bottom-most seed in a tournament -- The Altibox Norway Chess. But before the main event began, a blitz tournament was organised. And here, too, Anand was second from the bottom in terms of rating. But despite his rating deficit, the Indian ace slayed his competitors and scored a whopping 5.5/9 to finish joint second along with Hikaru Nakamura. With this Anand not only earned an extra white in the main event but also 16 Elo points, that brought his blitz rating back to 2800. Report. 

KBTU Open 2018: Chance to get full scholarship in #1 University of Kazakhstan

28/05/2018 -

Anyone who has even a remote desire to study abroad should not miss this opportunity. We all know that studying abroad gives international exposure, increases cultural intelligence and one becomes self confident with broad outlook but one of the main reasons which stops one to dream about it is the fund required to cover the studies. Kazakh-British Technical University or KBTU which is the number one university of Kazakhstan is organizing a chess tournament which is open for high-school students and they are offering a full scholarship for any specialty in KBTU for the winner. 

Karpov Poikovsky International: Vidit to face stiff competition

26/05/2018 -

The Karpov Poikovsky Open will kick off today in the small Siberian town of Poikovsky, around 180 kilometres east of Khanty Mansiysk. The 10 player round robin features some very strong players like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Dmitry Jakovenko and Boris Gelfand. The only Indian representative in the field will be India's rising star, GM Vidit Gujrathi. This will be the first time that Vidit will be a part of such a strong closed event. In this report, we will take a look at some of the favourites to win the tournament and their recent performances.

Preparations in full swing as team India aim for a podium finish at the World Teams in Bulgaria

26/05/2018 -

Top four players of the Indian visually challenged team that will represent India at the World Team Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria got a great opportunity when the organizers of LIC 3rd Kolkata GM International 2018 allowed them to participate at this super strong event. For many it was the first time that they got an opportunity to play in the A category of any GM International. This was the ideal training ground for the players before their big test in July. Prachurya Pradhan, who is 100% blind, writes about the situation of Indian blind chess in 2018. According to him things have changed drastically in the last few months.

Why you should play Kathmandu Open

26/05/2018 -

Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal. It is situated at the lap of the Himalayas. The natural beauty is excruciatingly enchanting. The first edition of Kathmandu Open 2018 witnessed the participation of 12 different countries including 9 GMs, 9 IMs and a few other FM, WFM and CMs. The tournament had the total prize money of roughly INR 6.2 lacs or US$10000, with the first prize being NRS 2 lacs or INR 1.24 lacs. Chief sponsor of the event, KNP Japan has promised to hold this tournament for the next two years. We bring you a pictorial and video report of why Kathmandu Open is a must play tournament.

India to host a trifecta of Closed WGM Tournaments!

25/05/2018 -

It's no secret that Indian chess has taken huge leaps in the past few years. Not only do we have a strong league of players, we also host a decent number of international tournaments every year. The only thing missing was that there weren't any closed events that were organised. Well, we're proud to announce that the All India Chess Federation has taken care of this too. This year, India will be hosting not one, but three closed WGM tournaments! Mumbai is to host the first one of this triplet from June 12, 2018. Tournament organiser, Praful Zaveri shares some insights on the Mumbai leg of the series. 

Srinath Narayanan wins LIC 3rd Kolkata International Open 2018

24/05/2018 -

GM Srinath Narayanan wins LIC 3rd Kolkata Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2018 at The Newtown School, jointly organized by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and AllSport Foundation. Srinath made a quick draw with GM Shyam Sundar to clinch the title. He finished with a performance rating of 2737 and got richer by ₹3 lacs. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy finished at first runner-up position by winning his last two games thanks to his devastating attacks. Top seed and one of the candidate for FIDE Presidency, GM Nigel Short secured the second runner-up position. We have a detailed report with games, positions, photos and videos from the last round and the prize distribution ceremony.

Swayams Mishra and Prithu Gupta shine at the Llucmajor Open 2018 in Mallorca

24/05/2018 -

The seventh edition of the Llucmajor Open 2018 was held from the 13th to the 20th of May 2018 in the island of Mallorca near Spain. Seven Indians went to the event that had 138 players from 28 countries. IM Swayams Mishra and IM Prithu Gupta both performed admirably to stay unbeaten and score 6.5/9. Both of them played some nice games and gained some rating points. They share their favourite game with us. While Swayams chose a relatively quiet and positional struggle against WGM Olga Dolzhikova in the Exchange French as his favourite game, Prithu went for his exciting last round victory over Stany G.A.  

Kolkata 2018 Round 8: Deep disaster causes Srinath to take sole lead

22/05/2018 -

Top board of the penultimate round had the quickest and most unexpected finish of the day. When everyone saw them shaking hands from far away, the first thing that struck in everyone's mind is, they accepted a quick threefold repetition. But that was not the case. Caissa smiled upon Srinath and he managed to defeat the overnight leader in a very quick manner. Top seed and FIDE Presidential candidate, GM Nigel Short drew with GM Sandipan Chanda and remained in the title hunt. All players in the top group are in with a chance for the title, but if Srinath wins he goes home with the trophy and Rs.3,00,000! Photo: Amruta Mokal

Live Games from LIC 3rd Kolkata International Open GM Chess Tournament 2018

21/05/2018 -

LIC 3rd Kolkata International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2018 is headlined by FIDE Presidential Candidate GM Nigel Short. He is joined by 27 GMs, 31 IMs, 2 WGMs from 12-different countries comprising of a total of 193 players. The tournament is jointly organized by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and AllSport Foundation. It is going to take place in The Newtown School from 14th to 22nd May 2018. Total prize money ₹15 lacs is up for grabs with the first prize being ₹3 lacs. You can see top 20 games live in each round and replay any game from the previous round. Photo: Amruta Mokal

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