CANDIDATES SALE IS LIVE

Use code: CANDIDATES to get 20% off on popular products

Shop now!

new books banner

First Friday February R01+02: Tenacious Pranav doesn't care for his rooks!

04/02/2018 -

The February edition of the First Friday 2018 IM norm tournament is underway and we have two Indians participating. Both of them had quite opposing fortunes as Pranav Venkatesh scored 2.0/2, while Moksh Doshi started off poorly with 0.0/2. Until now only one player has been able to achieve his IM norm at the First Friday events - D. Gukesh. Will Pranav be able to do it this time? If the 11-year-old does it, it will be his first IM norm. And he requires 7.0/9. Very much possible! We bring you the analysis of his first two rounds victories.

NEW LAUNCH

CHESSBASE '26 + MEGA DATABASE '26

The industry standard new combo is here to help you uplift your Chess!

ChessBase '26 + MEGA DATABASE '26 Shop Now

Blind National A 2018 R01: Tournament takes off thanks to public support!

04/02/2018 -

2,93,153! Yes, that's the amount the chess community has contributed towards the National Premier Blind 2018. A total of 74 donors have come forward in just two days! When you have such a tremendous backing for the event, the morale of the players is bound to be on a high. As one of the participants said, "I feel more motivated this year because I know a lot of people will be seeing my games!" Thank you, dear contributors, for making this tournament possible. The first round began on 3rd of February 2018 and we saw some very interesting chess being played. Detailed report with analysis by IM Sagar Shah. 

Carl Portman makes use of chess in prisons to make a difference

03/02/2018 -

Carl Portman is an English chess player who wrote a unique book on chess. This is not another theoretical book, this is a legacy book as he likes to call it titled 'Chess Behind Bars' by Quality Chess. In his interview with ChessBase India, Carl talks about why he decided to start Chess in Prison voluntarily in England, what motivates him to continue working on this project, how successful he was in this unique project, how he tries to push this in governors' prison agenda, different situations he had to face and how he dealt with it. Here is an interview with Carl Portman by Amruta Mokal.

Over Rs.2,00,000 collected for the Blind National A in 24 hours!

03/02/2018 -

The National Premier Blind 2018 had no sponsors. No one came forward. A sport where the blind compete on equal terms with the visioned players was left neglected. There was something that had to be done. We finally decided to approach the chess community and gather the money via crowd-funding. And believe it or not, within just 24 hours chess players all over India raised nearly Rs. 2,15,000. This is a story of how the chess community cares for each other, this is a story of how we care for our blind players! ChessBase India thanks each and every person who contributed. The tournament begins today. Here's how things look at the venue:

Levon Aronian wins Gibraltar Masters 2018

03/02/2018 -

He is one of the most loved characters in the chess world. As Garry Kasparov said, "The world is a better place when Levon Aronian is playing good chess!" It was his first attempt at the Gibraltar Chess Festival and Levon Aronian did it! He won the event in style beating Richard Rapport and MVL in the tiebreaks! For Indians, Abhijeet Gupta showed a solid performance scoring 7.0/10 and finishing ninth. GM norm was scored by Prithu Gupta and IM norm by Raunak Sadhwani. Players like Debashis Das, M.R. Venkatesh, Hemant Sharma performed admirably, much above their rating. We have the detailed final report from Gibraltar.

Debashis Das wins SMCA Online Blitz

03/02/2018 -

This article comes with a slight delay, but the timing is quite apt. GM Debashis Das performed amazingly at the Gibraltar Masters 2018. He performed at an Elo of 2700+. But we must remind our readers that two months ago, he won the SMCA Online Blitz chess tournament convincingly. This was the first time that the grandmaster from Odisha had won a ChessBase Online Blitz tournament. He finished ahead of Indian stalwarts like Adhiban, Sethuraman, Gopal, Aravindh Chithambaram and many more. This tournament's average rating of top 14 player was higher than National Premier, thus it made the tournament the strongest ChessBase Online Blitz tournament of the year 2017. We bring you some of the most interesting games of these players and the entire prize list. 

Please Help! Blind National Premier in trouble

01/02/2018 -

The Blind National Premier is about to begin in a day (on 3rd of February 2018) in Mumbai and all the sponsors who were going to support the event have not come forward. The All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) is bravely going ahead with the organization of the event. They are in need of Rs.5,00,000 for the lodging, boarding, and prizes for the tournament. This article is a request for the chess community to come forward and donate to a cause. The visually challenged chess players of our country need our support and motivation and we must not let them down. If you aren't able to contribute money, you can always help by sharing this article and spreading the word.

GM Shyam Sundar analyzes Chanda vs Ivanchuk

01/02/2018 -

One of the most unusual games of the Gibraltar Chess Festival was the one between Sandipan Chanda with the white pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk. We all know that Sandipan is a deep thinker and always put a great amount of thought behind his moves. So it was very surprising that he 'blundered' on the 12th move. Of course, it was not a blunder, it was a well-calculated risk by Sandipan. But the computers don't seem to agree with the Indian GM. GM Shyam Sundar got intrigued by this game and sent us his analysis from a human point of view. We are sure that this will help you to better understand how grandmasters think over the board. 

Gibraltar 2018: Prithu Gupta becomes an IM and scores his maiden GM norm

01/02/2018 -

It was a dream come true for the 13-year-old Delhi youngster Prithu Gupta as he not only scored his maiden GM norm at the Gibraltar Masters 2018, but also completed his IM title! The other good news for the day was Raunak Sadhwani making his 2nd IM norm. Debashis Das is showing some super-solid chess with a 2700+ performance, Abhijeet Gupta beat Vassily Ivanchuk with a scintillating game of chess. And last but not the least, Nihal Sarin played an amazing positional game to outwit experienced GM Kiril Georgiev. This report is filled with great insights, analysis, photos and much more!

Jacob Aagaard makes a December to remember

31/01/2018 -

Award winning author and one of the best coaches in the world today, GM Jacob Aagaard visited Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and had a five-day camp for a few selected chess players. We all know how much Jacob loves interacting with kids. He enjoyed his visit to DBCA last time earlier this year back in April, and he decided to visit the academy one more time. Only this time for a longer duration. Everyone benefited a lot by attending his sessions. This report is about what happened in those five days and how he captivated everyone's attention with his ever enchanting and inimitable persona. Photos and videos by: Shahid Ahmed and Saheli Dhar Barua.

How about a 2799 Elo player being your opening tutor?

30/01/2018 -

ChessBase has video tutorials with the world's best grandmasters. Be it Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Nigel Short, Viktor Korchnoi, everyone has recorded Fritztrainers with ChessBase. Continuing this legacy of products with outstanding quality, we are proud to launch two DVDs by Wesley So. And what's more ChessBase India brings them to you at Indian prices. If you do pre-order them, that is until 2nd of February, then you get 10% off as well! This is an amazing opportunity to learn 1.b3 with white and Italian with black from a player who has a live rating of 2799.3!

Gibraltar 2018: Four Indians with a chance of a GM norm

30/01/2018 -

Seven rounds have been completed at the Gibraltar Masters 2018. Although no Indian is in the top ten rankings right now, this tournament is interesting from the point of view that many of the youngsters have a chance to achieve their GM norms. The ones who have the best chance are (numbers in the bracket are their rating performance) Prithu Gupta (2639), Hemant Sharma (2581), Praggnanandhaa (2570) and Raunak Sadhwani (2532). It is interesting to note that two out of the above four names (Raunak and Pragg) have yet to hit their teens! Detailed report from one of the strongest open tournaments in the world.

Chess couple embark on a nomadic journey for 365 days to promote chess

18/12/2017 -

'The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.' - Rob Siltanen. Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal, co-founders of ChessBase India, have a vision. The vision is to make chess one of the most popular sports in the country. In order to fulfill this dream, the duo have given up their rented place in Mumbai, and they have embarked on a one year journey promoting chess in the country. It's a homeless and nomadic journey from one place to another and you can invite Sagar and Amruta to your city. Here's how the crazy idea came into existence.

Rithvik Raja joint winner at First Friday November

12/11/2017 -

The second edition of the First Friday closed Round Robin IM norm event was completed successfully. While in the first one D. Gukesh was able to make his IM norm, in November no one could score 7.0/9. In fact the winner was able to garner only six points out of the nine rounds. Reigning Indian under-17 champion Rithvik Raja had a chance to make the IM norm if he won the last round, but was unable to do so. In the end there were four players tied at the top with 6.0/9: Azarya Jodi, Niaz Murshed, Lye Lik Zang and Rithvik Raja. Illustrated report with some interesting games.

Harsha Bharathakoti: A star on the rise

06/11/2017 -

At the Isle of Man Open last month, the Indian contingent gave spectators every reason to believe that India is the next big thing in chess. While Vishy finished joint second and Vidit Gujrathi drew the world champion, another young Indian boy, Harsha Bharathakoti made his presence felt in Douglas by scoring back to back upsets. Rated merely 2394, Harsha scored wins against much higher rated GMs like Varuzhan Akobian and Bhaskaran Adhiban and earned his maiden GM norm with a round to spare. Below is the brief of the young man's spectacular show along with annotated games by Harsha himself!

Contact Us