Hola! Sunway Sitges Chess festival 2017 begins!

16/12/2017 -

Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival has begun. The A- tournament is definitely the centre of attraction for the entire festival. Players like Motylev, Shankland, Salem Saleh will be fighting out for the top prize. Apart from the main tournament there are some very exciting side events as well. Our youngest ChessBase India reporter Avathanshu Bhat is at Sitges in Spain and sends us this round one report. Find out more about the welcome reception and first round, as well as a pictorial representation of the environment.

World Youth Chess Olympiad: Tripping through the amazing Ahmedabad

16/12/2017 - Players had a rest day halfway through the nailbiting chess action of the World Youth Chess Olympiad. After the fifth round yesterday, the organisers of the event gave all participants and accompanying persons a chance to explore the city by taking them on a sightseeing tour. The tour included the famous Kankaria Lake along with all its amusements and one of the residences of Mahatma Gandhi, Sabarmati Ashram. Vipnesh Bhardwaj sends us some impressions from the day.

Breaking: No National Premier and Challengers, only one Nationals!

16/12/2017 -

Since times immemorial, India has had the format of National Challengers and players doing well in that tournament qualifying for national premier. The Central council of AICF has come up with a path breaking idea of dissolving the format of national challengers and premier and consolidating it into one national tournament with a prize fund of 20 lakh for open and 15 lakh for women. It would also mean that the tournament would be a norm event and would be considered as "The National Championship" of the country. Read on to know more. And let us know your opinion of this decision.

Boosting the chess culture in north east India

15/12/2017 -

Chess in India is booming, but it is also true that equitable distribution is difficult for a country which is as huge as India. One of the main tasks of AICF under the leadership of Bharat Singh Chauhan is to bring chess to regions which have not been able to keep up with the rapid pace of development. One of them is the north east region. It is with this intention that some of the best chess minds of India (and one Scottish!) have gathered in Guhawati for a FIDE trainers seminar. Impressions from this truly unique event.

World Youth Olympiad Round 5: Who will stop the Russians?

15/12/2017 -

There's no stopping the Russian team! After beating the Indians, they continued their phenomenal run by outplaying Uzbekistan. India green and Iran was a mouth-watering clash that ended in a 2-2 draw. Suprisingly, the Indian Red team has moved ahead of the green team and is now on 8.0/10 after their victory against Israel. We bring you the round five report loaded with game analysis, pictures and videos.

World Youth Olympiad Round 4: From Russia with Love!

14/12/2017 -

The Indian team looked really strong - Aryan, Pragg, Nihal, Iniyan. However, the Russians simply destroyed our line-up with some solid and purposeful play. Lomasov got the better of Chopra and Lobanov beat Praggnanandhaa. The other two games ended in draws. With this win Russians now have one match point lead over the field. In the fifth round, they take on Uzbekistan. The other interesting match-up is Iran vs India. Will the Indian players be able to make a comeback? Time will tell. For now we have the detailed drill down of the India-Russia match with pictures, videos, analysis and more from Ahmedabad.

Aaryan Varshney and Navya Tayal Crowned Champions of IIFL Wealth Delhi Qualifiers

13/12/2017 -

The IIFL Wealth  Juniors is just around the corner. But before the tournament kicks off on the 30th of this month, its organizers decided to ensure that players from all corners of the country got an opportunity to showcase their talent at this world-class event. To this end, eight regional qualifiers are being held in several parts of the country. The title winners not only get free entry plus accommodation into the tournament but also a unique opportunity to interact with the chess legend Vishy Anand. In its first regional qualifier that concluded on December 3 in Delhi, Aryan Varshney and Navya Tayal won the title prizes in the boys' and the girls' category respectively and confirmed their tickets to Mumbai. We have an illustrated report with pictures and games.

World Youth Olympiad Round 2+3: India and Russia!

13/12/2017 -

It was just the second day at the World Youth Olympiad 2017 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and already we have huge amounts of blood being spilled. Iran was the biggest casualty of day two as they were held to a draw by unheralded Uzbek team. First and third seeds India and Russia fared better by winning both their matches and have now setup the top board clash in the fourth round. For India it is nice to see different players chipping in. While against Turkey it was Aryan Chopra and Pragg who won their games, against Armenia it was Nihal and Iniyan who brought home the full point. A power packed report with game analysis, videos, interviews, and a 30 minute master class with Nihal Sarin. 

London Chess Classic 09: Caruana wins the Classic!

12/12/2017 -

An intense finale was witnessed at the 9th London Chess Classic last night. After winning a six-hour-long battle against Mickey Adams and a four-game blitz tiebreaker against Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana was crowned the champion at the London Chess Classic. Magnus Carlsen finished the event on a high note with a win against Levon Aronian in a complicated battle and took the overall Grand Chess Tour winner's trophy. Anand, unfortunately, had a dismal outing on his birthday as he lost the thread of the game yet again and let Wesley So win his first game of the tournament. An illustrated report.

Bangladeshi's give the top seeded Indians a scare

12/12/2017 -

The playing hall is huge, bright and spacious. The youngsters are all nicely dressed up in the jersey's of their team. Each match has a personal arbiter. Coaches are pacing around nervous about their team's games. This is the scene at the World Youth Olympiad 2017 that is taking place at the Karnavati Club in Gujarat from the 11th to the 18th of December 2017! It is one of the most exciting events of the year and ChessBase India will be bringing you round by round updates. For now we have the first round report, where all the favourites won their games. Videos, game analysis and pictures by Amruta Mokal!

London Chess Classic 7+8: Nepomniachtchi's winning spree

11/12/2017 -

Continuing his fantastic run, Ian Nepomniachtchi registered back to back wins in rounds seven and eight to emerge as the clear leader of the tournament as Fabiano Caruana went back to drawing his games. Vishy Anand, in the meantime, lost his second game of the tournament in round seven and settled for a risk-free draw in the eighth round and has now got nothing to play for in the tournament. The battle now is between Nepo, Caruana and MVL. Since the Frenchman is paired against Nepo in the final round, a win might just give him the champion's crown!

Live Games from the World Youth Olympiad 2017

11/12/2017 -

The World Youth Olympiad is an exciting tournament featuring 29 teams from 25 countries. India green is the top seed with champions like Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, Aryan Chopra in their fold. Their biggest competition will come from Iran and Russia who also have a strong contingent. All the games are live on this page and you can view also the finished games. It's a nine round event and 15th of December is a rest day.

ChessBase India launches its new logo and Calendar on Anand's 48th birthday!

11/12/2017 -

11th December 2017 - 48th birthday of Vishy Anand! On this highly auspicious occasion, ChessBase India has launched two new features! First is our new logo and the second is the ChessBase India Calendar. The Logo is meant to give every Indian chess player a proud feeling of playing for the country, while the calendar is meant to ease the lives of chess players in India and all over the world. We will have all the tournaments listed and this will be your go-to destination to plan your events. We call all the chess organizers of India and the world to list their event on our calendar. 

Will top seed India win the World Youth Olympiad 2017?

10/12/2017 -

With a rating average of 2503 and talents like Aryan Chopra, Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin India green team is definitely a favourite to win the World Youth Olympiad 2017. But they will have some stiff competition from Iran, Russia and Armenia. Not to forget India's blue and red teams. The games begin from the 11th of December. For now we bring you the colourful opening ceremony with some of the brilliant pictures by the official photographer of the event Amruta Mokal.

Gukesh and Savitha Shri win National under-11

10/12/2017 -

"They are diamonds - raw and uncut, I went to discover them in their purest form!" That's how Sagar Shah describes his visit to the under-11 nationals held in Pune from the 22nd to 30th November 2017. Gukesh and Savitha Shri won the event and the duo are definitely two of India's finest talents at the moment. But there were so many more champions to be explored. Pranav, Pranesh, Leon, Raahil, Sreeswan, Jimmy, Nikhil, Dev, Shahil, Bharath, Aditya, these are some of the names that you will hear often in the years to come. Here's a detailed report along with one hour of a very entertaining ChessBase workshop.