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The cover picture to the left best describes what happened in the Sunday clash between MVL and Anand. It was a fighting match to be fair. Anand sacrificed his queen in the first game with the black pieces but had to build a fortress in the end to secure a draw. He might have fancied his chances of pushing with white against MVL. But the Frenchman is popular all over the world for his expertise in Sicilian Najdorf. The audience were orgasmically praying for the Najdorf to appear and the Frenchman obliged. It was a massacre.
The tenth round witnessed four of India's best medal hopes paired against each other. Praggnanandhaa and Nihal's game ended in a draw while Mrudul was able to beat Divya. We have the game analysis of both the battles. In 2015 India dominated the World Youth Championships. This year our control has not been absolute. But going into the last round we have seven players in chance with a podium finish. We wish them the best and have set up the live games playchess boards. The last round begins at 11.30 a.m. IST
The top two seeds at the Corsica Masters: MVL and Anand are through to the finals. Vishy beat Gharamian 1.5-0.5 in the quarters and Radjabov with the same margin in the semi finals. MVL downed Onischuk and Korobov. We have the game analysis of Anand's victories and also the video footage. The live game player between Vishy and MVL is also set up and the finals will take place on 30th October 2016 at 5.30 p.m. IST.
Praggnanandhaa shockingly lost the ninth round to an unheralded American throwing the tournament in a crazy party. This means that he is suddenly tied with a handful others, including Nihal and Keymer, for the third place! To make matters tougher, their rivals Hong and Keymer have comparatively easier opponents. But Nihal and Praggu are forced to play each other. It is going to be a Battle Royale — the loser will simply lose any chance at the medal, while the winner can still go for the gold. And they know that — Nihal has played an opening he has never played before and this will result in a crazy attack on the kings on the opposite sides!
The 2nd edition of IIFL Wealth is a now a norm event with a fabulous prize fund of INR 12 Lakhs or the US $ 18,500 approx., with IM and GM norm opportunities. The junior (U-13) event has once again raised the benchmark. With a prize fund of US $ 12500, it continues to be billed as 'World's Richest' tournament for kids. We have an early bird offer for you this Diwali! Click here to know more.
Iran has been at the center of controversial slurs in the chess world in the past few weeks after the American champion Nazi Paikidze decided to highlight the context of making women wear hijab compulsorily in numerous countries for religious reasons. The chess world is divided in its opinion on the issue at stake. Her move has positively highlighted the plight of women in numerous such nations where religion and politics mean the same. And the 'Nazi effect' can be seen in other sports, too. Asian Airgun shooting champion Heena Sidhu has refused to defend her title in Iran this year — 'it is against the spirit of sports'.
Eight rounds have finished at the World Cadets 2016. Four Indians are playing right at the top. They are Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin in under-12 Open section and Nagpur girls Divya Deshmukh and Mrudul Dehankar in girls under-12 category. As three rounds remain, the tournament becomes extremely exciting. Apart from these four, a few more have the chance of securing a spot on the podium if they finish strongly. We have a brief report and also the live games page to follow these top four Indian players.
The Corsica Masters 2016, is taking place in the island of Corsica, south of mainland France, from the 27th to the 30th of October 2016. It's a sixteen player knockout event, with a time control of 15 minutes + 3 second increment. Vishy Anand is the second seed and he has some tough competition in the form of Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Teimour Radjabov. Anand won the pre-quarter finals with 2-0 destruction of IM Koen Leenhouts. In the quarters he will face Tigran Gharamian. We have the full report, pictures, analysis and an interesting video which teaches you that in a game of chess you must never lose your focus!
The German Schach Magazine thinks that Vincent Keymer is the biggest talent to emerge from their country since the second World Champion Emanuel Lasker! R. Praggnanandhaa is just eleven years old, but has already crushed many a grandmasters! Not to forget, he is also the youngest IM in the world. These two super talents are going to face-off against each other at the eighth round of the World under 12 Championships in Batumi. We have set up the live game page for you to enjoy this battle. Live game will begin at 4.30 p.m. IST. Don't miss it!
Less than a fortnight back, 16-year-old Kumar Gaurav was crowned the Indian Junior Champion, 2016. This title has been won previously by names such as Viswanathan Anand, Pentala Harikrishna, Abhijeet Gupta. But there is more to the boy from Bihar who surprisingly came from behind to become the champion. Read the first of our two-part story on Kumar Gaurav and his siblings, as they pursue their dream of leading a better life with chess.
Chess players of Mumbai had a day filled with chess and fun on the 11th of October 2016. Firstly everyone saw the movie Queen of Katwe together. It was truly an inspirational movie. This was followed by learning the Queen's Gambit Declined from Power Play 23. The highlight of the day was surely the live Q&A session with Daniel King on Skype. The day ended with a small blitz tournament. The participants went back home with loads of newly gained knowledge and a smile on their faces!
Ever since R. Praggnanandhaa became the youngest IM in the world at the age of 10 years and 10 months, he has been in the news all over the world. The young boy has stayed true to his billing of being the top seed in the under-12 section of the World Cadets 2016. Going into the rest day he is on a perfect 6.0/6. We will bring you a complete report soon, but as of now this article focusses on little Praggu's games. IM Sagar Shah has not only annotated a game, but has also recorded a 12-minute video where he explains the reasons for Praggnanandhaa's super strong play.
The Chigorin Memorial Tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia, has had a long tradition. It is named after the founder of the Soviet Chess School Mikhail Chigorin. A list of strong grandmasters competed in the 2016 edition for the prize fund of 18,00,000 rubles ($28000/26000 euros). GM Deep Sengupta had the sole lead with 5.0/5. But he faltered in the second half. Chandigarh's Himal Gusain played a beautiful tournament, to become an international master with a crushing win in the final round.
He calls it "one of the most romantic of all openings", one you can play with white when you go 1.e4. Savielly Tartakower said that this attacking opening was invented to make men understand that chess is a gift from the gods. You cannot get higher praise than that. Or a better teacher than GM Simon Williams, whose aggressive style has brought down a number of top-class opponents (like Carlsen and Gelfand). His latest DVD has 4½ hours of gripping video.