Pawn structures you should know!

Siegbert Tarrasch said,"One who fears an Isolated Queen Pawn must give up chess." Surely there are many people out there who feel uncomfortable while playing with the IQP structure. What should be done? We should be thankful to experienced trainers like Adrian Mikhalchishin who are ready to share their knowledge on the topic of pawn structures with us. On his DVD, the experienced Ukrainian grandmaster covers not only the IQP, but three more pawn structures. A review by Davide Nastasio.

Women's Premier 01: Dark tragicomedies

And we are back for a tournament in Delhi. Honestly, this city is always on a chess overdrive with a tournament being celebrated almost every other month. The big open is coming in January, but before that, we have the Women's Premier taking place at Punjab Bhawan. The top seed Karavade settled for a draw with Gomes, and so did Nisha and Soumya. But the Delhi evening was painted black by the black pieces as tragicomic games left many jubilant and many in tears. We have pictures and games in our not so boring report.

University of Madras and Anna University triumph

The South Zone Inter University was held in the second week of October in Chennai. A lot of prominent names like GM Murali Karthikeyan, IM Girish Koushik, IM Antonio Viani D'cunha and others participated in the event. It was won by University of Madras in the Open section and Anna University in the Women's section. International Arbiter R. Anantharaman has sent us a report with all the action, pictures and final standings from this exciting tournament.

National Women's Premier 2016 begins today!

12 of the best Women players in the country have gathered in the city of Delhi to fight in the National Premier Championships. Padmini Rout will try to defend her title as top players like Eesha Karavade, S. Vijayalakshmi, Soumya Swaminathan, Mary Ann Gomes, R. Vaishali and others will try their best to stop her. It's going to be an exciting event and ChessBase India will bring you in-depth coverage of the tournament. As of now we have the curtain raiser, where you get to know the details of all the participants.

November 2016 Rating List: Hari enters Top-10; Vidit is World No. 53

It was a busy month for Indians as Anand competed in the Tal Memorial, while Harikrishna played leagues around Europe. Hari has officially entered the World Top-10 with 2768, trailing Anand by ten points. Harika jumped four places to World No. 6 and Akanksha Hagawane clinched her WIM title and crossed the 2300-mark. We have pictures and stats.

Mature beyond his years: Raunak Sadhwani

He is one of the biggest talents of India. Born in 2005, 10-year-old Raunak Sadhwani already boasts of a rating of 2246. The boy made headlines when at the recently concluded National Juniors (under-19) 2016 he finished third ahead of many competitors who were nearly twice his age. In this article we bring you an intimate potrait of this prodigy from Nagpur, who is sure to make it big in the years to come.

World Cadets: Indians back with four medals

The World Cadets 2016 ended on a high note for India. We were the country that won the most number of medals - four. However, the gold medal remained elusive. In this article we take you through the last round of all the medal winners, and show you their game with deep analysis. This will help you to get the feel of how these youngsters were able to keep their cool even in the high pressured situation. Exclusive pictures, analysis, stories and much more.

Dinesh Sharma wins Kandy Open 2016

Corsica Masters: MVL thumps Anand in a Najdorf

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.

World Cadets 2016: Seven Indians with chance for a podium finish

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 

Anand and MVL set up the final clash at Corsica Masters

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. 

Indian Battle Royale: Praggnanandhaa vs. Nihal Sarin

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!

IIFLW Mumbai International: Early bird goodies!

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.

Hijab Controversy: Indian shooter Heena Sidhu withdraws

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'.

Praggu, Nihal,Divya and Mrudul at the top

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.