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Deceptive simplicity

08/10/2025 -

A common mistake, which is often done, is endgame positions are considered simple. The reality is far from it. Pieces get fewer in the endgame, yet the options increase by a lot. One tiny mistake can have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. GM Sundararajan Kidambi explores few rook endgames which at a first glance might look simple but they are deceptive. He saw a position on Critically acclaimed and award-winning author, GM Jacob Aagaard's book, Conceptual Rook Endgames. Check out the detailed analysis by Kidambi and enrich your understanding in these rook endgames. If you like his explanations, do mention in the comments, so that it inspires Kidambi to share more from his fountain of knowledge. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

ChessBase 18 and Mega 2025 are here

ChessBase 18 is an all-new program that helps you manage all your databases as an ambitious player. Mega Database 2025 has 11 million games with over 113,000 games annotated by masters. The cost of ChessBase 18 is Rs.4499/- and the cost of Mega Database 2025 is Rs.6499/- However, if you go for the combo the total amount comes to Rs.8999 (instead of 10,998/-) helping you save Rs. 1999/-.

ChessBase 18 + Mega 2025 Combo

Anirudhha Potawad dominates 3rd The Chembur Gymkhana Rapid Rating Open 2025

07/10/2025 -

FM Anirudhha Potawad scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 3rd The Chembur Gymkhana Rapid Rating Open 2025. This is the third consecutive year he has won this tournament with the same score. In the last two triumphs including this, he finished a half point ahead of the rest. Five players - FM Vedant Nagarkatte, IM Srijit Paul, IM Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi, FM Gaurang Bagwe and Arjun Thakur scored 8/9 each. They were placed second to sixth respectively according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹200000. The top three prizes were ₹20000 + trophy, ₹10000 and ₹8000 each. This is Anirudhha's sixth overall and fifth rating tournament triumph of the year. The tournament marked the return of our Cofounder and CEO, IM Sagar Shah to a rating tournament in over 7.5 years. Photo: Ravindra Potawad

JDCA invites you to 3rd Jaffna International Chess Championship 2025 in Sri Lanka

07/10/2025 -

Jaffna District Chess Association invites you to 3rd Jaffna International Chess Championship 2025. The third edition is offering a first prize of LKR 200000 and a total prize fund of LKR 2.4 Million. A total of 150 individual prizes are up for grabs. Entry is FREE for GM, IM, WGM, WIM, FM, WFMs and players rated above 2000. Travel grant is offered to GM, IM, WGM, WIMs. Apart from a Classical tournament, there is a Blitz tournament on 4th December 2025. The winner of the first two editions were IM Anup Deshmukh and IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh. Dr. Prajwal P Shet won the Blitz Rating Open last year. Indian players have gotten a lot of success at various tournaments in all over Sri Lanka in the last few years. You could be the next one. All tournament info photos are from tournament circular.

How Sandip Upadhyay is creating chess champions in rural Gujarat

06/10/2025 -

Sandip Upadhyay, a teacher at Ratusinh na Muvada Government School in Mahisagar District, Gujarat, has taught chess to over a hundred students and created six rated chess players, all through his own effort and resources. Yet, very few know his story. His idea was simple: teach his students chess because he knew it. But that simple thought sparked something extraordinary. Today, it has transformed the entire school. His students dominate nearly every tournament they enter, and six of his students are now supported by the state government. After seeing their dedication, we organized a chess camp at their school on 9th–10th September to help them improve and give them an extra push. Check out this article to see what we experienced at this truly unique chess school in Gujarat. Photo: Neeraj Dwivedi

Darshan Choudhury wins City of Dublin Major Rating 2025

06/10/2025 -

Darshan Choudhury and Advaith Nichenametla V (IRL) scored an unbeaten 4.5/5 each at City of Dublin Major (1600-1950) Rating 2025. Darshan became champion due to better tie-break scores, Advaith had to settle for second place. Anastasiya Kelbas (UKR), Pierre Rerot (IRL) and Lorcan Heron (IRL) scored 4/5 each. They were placed third, fourth and fifth respectively. The total prize fund was €3000. The top three prizes were €575, €400 and €300 in Masters, for Major they were €350, €250 and €150. The three-day five round Major (1600-1950) Rating tournament was organized by Dave Grant and the Knights of Éanna Chess Club at Colaiste Eanna in Rathfarnaham, Ireland from 5th to 7th September 2025. This is Darshan's first rating tournament triumph of his career.

Kavin Mohan clear first at 20th Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open 2025

06/10/2025 -

FM Kavin Mohan (MAS) scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win 20th Dato Arthur Tan Open, part of the 20th Malaysian Chess Festival 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. Seven players scored 6.5/9 each. Out of them, IM Chen Zou (CHN) and GM Van Huy Nguyen (VIE) secured second and third place respectively according to tie-breaks. The top three prizes were - US$ 3000, $2000 and $1000. Andrew Ooi (Gila Chess), blogger who covered all 20 editions of this festival, writes about this event along with the photographs shot by him.  Photo: Andrew Ooi

DreamHack Rapid & Blitz 2025: Play Rapid Chess for a ₹5,00,000 Prize Pool!

05/10/2025 -

Dreamhack Rapid and Blitz 2025 will take place from 31st Oct to 2nd Nov in Hyderabad, Telangana. Total ₹500000 prize fund is up for grabs, ₹300000 for Rapid and ₹200000 for Blitz. Entry is FREE for GM, IM, WGM and WIM. For everyone else, entry fee is ₹1391 for both events. This tournament is unlike any other as it takes place inside a gaming convention, which means loud music and noise will be there throughout the day. So if you haven't registered yet, do it right away. Whoever can block out the noise, focus on their game, will win big and become the champion.

Grand Prix events at Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club!

05/10/2025 -

Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club in Mumbai now hosts a year-long Grand Prix series, where the regular 4th Saturday monthly blitz tournaments, now award GP points to the top 10 finishers. After 11 cycles, the top 12 compete in a March 2026 Grand Prix Finale featuring higher cash rewards and a grand prize for the winner. The player with the highest total points is crowned Player of 2025-26, celebrating their consistency and strength in the club’s most competitive season yet. We are already six months into the Grand Prix events and have a leaderboard coming up! Read more about this and how you can be a part of it in this article. Photos: ChessBase India

FIDE World Cup 2025: Players list and pairings announced

05/10/2025 -

A total of 24 Indians, 14 more than the previous edition in 2023, are set to take part in the upcoming FIDE World Cup 2025. First game of the first round is on 1st November. Eight Indians got a Bye in the first round due to being in the top 50 seeds. The remaining 16 will have to play their first round matches. The players are - D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin, Pentala Harikrishna, Karthikeyan Murali, Pranav Venkatesh, Raunak Sadhwani, Pranesh M, Leon Luke Mendonca, S L Narayanan, Iniyan Pa, Karthik Venkataraman, Diptayan Ghosh, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Raja Rithvik R, Aronyak Ghosh, Lalit Rohit, Divya Deshmukh, Himal Gusain, Harshavardhan G B and Neelash Saha. What are your predictions? Photo: FIDE

Checkmate USA vs India, A Grand Spectacle starts in a few hours

04/10/2025 -

The wait is over. Checkmate USA vs India starts in a few hours at eSports Stadium in Arlington, Texas, USA. Five matches will be played separately starting with Fabiano Caruana vs Arjun Erigaisi. Second match is Taintoluwa Adewumi vs Ethan Vaz. Next is Carissa Yip vs Divya Deshmukh, followed by Levy Rozman vs Sagar Shah. The main event is Hikaru Nakamura vs D Gukesh. All matches must be played till completion, resigning is not an option. Watch the action live in-person at the arena. It will not be a usual chess event which is held in a quite place. It will be a spectacle where lights, camera and sound all will be there. You can also watch it live on our channel on 5th October starting from 5:30 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Impressive Iniyan clinches 62nd National Championship 2025, becomes a double champ

04/10/2025 -

The reigning National Rapid champion, GM Iniyan Pa (TN) drew his final round game against GM Abhijeet Gupta (PSPB) to become 62nd National Champion. The last player to win two or more National titles simultaneously was, GM Aravindh Chithambaram back in 2019. He was the first National Triple Crown champion. Iniyan is now a double champion as he won the National Rapid Championship 2025 a few months ago. 15-year-old IM Goutham Krishna (KER) defeated IM Viani Antonio Dcunha (KAR) to finish with the same score as Iniyan 9/11. Goutham secured second place according to tie-breaks. IM Ritviz Parab (Goa) lost to GM Sasikiran Krishnan (PSPB) and the latter finished third. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Srihari L R wins 3rd SRM Rapid Rating Open 2025

04/10/2025 -

GM Srihari L R and IM Ravi Teja S scored 8.5/9 each at 3rd SRM Rapid Rating Open 2025. Srihari won the tournament due to better tie-break scores. Ravi secured second place. IM Harshavardhan G B scored sole 8/9 to claim third place. Srihari drew against the eventual runner-up, Ravi in the seventh round. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹250000. The top three prizes were ₹25000 + trophy, ₹20000 and ₹15000 each. The one-day nine round Rapid Rating Open tournament was organized by Golden Knights Chess Academy and Master Mind Chess Academy at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Vadapalani Campus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 13th September 2025. This is Srihari's fourth overall, second rating tournament triumph of the year. Photo: SRM IST, Faculty of Science & Humanities, Vadapalani

Sharvaanica A S becomes World Cadet Under-10 Girls 2025 Champion, Bronze for Kiyanna and Sarbartho

03/10/2025 -

WCM Sharvaanica A S won Gold in Under-10 Girls category at World Cadet 2025. Despite starting with a loss, she won her next nine games in-a-row and finished the event with a loss too. She had a better tie-break than WCM Chinzorig Nandinjiguur (MGL) as Sharvaanica defeated her in the eighth round. Kiyanna Parihar scored 8.5/11 to win Bronze in the same category. After a brilliant start 6/6, Sarbartho Mani scored 2.5/5 in the last five rounds to score 8.5/11 and get a Bronze medal in Under-10 Open group. In total, India won three medals at this event - one Gold and two Bronze medals. Photo: Saji Matthew

Nihal Sarin reaches 2700

03/10/2025 -

Nihal Sarin finally reached the coveted 2700 rating in a published FIDE Rating list. He became the tenth Indian to achieve so. The 21-year-old from Kerala, gained 9.9 Elo rating points at FIDE Grand Swiss 2025. Arjun Erigaisi returned to World no.4, after adding 1.5 Elo rating points. R Praggnanandhaa slipped to World no.5. World Champion, D Gukesh moved out of World Top ten for the first time since May 2024. There are still six Indians in Top 30. Among the Women, four are in Top 20. FIDE Women's World Cup winner, GM Divya Deshmukh returned to World no.11 among Women after her stellar performance at the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Open. GM R Vaishali gained 19.6 Elo rating points by winning FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 Women for the second consecutive edition. Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

Manish Anto Cristiano marvels at 2nd Smart Chess Academy Karur Rapid Rating Open 2025

02/10/2025 -

IM Manish Anto Cristiano F scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 2nd Smart Chess Academy Karur Rapid Rating Open 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the field. GM Laxman R R, IM Ramnathan Balasubramaniam and Tarun V scored 8/9 each. They secured second, third and fourth place respectively according to tie-breaks. Manish defeated the eventual runner-up, Laxman in the seventh round. The total prize fund was ₹240000. The top three prizes were ₹20000, ₹17500 and ₹15000 along with a trophy each. The one-day nine round Rapid Rating tournament was organized by Smart Chess Academy, Karur at Arasu College of Arts & Science for Women in Karur, Tamil Nadu on 7th September 2025. This is Manish's first rating tournament triumph of the year.

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