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Love thy neighbour as thyself

07/12/2015 -

Chennai witnessed a natural-manmade disaster of an unprecedented scale when the wrath of nature descended upon the unsuspecting city. You and I know that Chennai, since its Madras days, has been the capital of the Indian chess scene and home to the best of Indian talents right from kids taking their baby steps to the former world champion himself. Our dear reader Muthu Alagappan, a Chennai resident, sent us his first-hand account of what he witnessed in his city. In addition, we have comments from some of India's best players who reside in Chennai and ended up missing their tournaments.

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London 02+03: Karthik stuns Edouard

06/12/2015 -

While Anand was under pressure against the wily Aronian, he managed to hang on to a draw, as did all others in the Classic -- it was a draw day. In the FIDE Open, the day's play witnessed double rounds, and all Indians performed well. While Tania Sachdev stumbled to a draw in the second round and Vishnu Prasanna was forced to repeat positions in the third round,  V. Ap Karthik posted an upset victory over French GM Roman Edouard who is rated more than 300 points above him. Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal report.

London 01: Anand held to a draw

05/12/2015 -

The London Chess Classic is a cornucopia of events held at one single place. The elite tournament, the British Knockout and the FIDE Open are all taking place at the same venue. It’s every chess lover’s paradise. In the elite section, Anish Giri tricked Veselin Topalov to score the lone victory of the day. Seven Indians are competing in the FIDE Open that runs alongside the Classic. An illustrated report with games, pictures and Vishy's message to Chennai.

Interview with India's latest GM: Swapnil Dhopade (2/2)

05/12/2015 -

In the first part of our interview with India's 40th grandmaster, GM Swapnil Dhopade talked about his journey to the coveted title. In this second part, Swapnil talks about his approach to chess, how he works on his game and the importance of not thinking about rating. The interview also has a special video-lesson on positional play for our dear readers! Packed with useful tips and insightful comments, this interview is a must-read for every chessplayer and fan.

Preparations at the London Chess Classic

04/12/2015 -

The main elite event with an average rating of 2784.2 begins on the 4th of December 2015. Meanwhile the World Champion Magnus Carlsen has arrived in London and appeared on the BBC One show at prime time. He managed to checkmate his opponent using 17 seconds!Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal visited the playing venue and have some exclusive pictures of the preparation of the event.

Interview with India's 40th GM: Swapnil Dhopade (1/2)

03/12/2015 -

Swapnil Dhopade became India's 40th GM on 9th of October 2015. His story is one of immense hard work and determination. After achieving his final GM norm in the year 2012, he played nearly 350 more games in the next three years to reach an Elo of 2500! No wonder we can learn so much from this dedicated and disciplined, yet at the same time a genial grandmaster!

When chess becomes a language...

01/12/2015 -

Most titled players in India agree that Nihal Sarin is a super-talent. Last year, he was crowned the World U-10 champion at Durban, South Africa. This year, aged eleven, he started the World U-12 at Halkidiki, Greece, as the twenty-eighth seed and yet was silver, missing the gold on tiebreak due to an O'Henry twist. Those who have seen him know that he is heavily underrated, bringing forward his A-game when he plays those rated above him. Welcome to the amazing world of Nihal Sarin.

Vikramaditya Kulkarni wins SBI rating event

01/12/2015 -

The SBI All Maharashtra rating tournament was held from 18th-22nd November in Mumbai. The tournament held by Praful Zaveri and Indian Chess School was won by the strong IM from Mumbai Vikramaditya Kulkarni. We have some very nice pictures from the venue as well as some game analysis.

Men's Premier 13: Murali Karthikeyan!

29/11/2015 -

Murali Karthikeyan is India's new National Champion! He began the tournament with a terrible 0.0/2 and then scaled up the peak with one win after another to end up with 8.5/13. He is the winner despite suffering three losses, including one in the final round today, while Vidit had to be content with the second spot on tiebreak despite losing only one game, to M. Karthikeyan himself. An illustrated report.

Mighty Indians at the World Youth 2015!

29/11/2015 -

India sent fifty young and talented kids to participate in the World Youth Championships 2015 in Greece. They returned with a massive tally of eleven medals – five gold, three silver and three bronze. This made it by far the most successful country at the event. We got in touch with these young kids and asked them many questions. The winners sent us annotated games, and we also have opinions of five-time World Champion Vishy Anand and the super coach GM R.B.Ramesh.

Men's Premier 12: there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip

27/11/2015 -

And Bloodbath it was, just as predicted! There are many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. Vidit seemingly had it all under control, until he tripped against Murali Karthikeyan, losing and allowing the Tamil Nadu youngster to join him at the top. Today, he even lost his lead, and to think that M. Karthikeyan has reached here after being at the bottom of the table after the first couple of rounds -- his score read 0.0/2 -- one cannot help but wonder about his fighting abilities. An illustrated report.

Men's Premier 11: Draw Day

26/11/2015 -

Both the leaders drew their games in contrasting fashion -- M. Karthikeyan played solidly and could find nothing better than a repetition while Vidit barely scraped through after being an exchange down. The battle builds up as the players ready themselves for the penultimate round tomorrow. Be prepared for a bloodbath! The result of the day was Praneeth's sensational swindle against Venky, gifting the Telangana boy yet another grandmaster scalp! An illustrated report.

Padmini Rout is the National Champion!

25/11/2015 -

With 8.5/11 Padmini won the 42nd Ramratna National Women Premier 2015 by a full point. The defending champion played a superb tournament scoring seven consecutive wins to seal the title in her favour with a round to spare. Her last round loss to K.Priyanka was surprising but did little to affect the tournament standings. Soumya Swaminathan got the better of Swati Ghate to clinch the second spot and Bhakti Kulkarni finished third. We have a detailed report with analysis and some exclusive pictures sent to us by IM Nisha Mohota. 

Men's Premier 10: Karthikeyan beats Vidit

25/11/2015 -

We had predicted the possibility of the tournament becoming a two-way race if Vidit was beaten by Murali Karhikeyan, and he succeeded! Will this result become the turning point in the tournament, a cruel twist in the fate of the leader? Only time can answer this question. In other notable games, Sethu breezed to an easy win, while Praneeth brought down yet another grandmaster -- this time an out of sorts Shyam Sundar, whose tournament has gone for a toss after a bad cold hit him hard. Neelotpal scored his second victory by beating Shyaamnikhil.

Men's Premier 09: Vidit inches closer to the title

24/11/2015 -

The ninth round witnessed only three results, and two of them have had a notable effect on the crosstable. Vidit won comfortably against the second-placed P. Karthikeyan, who was relegated to the third position because Murali Karthikeyan won his fifth game in this tournament. In the tenth round, he takes on the leader himself, and a win here would throw the tournament wide open. Otherwise, Vidit has all but sealed his victory. Arghyadip Das won against Swapnil as his sacrifice turned into a deficit in the endgame.

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