Astana GP Round 5: Goryachkina and Jiner still in the lead

IM Vaishali R had a well-fought draw against WGM Dinara Wagner (GER) in the fifth round of FIDE Astana GP 2022. WGM Zhu Jiner is playing some fantastic chess in this event. She scored a big victory against Kazakhstan's top woman, GM Zhansaya Abdumalik. The 19-year-old continues her lead with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina 4/5. They are now a full point ahead of IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ), GM Kateryna Lagno and IM Alina Kashlinskaya. Vaishali will face Germany no.1 woman, IM Elisabeth Paehtz in round 6 before the sole rest day of the tournament. Round 6 starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

To celebrate chess in all its myriad facets, the Global Chess Festival is here once more

From building character to sharpening cognitive abilities to meliorating neurological disorders like Autism, the benefits of the ancient game of chess are many and wide-ranging. In fact, having evolved through one and a half millennia, it is more than just a game today. It is a cultural and intellectual phenomenon: an inspiration for visual artists, a playground for experimentation for scientists, and a pedagogical tool for educationists—but more than anything else, it is a common tongue connecting people across gender, ethnicity and generation. Judit Polgar's Global Chess Festival is an event that is held every year in Budapest, Hungary, to celebrate this very diversity of chess. It is a gala that invites not only players but professionals from various other disciplines with the sole aim of promoting chess in all its myriad facets. This year the singular event is taking place on the 8th of October. We walk you through its different planned activities and present four original studies for solving that are part of its special program, Chess Artistry Adventure, in memory of the late Pal Benko.

Magnus Carlsen tops Generation Cup Prelims by a huge margin, breaks his silence

Magnus Carlsen decimated the field to top the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Julius Baer Generation Cup Prelims 34/45, It is the highest prelims score of the tour in this season. The world champion scored ten wins including a five-game win streak. He defeated Christopher Yoo, Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Vincent Keymer on the final day. Arjun Erigaisi drew with Wojtaszek and lost the next two games against Keymer and Anish Giri. Still he managed to finish second 25/45. Praggnanandhaa started the day with a loss against Aronian, drew with Giri and won against Ivan Saric to advance to the knockout stage scoring 23/45. Quarterfinals start tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Champions Chess Tour

Chhattisgarh CM Trophy GM Masters R3: Chidvilash outplays Venkatesh, joins the lead

13-year-old Chidvilash Sai Surapaneni scored his hat-trick win over GM Venkatesh M R. He is now one of the seven leaders of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Trophy GM Masters 2022. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy and IM Ajay Karthikeyan are the only two other Indians among them. Srihari L capitalized on his opponent GM Duc Hoa Nguyen's (VIE) mistake. 15 players are trailing by a half point at 2.5/3 each. Arjun Tiwari and CM Ravi Kumar continue their impressive run. They both drew their respective games against IM Harshavardhan G B and IM Kushagra Mohan. Round 4 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Mukesh Tandi

Astana GP Round 4: Vaishali splits the point with Tan Zhongyi

IM Vaishali R made a solid draw against GM Tan Zhongyi (CHN). The India no.3 woman drew her game as she had very less time on the clock against the former women's world champion. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk suffered her second loss out of four games at FIDE Astana GP. This time she lost to WGM Dinara Wagner (GER). WGM Zhu Jiner (CHN) defeated IM Polina Shuvalova to become coleader with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina at 3/4 each. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) and GM Kateryan Lagno trailing them by a half point at 2.5/4. Vaishali is now at 1.5/4. She will battle against WGM Dinara in the fifth round which starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

1st Bikaner Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2022

One of the biggest ever tournaments in Rajasthan, the 1st Bikaner Open International Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2022 is all set to start on the 1st of October, 2022, with a total prize fund is RS. 30,00,000.

The tournament will be organized in two categories - The Masters (Above 2000) with a prize fund of Rs. 20 lakhs and the Challengers (Below 2000) with a prize fund of Rs. 10 lakhs.

A total of 14 GMs, 19 IMs, 3 WGMs, and 9 WIMs with a total of 55 titled players have already confirmed their participation. A total of 10 rounds will be played and the tournament will conclude on the 8th of October.

Generation Cup R9-12: Carlsen regains his sole lead, Arjun Erigaisi firm second

Magnus Carlsen dominated the third day of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Julius Baer Generation Cup to reclaim the pole position. He is back at the top 25/36 after beating Ivan Saric, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Boris Gelfand. His sole draw of the day was against the evergreen maestro Vasyl Ivanchuk. The world champion was winning in that game too. However, his miss allowed the former World Rapid champion to build a fortress, something the world no.1 has little belief in. Arjun Erigaisi is in sole second position, breathing down Carlsen's neck at 24/36. Praggnannadhaa is tied at fourth place 19/36 along with Keymer and Duda. The final day of Prelims, Round 9 starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: ChessBase India live stream

Chhattisgarh CM Trophy GM Masters R2: Arjun Tiwari is on a roll

Arjun Tiwari defeated the second consecutive IM he faced at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Trophy GM Masters 2022. He certainly possesses an IM-like strength. His peak rating has been 2354. Thus, these two win is no surprise at all. Double IM-norm holder, FM Aaryan Varshney drew with Mongolia no.3 GM Tsegmed Batchuluun. WIM Mahalakshmi M held IM Nubairshah to a draw. 21 players are at 2/2. 44th Olympiad individual Bronze medalist, WGM Divya Deshmukh is the sole female player to have made a perfect start. Round 3 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Chhattisgarh Pradesh Shatranj Sangh

Astana GP Round 3: Vaishali draws with Assaubayeva

IM Vaishali R had an interesting draw with IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) in the third round of FIDE Astana Grand Prix 2022. The former sacrificed her knight for the reigning World Blitz Women 2021 champion's pawn. Soon the game ended in a draw as the position did not yield a substantial advantage to either player. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina emerged as sole leader after she won a 97-move long battle against IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL). Vaishali will face the former Women's World champion, GM Tan Zhongyi in round 4 which starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

Generation Cup R5-8: Praggnanandhaa sets the board ablaze with Carlsen, Arjun Erigaisi grabs sole lead

The latest chapter of the Niemann-Carlsen drama is on everyone's mind after the second day of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Julius Baer Generation Cup. However, let's focus on actual chess and some fantastic games which were played. Praggnanandhaa had a barn burner of a game against Magnus Carlsen in the eighth round. The recently turned 17-year-old had some winning chances in the endgame, yet his humane chess earned him a draw, an applause from the world champion and a thumbs up. Actions certainly speak louder than words! Arjun Erigaisi-Levon Aronian saga continued with the former picking up an excellent win. He is now the sole leader 17/24. Round 9 starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: ChessBase India live stream

Chhattisgarh CM Trophy GM Masters R1: Angela stuns Ratnakaran

ChessBase India Hindi's head, Niklesh Jain's better half WIM Franco Valencia Angela scored the biggest upset of the first round of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Trophy GM Open 2022. She defeated IM Ratnakaran in a very sharp battle. IM Anup Deshmukh, recently crowned WIM Srishti Pandey and Chhattisgarh's very own CM Ravi Kumar, all three got themselves very close to beating their Grandmaster opponents. Yet, the seasoned GMs managed to escape with a draw. The tournament witnesses the participation of 127 players including 15 GMs, 23 IMs, 3 WGMs and 11 WIMs from 14 countries across the world including India in the Masters section. The total prize fund of the tournament is ₹3500000, ₹2300000 in Masters and ₹1200000 in Challengers section. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Astana GP Round 2: Four decisive games

The second round of FIDE Astana GP 2022 had four decisive games. IM Polina Shuvalova, WGM Zhu Jiner (CHN), IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ), IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL) scored wins over IM Elisabeth Paehtz (GER), WGM Dinara Wagner (GER), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and IM Vaishali R. Vaishali had a complex game against the Poland no.1 woman. She need to take some chances before going on full defense mode. Eventually her defense succumbed to her opponent's onslaught. She will face the reigning World Blitz 2021 Women champion, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva in Round 3. It starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

Srishti Pandey becomes the latest Woman International Master of India

Srishti Pandey crossed 2200 in the live ratings at 24th Citta di Trieste Chess Festival on 2nd September to become the latest Woman International Master. The National Junior 2019 Girls champion became the second WIM from Nagpur. Srishti earned her first WIM-norm at World Junior Girls 2019. After two years and a month later, she scored her final two WIM-norms in consecutive events at IM Third Saturday Mix 223 and Third Saturday Mix 225 Open in Novi Sad, Serbia. However, she had to wait for almost a year to fulfill the rating criteria to become India's latest Woman International Master. Check out her favorite games annotated by herself among recent events. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Generation Cup R1-4: Praggnanandhaa beats Ivanchuk, Duda and Gelfand

Praggnanandhaa started Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Julius Baer Generation Cup with a win over former World Rapid champion, Vasyl Ivanchuk. Then he beat FIDE World Cup 2021 Jan-Krzysztof Duda in hard-fought prolonged battle. He completed his hat-trick with a win over the legendary Boris Gelfand, before succumbing to Christopher Yoo in the final game of the day. Arjun Erigaisi lost to the world champion Magnus Carlsen in the first round. Then he beat B Adhiban, World Blitz 2013 champion Liem Quang Le and Czech Republic no.1 David Navara. The world no.1 has taken an early sole lead 10/12. He is closely followed by Ivanchuk, Praggnanandhaa, Hans and Arjun at 9/12 each. Round 5 starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: chess24

Astana GP Round 1: Vaishali makes a solid start

IM Vaishali R made a solid start at Astana GP. She drew her first round game against the former World Rapid and Blitz Women champion, GM Kateryna Lagno. Former World Women's Championship Challenger GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and Germany no.1 woman, IM Elisabeth Paehtz scored the only two wins of the first round against IM Polina Shuvalova and WGM Dinara Wagner respectively. Reigning World Blitz Women's champion, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva had an interesting opportunity against compatriot, GM Zhansaya Abdumalik. Vaishali will face IM Alina Kashlinskaya in Round 2 which starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman