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Shardul Gagare and Arghyadip Das stay in the hunt at XLV Seville Open 2020

17/01/2020 -

GM Kirill Shevchenko (UKR) and GM Lu Shanglei (CHN) are in the joint lead with 6.5/7 at the end of the seventh round of XLV Seville Open 2020. They will face each other in the penultimate round. Among the Indians, both GM Shardul Gagare and IM Arghyadip Das registered fine victories and they are now just a half point behind the leaders at 6.0/7. GM Swayams Mishra and IM Ravi Teja S drew their respective games, they are at 5.5/7. Among the Indian women, IM Padmini Rout, IM Nisha Mohota, WIM Pratyusha Bodda and WIM Shalmali Gagare all won their respective games and they are now at 5.0/7. The tournament has only two rounds left to go. Photo: Amruta Mokal and Shahid Ahmed

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Mr.Commonwealth Abhijeet Gupta wins 18th Delhi GM Open 2020

17/01/2020 -

Reigning and five-time Commonwealth Champion Abhijeet Gupta beat Aleksej Aleksandrov in the final round to clinch the championship in 18th Delhi International GM Open 2020. He finished at 8.5/10, a half point ahead of the field, won a huge trophy and ₹650000 cash prize. Aleksej Aleksandrov secured the runner-up position with a score of 8.0/10 according to the tie-break score, he received a huge trophy and ₹550000 cash prize. Pavel Ponkratov also finished with 8.0/10, he was placed third and won ₹450000 cash prize. The Category 'C' event was won by Bishwajit Singh Khagokpam of Manipur, he scored an unbeaten 9.5/10, followed by Shaurya Kumaria and Chiranjit Manna who finished second and third respectively. Photo: Niklesh Jain

The first ever No-Castling Chess Tournament results in 89% decisive games!

17/01/2020 -

Vladimir Kramnik suggested the idea of No-Castling chess a couple of months ago. All the rules of chess remain the same, just that both the players cannot castle. How does removing this one rule alter the game? Well, we decided to put this idea to test by getting 13 of the strongest Indian youngsters (average Elo - 2457) and holding the first ever No-Castling chess tournament at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training camp in Chennai. It was a hard fought event with GM Raunak Sadhwani winning it ahead of many other talents. The most heartening thing to see was the number of fighting games! Out of the 27 games played, 24 of them ended in decisive results with only three draws. We bring you a comprehensive report with all the games, videos, analysis by Sagar Shah and some brilliant photos by Amruta Mokal. 

FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020 resumes with a draw in Game 7

16/01/2020 -

The second stage of the FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020 started at Vladivostok, Russia today. Game 7 ended up in a draw after a five-hour long battle spanning 67 moves. Goryachkina went for Berlin Defence for the third time, but Ju was not in a mood to play the same, so she opted for Anti-Berlin system. Neither side was able to extract anything. The game eventually reached into a double rook endgame which liquidated into a drawn King Pawn endgame. Only five games in the classical format. Game 8 will take place on 17th January at 3:30 p.m. local time, 11:00 a.m. IST. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE

Swayams, Ravi, Arghyadip and Shardul are in the title fray of XLV Seville Open 2020

16/01/2020 -

Four Indians GM Swayams Mishra, IM Ravi Teja S, IM Arghyadip Das and GM Shardul Gagare are trailing behind half a point at 5.0/7 in XLV Abierto Internacional "Ciudad de Sevilla". Currently five players are leading the tournament at 5.5/6 each, they are Karen Grigoryan, Kirill Shevchenko, Vitaliy Bernadskiy, Di Li and Shanglei Lu. Among the Indian women, Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan, Shalmali Gagare, Nisha Mohota and Pratyusha Bodda are at 4.0/6 each. With three rounds left, a lot of ups and downs are expected to happen. First prize 2000 Euros is up for grabs. The report contains selected games, key moments and photos from the tournament. Photo: Ismael Nieto

Can Abhijeet Gupta win 18th Delhi GM Open 2020?

16/01/2020 -

Aleksej Aleksandrov scored a victory in the penultimate round against Jose Eduardo Martinez and maintained his sole lead by a half point going into the final round. Abhijeet Gupta is the only one who has the opportunity to beat Aleksandrov and become champion. Aleksandrov is leading with a score of 8.0/9 and Abhijeet is at 7.5/9. They are followed by a pack of eight players who are at 7.0/9. Pranesh, Shyamnikhil and Visakh are the three Indians among the eight. The Category 'C' witnesses a total participation of 1260 players from six different countries which makes the total participation in the tournament 2347 in this year's edition. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ganguly's Catalan masterclass, Nihal's robust endgame play

15/01/2020 -

Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Nihal Sarin, the two Indian Challengers at the ongoing Tata Steel Chess 2020 in Wijk Aan Zee, both registered impressive victories with black pieces yesterday. While the former showed his deep knowledge of opening and calculation prowess to beat Dinara Saduakassova, the latter edged out Max Warmerdam in a rook ending. Thus, after four rounds, Ganguly has emerged as the sole leader with 3.0/4 points and Nihal has climbed up to the joint second place on the leaderboard. In the Masters event Alireza Firouzja suffered his first loss in the hands of Wesley So, and Magnus Carlsen drew Jorden Van Foreest to surpass Sergei Tiviakov's record streak of 110 classical games. 

Diptayan, Abhijeet and Pranesh in the title fray of 18th Delhi GM Open 2020

15/01/2020 -

Aleksej Aleksandrov maintained his sole lead with a score of 7.0/8, by making a short draw with compatriot Alexei Fedorov. Abhijeet Gupta defeated Himal Gusain after the latter made an incorrect bishop exchange. Diptayan converted his decent advantage in the middle game against Lokesh N. 14-year old Pranesh M continued his fantastic run as he defeated Adam Tukhaev by double piece sacrifice and scored his second IM-norm. He is on the verge of scoring his maiden GM-norm. All players and officials maintained a two-minute silence to mourn the loss of former AICF Secretary General P T Ummer Koya | Photo: Niklesh Jain

Alireza Firouzja leads Tata Steel Masters

14/01/2020 -

He is just 16 but he is already leading the ongoing Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee ahead of giants like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. Alireza Firouzja is one of the most formidable talents of this generation, many say he even has the potential to become the next World Champion. But what is it that makes him so special? Well, his third round victory against Vladislav Artemiev, who is interestingly also another world class prodigy, might just give us an answer. In this illustrated report we discuss Alireza's encounter against Artemiev in detail and more.

18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Aleksandrov maintains sole lead, Himal in the fray

14/01/2020 -

Belarusian GM Alexej Aleksandrov maitained his sole lead by making a draw with Ukrainian GM Adam Tukhaev. He is currently leading with a score of 6.5/7. IM Himal Gusain beat GM Visakh N R and became the only Indian who is a half point behind the leader at 5.5/7. Currently seven Indians are at 5.5/7 and they are - GM Karthik Venkataraman, GM Diptayan Ghosh, FM Pranesh M, GM Abhijeet Gupta, IM Neelash Saha and untitled Lokesh N. While the top board on the eighth round witnesses an All-Belarussian battle between Aleksej Aleksandrov and Alexei Fedorov, the second board witnesses a match between two Indians, Himal Gusain and Abhijeet Gupta. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Let's remember our first national champion of India - R B Sapre

14/01/2020 -

Chennai is known as the chess capital of India. Tamil Nadu is the Indian state that has the most number of grandmasters in the country. But did you know the first national champion of India was from Maharashtra. R.B. Sapre. Ramchandra Bhargav Sapre was a pure natural talent at the game of chess. Without any formal chess education he went on to become one of the greatest chess players of the country. His analytical ability was so great that he was invited to the Botvinnik-Smyslov match in Russia in 1954. R.B. Sapre his no more, but his chess legacy continues thanks to a few chess enthusiasts who have organized an open rapid rating event on 18th and 19th January 2020 in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Know more about this event. 

Vishy's vexation in the Italian

13/01/2020 -

In this age of highly meticulous engine oriented chess preparation, seldom do we see an elite player going wrong in the opening phase of the game. Usually all the Grandmasters at the top these days are extremely well-prepared and have a very strong repertoire covering a wide range of openings. Therefore, it was nothing short of surprising, when yesterday Wesley So managed to outwit the five-time World Champion Vishy Anand with a novelty in the classical Italian line. Out of the four decisive games that happened in the second round of Tata Steel Masters, this was perhaps the most striking for it was also the quickest encounter to finish. We bring you a detailed analysis of this game in our second round report from Wijk Aan Zee.

Shanghai stage ends with 3-3 in FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020

13/01/2020 -

Game 6 of FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020 ends up in an uneventful draw. The final game in Shanghai, China witnessed Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence by the Challenger. Goryachkina tried to create something but neither side was ever in any kind of trouble. The game eventually liquidated into a drawn Bishop vs Knight endgame after white's 57th move. However the game went on for another 48 moves and a draw was agreed eventually after 105 moves were made. The score is now 3-3. The next six games will be played in Vladivostok, Russia from 16th January at 3:30 p.m. local time, 11:00 a.m. IST. Photo: Lewis Liu / FIDE

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program 2020 Day 5 - Aesthetics in Chess

13/01/2020 -

Decision making in chess is a very complex process. It depends on many factors. One of them is aesthetics. How can a player's sense of aesthetics determine the decisions that are made on the board? In this article on the fifth day of the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training camp IM Sagar Shah explains this concept with an example from Kramnik's training. We also give you a study that was posed by Boris to the students. We would like to see if you can solve it. 13th of January is a rest day for the kids. While the trainers Kramnik and Gelfand go to Mahabalipuram, the kids will indulge in the first ever no-castle chess tournament. More information in this article about this unique event! 

Aleksandrov takes sole lead, Pranesh brilliant in 18th Delhi GM Open 2020 Day 4

13/01/2020 -

Five Indians are at 5.0/6 each, a full point behind GM Aleksej Aleksandrov who is at 6.0/6. They are - GM Karthik Venkataraman, GM Diptayan Ghosh, GM Visakh N R, IM Himal Gusain and FM Pranesh M. Karthik lost his lead after losing to Aleksandrov. Himal keeps his norm hopes alive by beating GM Rodrigo Schroeder, 14-year old Pranesh had a fantastic day by beating GM Stanislav Bogdanovich and IM Nguyen Van Huy. Four players finished at unbeaten 9.0/10, local lad Himanshu Moudgil won the Category 'B' due to a better tie-break score. 11-year old Md. Imran continued his phenomenal run and finished at second place and another local player Chandan Mandal also finishing at 9.0/10 secured third position. Photo: Niklesh Jain

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