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How a 2700+ prodigy punishes an opening mess-up

12/01/2020 -

The Tata steel Chess Tournament found a mild start with two and three games turning decisive out of the possible seven in the two playing sections on the first day of the event yesterday. Among the Masters it was the 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja and Dutchman Jorden Van Foreest who emerged victorious. In the Challengers category Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Erwin L'ami, and Pavel Eljanov clinched full points. The highly anticipated Magnus Carlsen versus Anish Giri ended in an anticlimactic draw after looking promising initially, while Vishy Anand's encounter against Vladislav Artemiev too fizzled out into a split of point. A detailed report on round one from Wijk Aan Zee.

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18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Karthik and Krishna among five leaders

12/01/2020 -

GM Karthik Venkataraman and IM CRG Krishna are among the five leaders who are at full point 4.0/4 at the conclusion of fourth round at 18th Delhi International GM Open 2020. While Karthik gave a small chance to his young opponent, Krishna had won his game with ease against relatively weaker opponents respectively. Himal was unable to maintain equilibrium against Martinez, Niranjan lost his solid grip against Aleksandrov, Ziaur scored a fine victory over Hesham, Amonatov ended Muthaiah's fantastic run after the latter played way too passive in the fourth round.  Round 4 report with games, analysis and photos. Photo: Rupali Mullick

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program Day 04: Traits of a super talent

12/01/2020 -

At the Coastal Paradise Lateef Villas in Chennai, 14 young talents of Indian chess are learning from Kramnik and Gelfand. When you have this sample size it is quite interesting to make a deduction of their qualities that have helped them to become chess super talents. Is there a common trait that all of them possess which has helped them to become so strong? IM Sagar Shah is present at the venue with the kids along with Amruta Mokal as the managers of the camp. He tried to observe these young talents closely and in this article presents before you his findings on the qualities that make a chess super talent. We also discuss two interesting positions from the camp with video explanations by Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali and Rakshitta Ravi.

Goryachkina bounces back in FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020

11/01/2020 -

Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Ju Wenjun in Game 5 to equalize the score 2.5-2.5 in FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020. Ju made a questionable sacrifice of an exchange in the middle game and landed herself in troubled waters. Later in the Double Rook vs Rook and Knight endgame, Ju got a chance to make a comeback but she made an incorrect decision of retreating her knight and lost the game in another 15 moves. The final game in Shanghai, China, Game 6 will be played on 12th January at 3:30 p.m. local time, 1 p.m. IST before both players move to Vladivostok, Russia to play the remaining six classical games from 16th January. Photo: Zhang Yanhong / FIDE

Laxman wins 2nd Open Rapid Rating at Trichy

11/01/2020 -

Top seed Laxman scored an unbeaten 6.5/7 and beat P R Hirthickkesh in an Armageddon match to win 2nd Open FIDE Rated Rapid tournament at Trichy, Tamil Nadu on 5th January 2020. Both Laxman and Hirthickkesh finished with 6.5/7 and had all their five tie-break score same, thus Armageddon was played to determine the champion. Hirthickkesh had to settle for the runner-up position. Eleven players finished at 6.0/7. IM B T Muralikrishnan was placed third due to his better tie-break score. Total 269 players participated in this one-day rapid rating tournament organized by Star Chess Foundation held at Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Photo: R Anantharam

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is all set to begin in Wijk Aan Zee

11/01/2020 -

The first round of Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2020 - Masters and Challengers - will begin at 6 p.m IST in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands. The two-week long event taking place from the 10th to the 26th of January is featuring all the elite players of the world including Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, and Viswanathan Anand. This is the 82nd edition of the popularly hailed "Wimbledon of Chess" which in its 82-year-old tradition has witnessed the participation of all the great players of the past - from Smyslov, Spassky, and Tal to Karpov and Kasparov. In this article we present a brief curtain-raiser to the event.

18th Delhi GM Open 2020: Muthaiah Al shines on day 2

11/01/2020 -

Eleven players share the lead at the conclusion of round 3 of 18th Delhi International GM Open 2020. On day 2, Al Muthaiah stole the show by defeating Delhi Open defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia and GM Visakh N R in consecutive rounds. GM Karthik Venkataraman scored a fantastic win over reigning Commonwealth champion GM Abhijeet Gupta. Among the leaders, GM Ziaur Rahman, GM Hesham Abdelrahman, IM Himal Gusain and FM Niranjan Navalgund scored fine victories in round 3 to finish the day with 3.0/3. Two untitled players 15-year old Ishvi Agarwal and 14-year old Rudrashish Chakraborty are among the leaders with a perfect score of 3.0/3. A detailed report of round 2 and 3. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program Day 3: When to calculate and when not to

11/01/2020 -

The work on the openings is in full swing at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training Camp. The breaks are getting shorter, the time of completing the sessions are being pushed back. Everyone is working hard - the trainers as well as the students. When you sit in the classroom and spend some time as a student, you realize that although the camp is meant for openings, it is not just openings that are being discussed. In fact so many middlegame positions are carefully being analyzed, so many endgame techniques are being shown. Yes, the major emphasis is on the opening, but when players like Kramnik and Gelfand are training you, they take the entire game as a whole and not some fragmented bits. In this article you learn when it is important to calculate and when not to, Gelfand's approach towards opening and Kramnik's art of mini-schemes! 

18th Delhi GM Open 2020: G B Joshi stuns Harsha Bharathakoti

10/01/2020 -

The biggest open tournament in the country started its 18th edition on 9th January at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi. The tournament was inaugurated by Managing Worker and Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, Subrata Roy. In the opening round, Harsha suffered the same fate as last year, as he again started with a loss, this time against Delhi's seasoned veteran G B Joshi. Harsha made an inaccurate sacrifice which his opponent had no trouble punishing. Dhananjay held Bhopal GM Open 2019 winner Nodirbek Yakubboev and Aashna Makhija held Chilean GM Rodrigo Schroeder to a draw respectively. The tournament boasts a total prize fund of ₹11100000. It was announced that next year it will be increased to ₹12500000. Photo: Niklesh Jain

Ju Wenjun scores the first win in FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020

10/01/2020 -

The defending champion Ju Wenjun scored the first victory of FIDE Women's World Championship match 2020 against her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, after the latter offered an inaccurate bishop exchange. Ju seized the opportunity and went into a winning Queen endgame. When the time was right, Ju liquidated it into a winning King and pawn endgame which was just a matter of technique for her to convert into a full point. Only two games remain to be played in Shanghai, China, after that players will move to Vladivostok, Russia to play the remaining six games. Friday 10th January is a rest day. Game 5 will resume on 11th January at 3:30 p.m. local time, 1:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Zhang Yanhong / FIDE

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program Day 2: To become a good chess player, just chess is not enough

10/01/2020 -

"If you can keep improving your chess skills each day, you will become one of the best players in the world". While this is an extremely logical statement to make, I would say it is incomplete. Chess improvement involves much more than simply chess! And top players know it the best. That's the reason why at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training camp special emphasis has been placed on matters beyond the chess board as well. The food that is being consumed by the players and the trainers is being carefully prepared by expert chefs. An expert yoga instructor visits the premises each day to make sure that the day begins with physical as well as mental fitness. Check out this article to find out how in order to become a good chess player, just chess is not enough!

Liam Vrolijk conquers 57th Groningen Chess Festival, Mary magnificent

09/01/2020 -

17-year-old IM Liam Vrolijk of Rotterdam, Netherlands won his maiden Groningen Chess Festival in the 57th edition after finishing tied first, second place in the previous edition. Liam also scored his second GM-norm in the process. Three players Liam Vrolijk, GMs Shant Sargsyan and Hagen Poetsch also finished at the same score. Liam clinched the championship, Shant and Hagen were placed second and third according to their tie-break scores. WGM Mary Ann Gomes with her no-draw approach played some fantastic chess by beating top seed Sergei Tiviakov and Russian GM Evgeny Gleizerov. She finished shared seventh, tenth place with a score of 6.0/9, gaining 13 Elo rating points. Photo: Harry Gielen

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program Day 1: Fire and Ice!

09/01/2020 -

When two world class players are working with talented Indian youngsters in two different groups, the question that naturally comes to mind is - how is one trainer different from the other! On day one of the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training Program, IM Sagar Shah spent quite some time in both the sessions of Gelfand and Kramnik and came to the conclusion that it was like Fire and Ice! Gelfand was like Fire and Kramnik like Ice! Why does the author say so? What were the openings and positions discussed on day one of the training camp? Find out in this article! A first hand view of the biggest training camp taking place on Indian soil ever!

Ju's missed opportunity in Game 3 of FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020

09/01/2020 -

Game 3 was a hard fought draw which lasted for over five and a half hours, but the most important part is Goryachkina got an edge out of QGD Semi-Tarrasch opening. She couldn't manage to capitalize, instead presented Ju with an opportunity to make a comeback. Unlike previous game, this did not require Ju to take any unnecessary risks, it was a simple calculation. It is evident that the pressure of World Championship is making the defending champion miss these. Ju managed to defend well and in the end the game ended up in a drawn Rook and Pawn ending. A draw was agreed after 85 moves. Game 4 will take place on 9th January. Photo: Lewis Liu / FIDE

Sandipan Chanda wins EKA IIFL wealth GM Open 2019-20

08/01/2020 -

The 5th EKA IIFL Investment Managers Grandmaster Chess Tournament ended in a tie between Sandipan Chanda and Deepan Chakkravarthy both of whom finished with a score of 7.5 points at the end of nine rounds. However Sandipan, who managed to remain unbeaten and impressively won all his games in the last six rounds, became the champion overtaking Deepan in the tie-breaks. Vaibhav Suri, Kirill Stupak, and Rishi Sardana scored 7.0/9 each and took the third, fourth, and fifth places respectively. The event therefore came to a conclusion with the Indians dominating as the top three prizes were all clinched by the host country.

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