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IIFLW 2018-19 - Where quality prevailed over quantity

03/02/2019 -

There are many norm tournaments taking place in India these days. However, there is a catch here. Even in the A-category events players with extremely low rating are included so that they get a chance to compete in the same events as grandmasters and best players of the country. While this is an excellent thought for the lower rated players, for the higher rated players, this turns out to be a huge bane. Making norms when facing such lower rated opponents becomes next to impossible. However, IIFLW 2018-19 decided to conduct a tournament with a difference. In the A-category, Indian players above the rating of 2100 were only allowed. The result? Five players made their norms. In this article IM Nisha Mohota thanks the sponsors IIFLW and organizer Praful Zaveri for keeping a strict cut-off. 

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Reviewing the new-look ChessBase Magazine

03/02/2019 -

Daily training to improve and keep us in shape has to be fun as well as intellectually enlightening. We need to keep up our interest in order to perform well in tournaments. Reviewer DAVIDE NASTASIO likes to do that by engaging with a variety of learning tools. This time he turns his training eye on the new ChessBase Magazine. CBM encompasses different training methods covering all areas, from theoretical opening articles, to tactical and endgame training with video feedback. CBM 187 is a great way to translate your training time into practical success. Here's an overview with examples.

Trekking towards the GM title: The story of how G.A. Stany reinvented himself

02/02/2019 -

"Personal fitness, ability to concentrate, stubbornness, “sitzfleisch”, creativity – all these are the aspects which influence your game more than the newest deviation in the Najdorf on move 29 or a 14 move combination you couldn’t calculate."- Thomas. If you are following chess closely than you might have come across players who have crossed the required Elo rating for a long time but still don't have the IM/GM Title, just because of a missing norm or in some cases, have the required number of norms but need to cross the rating barrier. India's 58th Grandmaster G.A. Stany had a similar experience. For a long time he was couple of norms away, having completed the 2500 Elo requirement. In this article he take us through his journey of how he overcame his weaknesses and also shares with us some very important part of having success in chess which is often neglected. Thumbnail photo: V. Saravanan

Indians at the Gibraltar Masters 2019

01/02/2019 -

The Gibraltar Masters 2019 had 26 Indians playing at their event. Karthikeyan Murali was our best performing player as he not only finished second and gained 24 Elo points, but went back home richer by £20,000. Lalith Babu was another top performing Indian who finished eighth and gained 27 Elo points. Youngsters Gukesh and Raunak Sadhwani had a fine event as both of them gained rating points. Although India's top women players Humpy and Harika did not get a prize, they performed well holding their own against the best of grandmasters. The Gibraltar Masters is one of the best open tournaments in the world, and through this comprehensive round up article we give you the feel of the entire atmosphere on the rock!

Game Changer: Revitalizing the attack

31/01/2019 -

AlphaZero became a worldwide sensation when it defeated the world's strongest chess engine in a long match just hours after being fed the rules of the game. At the time, Garry Kasparov said that it had shaken chess to its roots. In the opinion of Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan, the authors of the book 'Game Changer: AlphaZero's Groundbreaking Chess Strategies and the Promise of AI' this all-new silicon monster developed by DeepMind has helped us discover that there is lots of fresh potential in chess. ADITYA PAI spoke with the authors about their book, the impact AlphaZero has (and will have) on our royal game and whether chess will be solved one day in the light of such technological advancements.

33 Indians will travel to Aeroflot Open 2019 fully sponsored by the Government

31/01/2019 -

We can say that Indian chess is in safe hands when we know that we have a strong administration in the form of AICF and the government of India supporting the sport. 33 Indians will be travelling to the Aeroflot Open 2019 on 18th of February 2019 sponsored completely by the Government of India. It includes both male and female players in senior, junior and sub-junior category. These players will have absolutely no cost as the sports authority of India will take care of not only flight and accommodation, but also visa costs and also give the players a daily allowance. Aeroflot Open has three sections: A (above 2550), B (2300 to 2550) and C (below 2300). One of the Indian GMs will be the top seed in the B section. Can you guess who he is?

For which level of players is the Vishy Anand camp aimed at?

31/01/2019 -

Vishy Anand will be having a training workshop at the PYC Gymkhana, Pune from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on the 16th and 17th of February. Anand will be joined by India no.3 Vidit Gujrathi as a co-trainer. This is your unique chance to learn from two of the greatest chess players that our country has ever seen. A common question that we have been receiving is - for which rating level of players is this camp useful. In this article IM Sagar Shah tries to explain how the camp would be useful to just about any ambitious player with the help of his favourite Vishy Anand game - Ivanchuk vs Anand, Linares 1992.

How strong is GM Arjun Erigaisi?

31/01/2019 -

When people talk about the youngsters of Indian chess they usually speak about Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, D. Gukesh, Raunak Sadhwani, Prithu Gupta and so on. But there is one lad, slightly older than the rest, born in 2003 and 15 years old, who is taking the chess world by a storm. He is none other than Arjun Erigaisi, Telangana's first GM. At the recently concluded World Youth Olympiad 2018 in Turkey he performed at an Elo of 2678 and beat three strong opponents - Abdusattorov Nodirbek of Uzbekistan, Andrey Esipenko of Russia and Viktor Matviishen of Ukraine. In this article you can go through all the three games and two of them have been annotated by Arjun himself. This is the perfect way to know how strong Arjun really is.

Exciting chess in first three rounds of Velammal-AICF WGM Round Robin

30/01/2019 -

While strong male players are constantly being churned out from the country, women's chess has been a matter of worry for the current administration of AICF. In order to set this problem straight they have decided to seriously invest in bringing world class international players to India and give a chance to the young talents to fight it out against them in Round Robin format. The six Indian girls who have got a chance in the Velammal-AICF WGM Round Robin tournament are Michelle Catherina, Varshini, Divya Deshmukh, Aakanksha Hagawane, Saloni Sapale and Chandreyee Hajra. The international players are Nakhbayeva, Munguuntuul, Osmak, Uuriinuya, Babiy and Franco. Olga Babiy from Ukraine is leading the event with 3.0/3. On her heels is India's future in women's chess WIM Divya Deshmukh. An illustrated report with pictures from Chennai by Niklesh Jain.

Breaking: Vladimir Kramnik retires

29/01/2019 -

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik, a former world champion, has just announced his retirement as a professional chess player at the age of 43 years. Kramnik was world champion from 2000 to 2007. He dethroned the indomitable Garry Kasparov to become the world champion. Kramnik won three individual and three team medals for his country Russia. He has won almost all top tournaments, including the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in 1998. Kramnik's biggest significant contribution to chess would be his ideas in opening theory which has been adopted and used by many strong players. The 'Big Vlad' will be missed in competitive chess tournaments. Photo: Alina L'Ami

Tata Steel Chess 2019: Carlsen wins his seventh title

28/01/2019 -

Magnus Carlsen won his seventh Tata Steel Chess title after holding a draw against Anish Giri despite all of the latter's attempts to keep the game going. Peace was signed after 30 moves as Anish contented himself with the second place. There was a three-way tie for third between Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren and Vishy Anand, who had all scored 7½/13. As for Vidit Gujrathi, he finished sixth, just one spot behind Anand, with a score of 7.0/13. In the Challengers' Vladislav Kovalev took the title, winning with a staggering 1½ point margin, having beaten Stefan Kuipers in the final round. GM R Praggnanandhaa finished his run with a draw against IM Dinara Saduakassova. | Photo: Alina L'ami

#AskSagar on his 29th birthday - a live show on 28th January at 6 p.m.

28/01/2019 -

Indian chess is powered by the wonderful organizers who organize world class events, by the administrators who work hard day in and out, by the journalists who burn the midnight oil to write about the talents, by coaches who guide the players towards their ultimate goal, by arbiters who ensure law and order in a tournament. However, there is no mechanism where someone can ask a pressing question to an expert and get his doubts answered. Today, 28th of January 2019 is the birthday of IM Sagar Shah, the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India. At 6 p.m. IST is a live show where you can ask any pressing question related to chess that is on your mind. Sagar will try his best to answer it. Also if you would like, you can contribute towards a good cause.

The curious case of Vishrut Parekh

27/01/2019 -

At the closing ceremony of the Goa GM International 2018 we interviewed a young boy named Vishrut Parekh, who had finished second in the C category event (below 1600). When his interview was uploaded on YouTube, there were a lot of comments which pointed towards the issue of sandbagging. Sandbagging in chess is the phenomenon where players lose their rating so that they can participate in the below rating category events where the prize money is high and win good amount. Vishrut's case is very transparent as he beats 1500 opponents on a regular basis in important events while loses to 1100 rated oppositions in less important tournaments. With this article we are bringing forth this issue and ask our readers for a solution to this growing problem. 

Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen and Giri to battle for the title

27/01/2019 -

At the conclusion of the penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters, it became clear that the race for the title will be only between Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. With a win over Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the twelfth round, Carlsen has taken the sole lead. Giri remained half-a-point behind the World Champion after avoiding defeat thanks to a sudden draw offer by Teimour Radjabov. Other wins of the round were scored by Vladimir Kramnik (over Vladimir Fedoseev) and Sam Shankland (over Ian Nepomniachtchi), while the game between Vishy Anand and Ding Liren ended in an exciting draw. | Photo: Alina L'ami

Grand Chess Tour 2019 comes to India from 20-27 November

27/01/2019 -

The Grand Chess Tour has been a boon to the professional chess players. Inspired by Garry Kasparov and backed by Saint Louis Chess Club, the tour began in 2015. The good news is that we are in 2019 and the tour is going strong. This year apart from the tour increasing its prize fund to a total of $1.75 million (approx 12 crore, 40 lakh INR), the number of events has also increased to eight and will span across four continents! Kolkata will host the penultimate event of the tour from 20-27 November for the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz event. The Indian connection to the tour got even more stronger as Vishy Anand is one of the participants and Gameplan sports, an Indian company is appointed as the official sponsorship and branding partner of the tour.

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