Chennai 2018 Round 4: Yogic Timur Gareyev leads with six others

20/01/2018 -

Timur Gareyev is always a crowd puller either by the moves on the board or by his actions off it. Today he sat like a Yogi in his game against Rahul Sangma and played some fine chess to put it across his opponent. Six more players join him on 4.0/4. They are: Adam Tukhaev, Deepan Chakkravarthy, R.R.Laxman, Karthik Venkatraman, Marcos Llaneza and Arif Abdul Hafiz. In the fourth round we saw some mini-upsets as grandmasters Sivuk, Horvath and Tran Tuan Minh stumbled to a defeat. We have the full report with game analysis, pictures, and videos! 

Tata Steel Chess 06: Shakh beats Adhiban to take pole position

20/01/2018 - Halfway down the line, Tata Steel Chess 2018 found its first sole leader in the form of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. In round six, the Azerbaijani GM got the better of India's Adhiban Baskaran to take the sole lead while his co-leaders, Anand and Giri, agreed to a short draw among themselves. Magnus Carlsen, who hasn't been doing extremely well so far, tried hard to bring home the full point against Peter Svidler but the Russian found a sneaky series of sacrifices to force repetition. In the Challengers, Anton Korobov uncorked a novelty in the Fianchetto  Gruenfeld to beat Aryan Tari while his nearest rival, Vidit Gujrathi was held to a draw by Benjamin Bok. Round 6 report.

Chennai 2018 Round 2+3: 12-year-old Divya Deshmukh beats first GM of her chess career

20/01/2018 -

It was a double round day at the Chennai Open 2018. 17 players are on 100% score with 3.0/3. The number of upsets have not been that huge as compared to the previous grandmaster events. The biggest news of the day was Divya Deshmukh beating the first GM opponent - Vietnamese Hoa Nguyen. We not only bring you the final moments of her victory in video format, but also in-depth analysis with the 12-year-old. Timur Gareyev continued to entertain the audience with his dashing style of play. He is surely looking like a hot contender for winning the title at the Chennai Open 2018. We have the detailed report from Chennai.

A Letter from 2050

19/01/2018 -

The year 2017 came to an end and it was filled with some amazing moments for the Indian chess fans. But what will chess be like in 2050? 33 years from now will chess be the same? Would Pragg have become the World Champion? What would be the prize fund of Delhi Open and what would ChessBase India look like? In this amazingly fun article, our youngest author 12-year-old Avathanshu Bhat has predicted and constructed what the future holds for us. A fun-filled, light-hearted article. Enjoy!

Chennai 2018 Round 1: GMs struggle in India's chess capital

19/01/2018 -

From the capital of India our attention now shifts to the chess capital of India - the Chennai International 2018. We have 266 players, players from 22 countries, 16 grandmasters and 19 International Masters. There is no rating cut off and the event is open for all. It meant that in the first round 1800+ players were facing 2500+ grandmasters. Many of the games were one-sided battles. But because you are in the chess capital of the country a few upsets were sure to happen. And it did! Suat Atalik lost to Thrish Karthik, Harshal Patil drew against Ivan Rozum and Anup Shankar missed many winning opportunities before splitting the point against Hoa Nguyen. A detailed report rich with pictures, videos, analysis and more!

Tata Steel Chess 05: Wei Yi's prep forces Anand to settle for a draw

18/01/2018 -

Viswanathan Anand was caught in a very deeply prepared opening by his fifth round opponent, Wei Yi. In a rather bland variation of a Petroff, the Chinese GM whipped out moves at lightning fast speed and with 100% accuracy and forced Anand into a draw after 29 moves. In the game between Wesley So and Baskaran Adhiban, the Chennai lad believed his opponent's unsound piece sacrifice and went down to lose in an English Opening. The round also witnessed a few curious blunders. In the Challengers, Vidit Gujrathi slowed down after a three-game winning streak and went for a quick draw against Erwin L'ami while Harika also drew a rather tepid game against Lucas van Foreest. An illustrated report on round 5.

ChessBase India is two years old today

18/01/2018 -

18th January 2016 is the date when ChessBase India came into existence. It's been two years since ChessBase India has been powering chess in the country. Right from a thriving newspage, to bubbling social media, to online prize money tournaments, travel portal, calendar, ChessBase India is trying to provide all the services that help to improve the life of a chess player. In this article Sagar Shah, co-founder of ChessBase India tells the story of how this company came into existence and also we have a contest for you to win premium quality recently launched ChessBase India t-shirts.

Delhi 2018 Round 10: Arkadij Naiditsch romps to the finish line!

17/01/2018 -

When the 2700+ rated Azeri GM confirmed his participation for the Delhi International 2018, questions arose whether he would be able to win the tournament or not. With the under-rated Indian players, it was not going to be easy. However, Naiditsch showed to the world that he was a class apart as he easily won the tournament with 8.5/10. He paced himself in exemplary style and was never in danger of being pushed behind. Ziaur Rahman finished second and Nubairshah Shaikh was third. The C-category was won by Anirudh Jain. We bring you the final round report along with some pictures of the prize giving ceremony.

Tata Steel Chess 04: Adhiban holds Anand to a draw!

17/01/2018 -

There were India-versus-India clashes in both events of Tata Steel Chess last night. Anand, in his game against Adhiban, missed a few tactical shots and ended up drawing in a better position. A win would have catapulted him to sole first place as Anish Giri drew against Magnus Carlsen in a razor-sharp theoretical battle. In the Challengers, Vidit Gujrathi made no mistake getting past Harika Dronavalli while Anton Korobov also won his game against Olga Girya. With their wins, Vidit and Korobov have put themselves a point ahead of their nearest rivals. An illustrated report.

Tata Steel Chess 03: Anand leads the Masters, Vidit the challengers!

16/01/2018 -

Round three of the Tata Steel Masters was a rather bland affair with five of the seven games ending peacefully. However, Fabiano Caruana sparked some fireworks in a Petroff Defence against Vishy Anand with a novel piece sacrifice. The Madras tiger was surely taken aback by this but reacted extremely well. Soon, the boot was on the other foot as Caruana lost the thread and was beaten convincingly. In the Challengers, Vidit Gujrathi convincingly outplayed Amin Bassem while Erwin L'ami succeeded in confusing Harika into a draw with his dubious variation of the Alekhine. Round 3 report. 

Delhi 2018 Round 9: Akash Iyer and Nubairshah Shaikh score GM norms

16/01/2018 -

GM norms at an event show the chess culture of a country. At the Delhi International 2018 Akash PC Iyer and Nubairshah Shaikh both scored 9 round GM norms. The former drew very quickly against Arkadij Naiditsch, while the latter beat P. Karthikeyan. Both the players made their maiden GM norm. Fighting against international grandmasters, it just goes to show how our youngsters have improved as players. Going into last round Arkadij Naiditsch maintains his half point lead with 8.0/9. Ziaur Rahman is in the sole second position with 7.5/9 and eight players follow him with 7.0/9. Penultimate round report from Delhi.

Tata Steel Chess 02: Adhiban crumbles against Magnus

15/01/2018 -

Adhiban Baskaran was pitted against Magnus Carlsen in the second round of the Tata Steel Masters. With the white pieces, the Chennai lad went all out for a draw opting for the most tepid variations in a Four Knights Scotch. However, Carlsen showed his class once again and managed to pump life into the bland position he was faced with. Adhiban wasn't able to last long in the ensuing complications. Meanwhile, Vishy Anand comfortably held Sergey Karjakin to a draw. In the Challengers, Vidit Gujrathi played a wild Sicilian to outclass Michal Krasenkow. With this win, he has pushed himself up to the joint first place. An illustrated report with annotated games by the World U-12 Girls Champion, Divya Deshmukh. 

Delhi 2018 Round 8: Arkadij Naiditsch's victory is almost certain!

15/01/2018 -

Arkadij Naiditsch made quick work of Karthikeyan Murali's Berlin Wall. He played strong and logical chess and moved to 7.5/8. He is now one point ahead of the entire field. It was also a day of upsets - Andrey Deviatkin beat Farrukh Amonatov, Ziaur Rahman got the better of Ivan Rozum, Akash Iyer beat Vitaly Sivuk and Sammed Shete was able to defeat Timur Gareyev. The tournament seems to be running Naiditsch's way as he faces the unheralded Akash Iyer in the ninth round. Will the Tamil Nadu boy be able to stop the Azeri super-power? We will know today! For now, here's the round eight report. 

Tata Steel Chess 01: Anand off to a flying start

14/01/2018 -

Indians were happy campers on day one of Tata Steel Chess. While Anand went off to a flying start, winning his round one game against Maxim Matlakov, Baskaran Adhiban daringly lunged his kingside pawns forward from the black side of a Caro-Kann to hold Peter Svidler to a draw. In the Challengers' section, Harika Dronavalli almost effortlessly held the tournament's second seed, Amin Bassem to a draw. And believe it or not, this came with the black pieces against one of Bassem's most favourite openings! An illustrated report with games and analysis.

Delhi 2018 Round 07: Naiditsch and Karthikeyan!

14/01/2018 -

The seventh round of the Delhi International 2018 began with three leaders Arkadij Naiditsch, Karthikeyan Murali and Ziaur Rahman. We are now down to two leaders - Arkadij Naiditsch and Karthikeyan Murali. Both of them will face off against each other in the eighth round of the Delhi International 2018. The Delhi Open is turning into a hotbed for Indian players to show their skills against International opponents. Local talents like Arjun Tiwari, Nubairshah Shaikh, Aditya Mittal, Ankit Gajwa, and many others are doing exceedingly well. We have the full round seven report.