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When PM Modi met the royal family of Bhutan -- who is currently on a four-day trip to India -- his gift to Prince Jigme Namgyal Wangchuck was something that caught our eye. The cute little Bhutanese Prince was given a chess set as a gift! Memories of the Swarnim Chess Mahotsav which was held back in 2010 immediately sprung up and we couldn't help wondering if this was a subtle way of promoting the royal game by the PM.
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The First Friday IM norm round robin tournament that is taking place from 4th until the 8th of November is heating up. Jodi Azarya Setyaki, a talented Indonesian FM, is playing some strong chess to lead the event with 3.5/4. India's reigning national under-17 champion Rithvik Raja is on the second spot along with Malaysian Mas Hafizulhelmi. Grandmaster Niaz Murshed has simply been unable to get going and has four draws from four rounds. We have an illustrated report with pictures and games.
"Winning the tournament is not my aim. I just want to make good moves!" That's what Aravindh Chithambaram said after he beat S.L. Narayanan in the eighth round of the National Premier 2017. How can one beat a man with such an attitude? Aravindh sacrificed a piece and played some sublime chess to extend his lead by a full point over Lalith Babu and Arghyadip Das. This round had four decisive encounters, we bring you the analysis of the same. Round eight report by our authors Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal from Patna, Bihar.
Rest days are supposed to spent taking rest. However, some of the players travelled nearly 250 kilometres to enjoy the sight of Bodh Gaya. While this excursion worked well for some of the players, for others it turned out to be an exhausting experience as they blundered on the board. The most affected was Himanshu Sharma as he lost his game and now is in the last spot with 2.0/7. Aravindh Chithambaram was starting down at defeat, but defending brilliantly to draw against Deepan and maintain his half point lead. He is followed by three players on 4.5/7 - Lalith, Karthikeyan and Narayanan. A comprehensive report from Patna.
Pattern recognition and planning are some of the most important concepts to learn if you're on your road to chess mastery. In every position, the biggest hint to finding the right plan lies in the pawn structure. In this DVD, GM Adrian Mikhalchishin teaches how to recognise patterns and find the right plans accordingly. Besides, he also sheds light on some key concepts in plan execution including exploiting weak squares, piece manoeuvring etc. using ample examples from grandmaster games. Impressed by this selection of games, David Nastasio, the author of this review, felt one can find all the wisdom of the Soviet chess school in it.
Lately, chess talents are not only cropping up from the southern part of India but also from the north. This also includes states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam etc. where the chess culture isn't that great. Thanks to the advent of the internet and other technological advancements, knowledge is no longer inaccessible to those who do not come from places where chess is a big thing. And of course, the efforts of the All India Chess Federation could also not be discounted. A very recent example of this is the Punjabi boy, Vidit Jain, who got the better of the top seed, A R Ilamparthy from Tamil Nadu in the second round of the National U-9 Chess Tournament and caused a major upset. A short report.
The first Friday tournament is into its second edition. The November IM norm round robin tournament has a grandmaster playing in the form of GM Niaz Murshed. Two Indian players have also made their way to the event - recently crowned under-17 National Champion Rithvik Raja and YVK Chakravarthy. We would like to remind you that in the first ever edition of First Friday in October youngster D.Gukesh made his maiden IM norm. Here you can watch the live games of the event. Rounds begin at 6.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. IST every day.
We have organized three online prize money tournaments in 2017 - Fischer online, KCA online and DBCA online. Now we would like to end the year with a bang. The biggest prize money blitz tournament of the year is here. The total prize fund is Rs.62,500 and the first prize is Rs.15,000. It will be 10 rounds of 3'+1" blitz and this time we have special female and age category prizes! This event celebrates 21st anniversary of South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA). The last date of early bird registration is 12th of November. More details:
Kevin Goh Wei Ming is an International Master with two grandmaster norms from Singapore. He has been six-time national champion of his country and works as the Chief Financial Officer at Lucence Diagnostics. Even with his hectic work schedule he makes sure to stay abreast with all the latest happenings in the world of chess. After all becoming a GM is quite a high priority in his life. He calls himself an opening junkie, for his great love for the first phase of the game and in this article he has analyzed four games from the October edition of First Friday. Mind you, this is high quality stuff from a very competent International Master.
We are nearing the halfway stage of the Khadi India National Premier 2017 and we finally have a sole leader - Aravindh Chithambaram. Just like round five he played a fine rook endgame, this time to down the debutant Sammed Shete. But the game which took the limelight today was definitely Karthikeyan Murali's win over Lalith Babu. The two time national champion showed tremendous mastery over the dynamics of the position as he sacrificed a piece and then finished off the game with surgeon like precision. A detailed report from Patna with video impressions, analysis and high quality pictures.
Keeping up with the sensational fourth round that featured as many as five decisive games out of seven, the fifth round of the National Premier in Patna ended with some stunning results. While debutant Sammed Jaykumar Shete crashed through the defences of the experienced Maharashtrian GM Abhijit Kunte, Aravindh Chithambaram joined the leaders at 3.5/5 after a neat rook sacrifice in the endgame that made Swapnil Dhopade throw in the towel. A detailed report of the happenings in Patna.
13-year-old Balasubramaniam was facing a mini-crisis in his play. He had played in the Malaysian Open and had reduced 90 Elo points. With a positive Facebook post he was trying to show the world that all was fine, but deep within he knew that there were problems in his game that needed to be fixed. He made a list of his weaknesses and then worked on them to get better. With the help of his coach R.B. Ramesh and his brother Bharath (former under-8 World Champion), he managed to improve his play. The results logically followed as the young boy went on to win the 17th Adyar Times ahead of many experienced IMs.
Convential wisdom dictates that king should be carefully protected in a game of chess. After all if the king is checkmated the game is over! However, if you did visit the Lemon Tree Hotel in Patna where the fourth round of National Premier 2017 was in progress, you would see a completely different scene. Two players confidently marched their kings all the way to the middle of the board right in the middlegame and emerged victorious. They were Lalith Babu and R.R. Laxman. Three more players won their games today, taking the tally to five decisive results. Lalith Babu and S.L. Narayanan lead the tournament.
A week ago when Diwali was being celebrated all over India, we asked some of the top male and female players how the game of black and white has added colour and brightness to their life. Reading about the thoughts of these top players, our young author Avathanshu Bhat went into nostalgia mode and recollected those memorable incidents in his chess career till date. And he has had a full repertoire of experiences to share from the purple of embarrassment to the pink of friendship! After reading this article one tends to ask, is the author really just 12 years old?!
A brief glance at the crosstable after round 3 convinces you how difficult the National Premier 2017 is. Four players are leading the tournament, but with a score of just 2.0/3. Each and every player is well matched and the event is providing some good fighting chess. In round three, two decisive games were also the most interesting ones as Aravindh managed to outfox Laxman in what Capablanca called was a theoretical edge for a side with the knight, Arghyadip Das scored a fine win against Deepan Chakkravarthy. A detailed report on round three.
