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Davide Nastasio, a club player from the US, used to believe that the Modern Pirc was not an opening which could be played by black for a win. But when he came across GM Bologan's DVD on the Modern Pirc, he was able to see the opening in a new light. He realised that if he clubbed the Pirc and the King's Indian, he could build for himself a sharp tactical repertoire with the black pieces. Below is his account of his experience with the DVD.
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Many people have the question: How does a 2700+ player work on chess? How does he practice? From our experience of interviewing top players we have realized that the main food for thought for these super GMs is analyzing the recent/ live games of their fellow elite grandmasters. But now we go a step further. We show you the way in which India number three Vidit Gujrathi analyzes these games. He sent us some very interesting analysis which we present before you and Vidit also has a rook endgame test for you to solve. High quality chess content.
Pieces are tossed in like fuel to burning fire, a king’s pawn shelter ripped apart. One player sees bone-chilling nightmares; his opponent couldn’t hold his thumping heart. More pieces come marauding in, hacking off every defender. The king begins running for his life; in the end, it’s caught en prise. An aesthetic murder is engineered. It’s checkmate! For those romantics who crave for such excitement in their chess games, Robert Ris has selected examples from his professional coaching practice with the aim of helping them understand the method behind what seems madness. A review.
When 11-year-old Gukesh made his maiden IM norm we received a mail from one of his past opponents - Aditya Samant from Pune. Aditya, who is as old (young!) as Gukesh, shared with us a game from 2015 where Gukesh had launched a powerful attack against his king which ended in a mate. He also added, "There are not too many games that you are happy after losing, but this was an exception." This just shows what great chess culture is developing in Indian chess. Sharing a loss with the world takes a lot of courage and we congratulate Aditya for showing great sportsman spirit and giving us further insights into the mind of one of India's best upcoming talents - D. Gukesh.
"I think my probability of winning another world title is greater than zero. There are an incredible number of strong players and to qualify for the Candidates, then there's Carlsen and I'm not getting any younger. So clearly my chances are going down, but I'll still try." This admission by Vishy Anand clearly shows that he is not ultra optimistic about his chances for another shot at the world title. However, with the Madras Tiger, you never really know. If there is anyone in the present day chess world who can win the world title at the age of 50 and beyond, it is only Vishy Anand. Interview by Susan Ninan for ESPN.
With king pawn openings like the Spanish and the Italian coming back in vogue at all levels, it is essential for players to have something in store against the open king-pawn. And what could be a better than opting for something that offers similar structures in various lines? When Davide Nastasio stumbled upon GM Sam Collins' "Open Games with ...Bc5", he was frightened by the sheer size of the offered repertoire. But as he began digging into it, he realised that with the right "homework", he will have a formidable weapon against 1. e4 in his arsenal. Here are his impressions.
It's not every day that you see an Indian playing against the World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Even rare is the fact that you are able to draw the game. Vidit Gujrathi, India number three, faced the Norwegian numero uno in the seventh round of the Isle of Man International 2017. He made Carlsen suffer quite a bit before agreeing to a draw. How did it feel to play his first classical encounter against the World Champion, what was going through his mind, how did he prepare for the game, what did he speak to Magnus, would he have pressed more if it was someone else? We ask all these questions to Vidit and drill down this historic battle.
There is definitely something about 11-year-old Gukesh and his ability to sustain the last round pressure. This young lad played a fine final round game against B. Sekar and not only made his maiden IM norm but also won the first edition of the First Friday closed Round Robin tournament with a score of 7.0/9, one and a half point ahead of his nearest rivals. Gukesh has announced his presence on the international arena and we can be sure that within a few months he will get his remaining two norms and also the 38 Elo points to reach 2400 rating mark and become an International Master.
The 2007 World Championship in Mexico was nearing the half way mark. After six rounds Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand were leading with a score of 4.0/6. In the seventh round Vishy was up against Grischuk who came prepared to play the Marshall. Anand went for the Anti Marshall with 8.a4. He used an opening idea which he had discussed with Magnus Carlsen in a training camp before the event. Grischuk played with great ambition but was trying to balance his position on a knife's edge. Anand played some fantastic chess, especially his anti-positional 34.h5!! to take home the full point and sole lead in the tournament. Video analysis by Vishy's second Peter Heine Nielsen.
At the recently concluded World Cup 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Levon Aronian faced Daniil Dubov in the fourth round. The players reached a technical endgame with Aronian having a rook against Dubov's bishop. Many sources analyzed this endgame with the help of engines and showed us where Aronian could have won much more easily and where Dubov could have drawn. However, going over this engine analysis doesn't really help us to improve our understanding of the game. GM Sundararajan Kidambi was keen on learning this endgame in depth and he takes us on a journey where he speaks about how slowly and steadily he was able to uncover one layer after another. It's a tale of three endgames and it's high quality stuff.
The biggest focus point of the first edition of the "First Friday" tournament has been the 11-year-old Indian talent D. Gukesh. The boy has been in bad, in fact even losing, positions in many of his games, but like a true fighter has come back and remained unbeaten. With 6.0/8, he needs a win in the final round against B. Sekar to make his maiden IM norm. He is the only player in the tournament who has the chance of making the norm. Will Gukesh be able to do it? It will be an interesting final round to follow!
India is filled great talents. What they lack is exposure. When Peter Long decided to hold closed Round Robins tournament in Malaysis a lot of Indian players registered for it. For Indians this is the perfect setup to make their IM norms. After six rounds it's still D. Gukesh, who is leading the tournament with 4.5/6. He will need 2.5 points our of three to make an IM norm. Not an easy task, but it is quite probable. We have a pictorial report along with games, food and much more!
Every time Anand falls, his detractors start their rant of "Vishy should retire". But Anand knows how to pick himself up. He doesn't care about responding to these disparagers. Instead he focuses on what went wrong and how he could improve his game. The last open tournament that Vishy played before the Isle of Man 2017 was the Gibraltar Masters 2016. He had lost 22 Elo points back then. He learned from this experience and came out strongly at the Isle of Man International, scoring +5 and finishing second. ChessBase India caught up with the champion and got his views not only on his performance but also on this retirement issue.
After two rounds of the first edition of the First Friday tournament we had the 11-year-old Gukesh who was the sole leader with 2.0/2. He managed to score 1.5/2 on the second day and with a score of 3.5/4 maintained his sole lead over the field. Kumar Gaurav is also playing well and is on 3.0/4. While all the players have scored at the event, the experienced Indian International Master Neeraj Kumar Mishra is clearly struggling as he has lost all his games until now. We have pictures and games from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
6th of October 2017 was a great day for Singapore chess. Thanks to the efforts of Norwegian Business Association Singapore, Magnus Carlsen visited the country for a simul against 16 players that was greatly enjoyed and appreciated by all the chess lovers of Singapore. The opposition that Magnus faced was not easy. Some players were rank amateurs, but there were also seasoned experts, with six-time National champion IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming (rated 2461!) being one of the participants. But Magnus showed absolutely no mercy. He cleaned up the field with a 16-0 score in little over an hour! | thumbnail image: Andrey Terekhov.
