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The 13th edition of the Aeroflot Open 2016 is being held in Moscow, Russia from the 29th of February to 10th of March 2016. The tournament ended in a close finish at the top with both Boris Gelfand and Evgeny Najer scoring 6.5/9, with the latter taking first place on tiebreak. The Indians were playing in sizable numbers and our best performer was GM Krishnan Sasikiran who scored 5.5/9. An illustrated report of Group A and Aeroflot Blitz.
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In 1986, with a rating of 2405, Vishy Anand shot ahead of all his compatriots at the end of the 23rd National A. This India number one post he preserved right until the 15th of March 2016, until that fateful game in which he lost against Sergey Karjakin. Pentala Harikrishna who has been hovering around the 2760 Elo mark for quite some time now, finally made the leap and became India number one based on the live Elo rankings.
They have played 26 games against each other (including blitz, rapid and classical) and Karjakin has never been able to win a single game against Vishy Anand. “I am very happy as today is my first classical win against Anand”, that’s what Sergey said when he was asked how he felt about the game. Anand made a few inaccuracies and the resulting ending was so passive for Black that Karjakin could take his own merry time to deliver the final blow. An impressive victory for Sergey. Analysis by IM Sagar Shah
A decade or two back, Vietnam was more of a war than a nation, but not anymore -- today, they are among the fastest growing economies in Asia. The country hosted the 6th HD Bank Cup 2016 this month. Fifteen grandmasters and twenty-nine International Masters led a field of seventy-one players and five Indians were among them. An illustrated report with choice tactics and grandmaster analysis!
With a draw in the third round against Fabiano Caruana, Anand maintains his joint lead at the event. It was truly a fine game by Vishy as he systematically tried to ground down the young American. In fact the Indian ace was better on many occasions but it just didn't prove enough to win. Going into the rest day Anand will have time to relax and prepare for his next encounter with Sergey Karjakin. As of now you can enjoy round three annotations by IM Sagar Shah.
After a resounding victory in the first round, Vishy Anand faced Levon Aronian in round two. It was a highly theoretical and modern variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, in which both the players were armed to the teeth with excellent home-preparation. Until move twenty they played moves that were already known by them and with some careful manoeuvring Anand was able to easily hold the draw with the black pieces. A fairly successful result for the Indian champion. We have in-depth game analysis from Moscow by IM Sagar Shah.
Just like the Khanty Mansiysk Candidates in 2014, Vishy Anand began his campaign with a win in the Moscow Candidates 2016. He won a topsy turvy battle over Veselin Topalov. With this win Anand is the sole leader of the event as all the other three encounters ended in draws. We have the entire game between Anand and Topalov annotated in great detail by IM Sagar Shah.
He is one of the best rising talents of India. After scoring his maiden IM norm at the Cannes festival just a few days ago, Praggnanandhaa followed it up with another brilliant performance at the Aeroflot Open 2016. He is just ten years old and already has two IM norms and a live rating of 2376! Little Praggu annotated two of his best games for our dear readers and also granted us a short video interview following his memorable performance.
The biggest chess extravaganza of 2016, the World Championship Candidates Tournament, is just hours away. The first round will be played at 3 p.m. local time on the 11th of March in the Central Telegraph building in Moscow. After playing the Aeroflot Blitz yesterday, Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal made their way to the opening ceremony and sent us some exclusive material from the Russian capital. A report from Moscow.
The IMSA Mindgames, is a bit of an in-between for FIDE, as far as chess is concerned, and the Olympics (the normal one, not the chess specific one). Each year it organizes a series of chess events, with a number of top players, offering medals as well as prizes. In this year's event were rapid, blitz and basque chess and India was represented by our two leading lights -- Harika and Harikrishna. We bring you an illustrated report depicting the Indian performance.
With an average rating of 2585 in the A-category, higher than even Qatar Masters's 2529, Aeroflot Open 2016 is right there among the handful of chess events to look forward to. A platoon of Indians has made its way through the freezing cold of Moscow to play in this tournament. We bring you an update on India's best performers so far in this illustrated report.
Have you played a tournament in a perfect setting with excellent conditions and everything that you could have hoped for - with an exception- you just cannot play chess there? Welcome to Cannes! The 30th Festival International des Jeux de Cannes which was held from 22nd February to 28th February. It was a nine round swiss event with 79 titled players out of the total 111 in the A group with 19 Grandmasters. A perfect tournament to play chess one might say! IM Nisha Mohota brings us a richly illustrated report.
The world knows that we Indians are a world-class force in chess, but what about non-resident Indians abroad? Chess is a young sport and budding down under in Australia from where our dear friend Anandaram Jothibabu reports the Melbourne Chess Club's 150th-anniversary tournament. An illustrated report with games.
Aeroflot has been considered as the strongest Open in the world by default for many years now. There are newcomers in the form of Gibraltars and Qatars, but it is unlikely that anybody can really match the heritage of this annual tournament held in the chill of the Russian capital. They say one's chess education is incomplete without a sojourn in Russia and an army of Indians has made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Moscow. An illustrated report.
March is the month of examinations in our country and is often a stressful time for many of our friends -- the chess playing students. They have to cope with their usual appetite for our beautiful game and at the same time study hard for that impending examination that scares the living daylights out of some people. India's beloved Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his monthly address to the nation via 'Mann ki Baat', discussed some valuable insights regarding examinations and how to deal with them. The Prime Minister had a special guest in the form of a cerebral olympian who himself was an above average student in his school days -- Vishy!
