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Praggnanandhaa in sole lead at Xtracon chess with 6.5/7 and a rating performance of 2788!

26/07/2019 -

Praggnanandhaa has struck golden form at the strong Xtracon Open in Denmark. Starting as the 21st seed, Pragg is the sole leader of the tournament with a score of 6.5/7. He currently has a performance rating of 2788 and has gained 20 Elo points, taking his live rating to 2560. Pragg also scalped two 2600+ GMs - Anton Korobov and Daniele Vocaturo. In this article we see both the games. Apart from Pragg there are three more Indians who are doing well. Karthikeyan Murali is unbeaten and is on 5.5/7. Vaishali has beaten already two grandmasters and is well on course for an IM norm. Bharath Subramaniyam, who is a few months shy of turning 12, beat 2615 rated Rasmus Svane and is on the 6th place on the ranking list.  

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Nico's missed 'Game of the Year' overshadows Shankland's rook sacrifice!

26/07/2019 -

Really? Game of the year? You heard it right! After an opening mistake from Vidit, Georgiadis turned on beast mode and made it to an endgame a pawn up. However, instead of a routine piece capture, he had a chance to end the game with a spectacular piece sacrifice! Vidit survived by the scruff of his neck, and is now joined at the top by Sam Shankland, who produced a Sicilian miniature consisting of temporary piece and exchange sacrifices to down Maghsoodloo in only 26 moves. Peter Leko and Sebastian Bogner had substantial advantages against Abdusattorov and Cori, but couldn't make them count and ended up sharing the spoils. A comprehensive report from Biel by Tanmay Srinath. 

National Women's 2019 R09: Chess is a tough game!

26/07/2019 -

Do you agree with our title? If you don't, then read on. In this article we are going to show you two games where the critical moment was so difficult to understand that strong players like Soumya Swaminathan and Vantika Agrawal went wrong. Just one wrong move and the game was over. That's why chess is such an unforgiving game. On the other hand Bhakti Kulkarni is playing chess like a person who has just about everything under control. She doesn't miss any tactics. If she gets an advantage she calmly converts it. It's almost as if she cannot put a foot wrong. With 8.5/9 she is now leading the tournament with 1.5 points and has already gained 36 Elo points. In round 10 she takes on K. Priyanka. Will she stop Bhakti Kulkarni? Follow the live games on 26th of July at 10 a.m.

Live Games from the 46th National Women's Championship 2019

25/07/2019 -

With the first prize of Rs.4,00,000, the 46th National Women's Championships 2019 is one of the most keenly contested women tournaments of Indian chess. We have the top seed of the tournament Soumya Swaminathan, followed by defending champion Bhakti Kulkarni. The third seed is the young, talented and unpredictable Divya Deshmukh. Apart from them we have Vijayalakshmi, Srija Seshadri, Mary Ann Gomes and many more top players of Indian chess. On this page you can follow the live games on a daily basis from 19th to 27th of July. The rounds begin 10 a.m. each day, but in case of double rounds we have them at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. respectively. 20th of July and 22nd of July are double round days. Follow the games Live here!

Chettinadu Public School - A chess ambient institution in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu

25/07/2019 -

The ongoing 46th edition of National Women's Championship 2019 is being hosted and sponsored by the Chettinad Public School of Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. While we are bringing you round by round in depth coverage of this highly important National level event, it would be remiss if we didn't mention about the very institution which has been key in its organization. In this article we exclusively take you to the venue of National Women's 2019, the Chettinadu Public School (CPS) - a CBSE affiliated senior secondary school that has made a name these days in the Indian chess scene. All the photos in this report have been provided by IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran.

Sandipan Chanda dominates Leiden Open 2019

25/07/2019 -

Sandipan Chanda's highest career Elo was 2656. To see him at a rating of 2516 almost seems like a publishing error. The man has deep understanding of chess, he calculates well, loves to play chess and yet he has systematically shed rating points in the past few months. What was going wrong? Well, whatever it was, seems to have been halted at the Leiden Open 2019, where Sandipan scored 7.5/9 with a rating performance of 2630 and finished a full point ahead of his nearest rivals. Sandipan won his first six rounds and then drew his remaining three to comfortably win the event. The Crown Group was won by Predrag Nikolic who made a strong finish by scoring four out of the last five rounds to edge ahead of Lalith Babu and Deep Sengupta.

Vidit beats Leko in English for sole lead while Abdusattorov outsmarts Shankland

25/07/2019 -

Cometh the hour, cometh Superman! Vidit Gujarathi didn't play perfect chess, but his slow and steady buildup was too much for Peter Leko to take, and the former now takes over sole lead in the tournament. Nodirbek Abdusattorov handed Sam Shankland a defeat in the 4.d3 Anti Berlin after the former US Champion lost his objectivity and overextended his queenside. Parham Maghsoodloo's loss of form turned worrying, as an overestimation cost him a sure draw, with Jorge Cori being the lucky beneficiary. The All Swiss duel ended square, as two good friends and teammates didn't test each other, and rested for tougher battles. An exhaustive report from Biel by Tanmay Srinath.

National Women's 2019 R08: Bhakti's...Kxd7?! Wow! What sort of a move is that?

25/07/2019 -

Bhakti Kulkarni continues to steal the show at the 46th National Women's Championship 2019. In round 8, victory came once again, this time against Nandhidhaa P V and that too playing the black side of the super weird Scandinavian opening. With the current state of things one might as well say that the Bhakti effect is taking over the tournament. However, possibilities still abound as just half a point behind breathing down Bhakti's neck is Vantika Agrawal. Meenakshi Subbaraman too has climbed up the leaderboard with formidable performances in the last two rounds and has every chance at putting a stop to Bhakti's dream run. With only three rounds remaining, the contest is still excitingly open to many!

Share games with ChessBase 15

24/07/2019 -

Sharing can be fun — and sharing chess games can be fun but also helpful and instructive, e.g. if you teach chess or work with a trainer. In any case, sharing games with ChessBase 15 is easy. Here's a short tutorial covering your options. | Drawing: ChessBase

Biel 2019 R02: Bogner's redemption and Leko's metamorphosis spruce up Biel!

24/07/2019 -

Well, one doesn't lose forever. Sebastian Bogner, the current Swiss Champion taught us all how to overcome a rut by clinically destroying Parham Maghsoodloo's weak opening play to get back in contention. Sam Shankland had the chance of the round against Vidit, but the American failed to assess properly the best continuation available to him. Peter Leko continued his remarkable fable by turning a new leaf yet again - his game against Georgiadis lasted an epic 101 moves. Peter Leko, Sam Shankland and Vidit Gujrathi lead the classical section with four points. Peter Leko leads the overall standings with 14 points. Tanmay Srinath in an exhaustive report from Biel dissects today's play.

National Women's 2019 Round 7: A day of mistakes and missed chances

24/07/2019 -

The seventh round of the 46th National Women's Championship 2019 was a day of mistakes and missed chances. On board-1 it was the highly anticipated Bhakti Kulkarni versus Soumya Swaminathan matchup but the encounter simply failed to live up to the expectation as the top-seed of the event couldn't quite find her form against the defending champion. Vantika Agrawal and Nandhidhaa P V drew their respective games against Pratyusha Bodda and Michelle Catherina; while Swati Ghate, who had made an impressive recovery after losing her first round game, faltered and lost to Meenakshi Subbaraman in a winning position. However, the biggest shocker came from Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman versus Potluri Saye Srreezza, where the former made a crude mistake on move 71 to lose in a dead drawn queen-pawn ending.

Nihal reveals one of his favorite books

23/07/2019 -

Yesterday reigning Asian Continental Blitz Champion, 14-year-old GM Nihal Sarin made a post on his facebook page mentioning about one of his favorite books - Quick Chess Knockouts by Julian Hodgson. We all wonder what did the champions study in their formative years, what made them achieve greatness by becoming so strong. Nihal shares a small spec of it in his latest facebook post. Photo: Nihal Sarin's facebook page.

Biel 2019 R01: Sicilian Counterattacks and Queen's Pawn Boa Constrictors spawn a bloodbath!

23/07/2019 -

With the prestigious title of Biel Champion on the line, the players produced one of the most energetic rounds of classical chess in recent times, and produced a decisive result on all 4 boards in round one of the Biel GM 2019! Peter Leko and Vidit Gujarathi channeled their inner Karpovs and slowly squeezed the life out of Bogner and Cori respectively, while Shankland and Maghsoodloo beat back their opponents Georgiadis and Abdusattorov in contrasting Sicilian victories to maintain their spot in the standings. Tanmay Srinath in an extensive report from Biel analyses all the games and discerns shrewd improvements for both winner and loser.

National Women's 2019 R05+06: Lady luck smiles on Vantika, Bhakti beats Divya

23/07/2019 -

It was a double rounds day at the 46th National Women's Championship 2019. In the fifth round the top board saw a surprising escape when Bhakti Kulkarni blundered in a winning position and Vantika Agrawal salvaged a draw through perpetual. Divya Deshmukh won a nice tactical game in the same round playing the black pieces of a Sicilian against Varshini. The final round of the day saw more fire works as both Bhakti and Vantika crashed through winning against Divya and IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman respectively. After six rounds of the event Bhakti and Vantika share the lead with 5.5/6 points; while Soumya Swaminathan, Nandhidhaa P V, Michelle Catherina P, Pratyusha Bodda and Swati Ghate follow close behind with 5.0/6. Watch out for Swati, after the first round loss, she has scored 5.0/5!

Biel 2019 Rapid: Leko's exemplary endgame play takes Biel by Storm!

22/07/2019 -

The 2019 edition of the Biel Chess Festival began with the rapid tournament. With all three formats being used to determine the overall winner, the players are egged on to show their versatile bests. Peter Leko turned back the clock with a commanding performance to take the tournament by storm - sole first with 10.0/14! His subtle endgame play granted him 3 wins, which was enough to finish ahead of the top seed Sam Shankland and his nearest competitors Vidit Gujrathi and Parham Maghsoodloo. Jorge Cori sparkled and drowned in equal measure with the prodigious Abdusattorov to finish on 50% while home favourites Georgiadis and Bogner failed to impress. A detailed report from Biel by Tanmay Srinath.

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