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Norway Chess 2019 Round 1: Armaggeddon Crazy Chess at Norway 2019!

05/06/2019 -

5/5! That's how many encounters that were decided by Armageddon games! Clearly, all the players were in a mood for fighting chess but had to place their faith in Caissa's blessing, as the five classical games ended in fascinating draws. Carlsen had the best chance of the round against Anand, but the Indian champion defended resourcefully and forced a drawn rook ending. Elsewhere, Mamedyarov missed one of the finest nuances in his game against Caruana, while Aronian was somewhat worse against Grischuk but drew. Ding Liren and So drew while still in their preparation. The armageddons were full of excitement and action, yet surprisingly one-sided at times. An in-depth report by Tanmay Srinath.

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16-year-old Keval Nirgun wins Late Babukaka Shirgaokar Open at Sangli

04/06/2019 -

16-year-old Keval Nirgun of Pune, surprised everyone by winning 52nd Late Babukaka Shirgaokar Open at Sangli on 23rd May 2019. The tournament was organized by Nutan Buddhibal Mandal, one of the oldest organizers in India and it took place at Sangli, Maharashtra from 18th to 23rd May 2019. Total 220 players participated from various states across the country. Top seed of the tournament was Anish Gandhi and IM Ramnath Balasubramaniam was the only International Master in the tournament. Total Prize fund ₹200000 was distributed among 66 different prizes. Photo: FA Vivek Sohani

Bhakti Sensational at National Rapid and Blitz 2019

04/06/2019 -

The reigning National Women's Champion WGM Bhakti Kulkarni had a fantastic run at National Rapid and Blitz 2019. She scored 8.0/11 in both Rapid and Blitz each to secure 8th and 3rd position respectively. This is the best performance by a woman in the National Rapid and Blitz event for the past five years. Previous best was by her only in 2014 when she scored 7.0/11 and 7.5/11 to secure 11th and 8th position respectively in Rapid and Blitz. In this article we interview her to get to know about her performance and her best game from the tournament. Photo: Kanwarjeet/Punjab Kesari  

Norway Blitz: Hurricane MVL destroys the competition, moves to world no.1 with 2948 Elo!

04/06/2019 -

2948! His New Rating! French No.1 Maxime Vachier Lagrave produced another breathtaking blitzkering to take sole first in Norway with an unearthly score of 7.5/9, thus retaking the top spot in the World Rankings in blitz. The Frenchman lost only once, but won 7(!) games with Magnus Carlsen being the biggest casualty. The resurgent Levon Aronian played a remarkable tournament, and so did Carlsen, but their untimely losses meant that they took 2nd and 3rd respectively. Mamedyarov was a distant 4th, while Ding and Yu Yangyi produced mid table performances. Grischuk, Caruana and Anand finished tied at the bottom with a sombre 3.0/9. An illustrated report by Tanmay Srinath.

Home Front - The Hidden Bane of Top Level Chess

03/06/2019 -

22nd November 2013. Who doesn’t remember that date. Magnus Carlsen began his iron fist rule of the top of the chess world by defeating Anand in Chennai. The Mozart of Chess finally took over the mantle of World Champion, taming the Madras Tiger in his own den! Does playing in front of your home crowd in chess make any difference? The players are after all fighting it out inside four walls with no real fans in sight. In this article we try to understand this subject which has not really been given importance in the chess world - the pressure of playing on home-turf. This topic assumes even more importance when we have the Norway super tournament beginning from today where Carlsen will fight in front of his home crowd.

Vishy Anand welcomes Nihal Sarin to the 2600 club!

03/06/2019 -

On 1st of June, at the age of 14 years and 10 months Nihal Sarin crossed 2600 on the published FIDE rating list. He became the third youngest player in the history of the game after Wei Yi and John Burke to cross 2600. Currently he is the youngest 2600+ player in the world. Of course this achievement is phenomenal and has lot to do with the consistency with which Nihal is improving as a player. Nihal's rating and results are enough to gauge his humongous talents, but it is always nice to get affirmation of this fact from a five-time World Champion. On 2nd of June, Vishy Anand tweeted, "Nihal has made a lot of progress in the last year. His tenacity and focus is commendable." 

Women's Candidates Round 3: Goryachkina and Dzagnidze in joint lead

03/06/2019 -

Round 3 in Women's Candidates saw all four games to have decisive results and surprisingly all of them were from white pieces. Gunina tricked her opponent Kosteniuk by opting for Scotch game. Kateryna Lagno missed multiple opportunities to save her game against the youngest player of the tournament Aleksandra Goryachkina. Former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi made a couple of lucky escapes as her opponent Anna Muzychuk suffered second consecutive defeat. Nana Dzagnidze accepted Mariya Muzychuk's pawn sacrifice early in the middle game and won comfortably. We have reigning Asian Women's Champion IM Padmini Rout analyzing Goryachkina and Lagno's game in this report. Photo: Anastasiya Karlovich and Shahid Ahmed

The rise of chess in India - from 1988 to 2019!

03/06/2019 -

On 5th May 2019, India found its 62nd Grandmaster in Swayams Mishra when the 26-year-old from Odisha achieved his final GM norm. From having only one Grandmaster in 1988 and just three during the 90s to a whooping sixty-two in the present year, the nation has indeed come a long way as far as chess is concerned. Going by these numbers, the progress does seem almost overnight. India produced a record eight GMs in 2018 and this year, barely five months in, there are already four. An even brighter future beckons as a band of exceptionally talented teenagers are proving their mettle on chessboard all over the world day in, day out. Today in this article we wind back the clock and delve deep into the country's flourishing chess scene to understand what has made Caïssa shower such incredible graces on the Indian chess community in recent times.

Two days in Scotland

02/06/2019 -

When you sit back home and watch a chess tournament, you see the players, their moves, their games and their scores. However, when you are present at the venue, you not only watch the games, but you try to soak in the environment. On 25th and 26th of May 2019 an extremely strong six round rapid event was held at Lindores Abbey in Scotland. Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Ding Liren, and Sergey Karjakin were the players. IM Sagar Shah was invited to the tournament as a journalist. Sagar's main aim was the coverage of the event, but at the same time he met a lot of different personalities. In this article he talks about the people whom he met and his overall experience of attending the strongest tournament ever held on Scottish soil.

Goryachkina and Dzagnidze score their first win in Women's Candidates

02/06/2019 -

Goryachkina has made the most of her opportunity when she defeated the former Women's World Blitz Champion Valentina Gunina. The youngest player of the tournament, showcased perfect handling of the endgame and did not make any mistake by converting it into a full point. The other win of the day was scored by Georgia's no.1 Nana Dzagnidze over Ukraine's no.2 Anna Muzychuk. Lagno had subtle chances against Kosteniuk before she traded Queens and settled for a draw. While Zhongyi was ambitious in her play in the middlegame, Mariya made sure she never in danger. IM and WGM Padmini Rout annotates Anna-Nana's game. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Neelash and Samriddhaa win 2nd West Bengal State under-17

01/06/2019 -

IM Neelash Saha and Samriddhaa Ghosh win 2nd West Bengal State under-17 2019. Both won their maiden State under-17 title emphatically scoring 6.5/7. Neelash won his second state championship in consecutive months as he won State Blitz last month while Samriddha bounced back after unsuccessful defence of her State Women's crown and finished a full point. CM Aronyak Ghosh also finished at 6.5/7 but due to a better tie-break score, Neelash edged ahead and won the championship. Newly crowned National Schools under-17 girls champion Diya Chowdhury scored 5.5/7 and finished at 2nd position among the girls. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Women's Candidates: Gunina survives a scare in round 1

01/06/2019 -

Valentina on top board survives a massive scare against Kateryna Lagno. The former Women's World Blitz Champion Valentina faced a deferred Steinitz Defence with white pieces but she was unable to get much out of the opening. The reigning World Blitz champion Lagno managed to equalize early in the middle game and then gain substantial advantage but she fell into perpetual check and the game ended up in a draw. Goryachkina kept pushing for an advantage out of the opening with an unusual variation in the Ruy Lopez but the Chess Queen Kosteniuk kept resisting, eventually Goryachkina missed an opportunity and it ended in a draw. Dzagnidze-Zhongyi and the battle of Muzychuk sisters ended up in uneventful draws. Photo: Anastasya Karlovich

If you are above 2400 Elo, a GM norm event is waiting for you in Indonesia

31/05/2019 -

If you are a 2400+ player and are looking for a GM norm tournament, you are in for some good news. The Japfa chess GM norm tournament with 12 players is taking place from 12th to 22nd of June 2019 in Indonesia. 10 players have already confirmed their participation and there is still space for two players. All your costs apart from flight ticket will be covered by the organizers. Apart from this you also have a guaranteed prize money amount that you will take home. Yes, there are only 12 days left for the tournament, but the big plus point is that Indians do not need to apply for a visa to go to Indonesia. If you are keen on taking part in this tournament, then write an email to the contacts given in the article and who knows you will be playing in the Japfa GM norm tournament 2019!

Upcoming tournaments in June 2019

31/05/2019 -

The month of June is stacked with tournaments of all levels. The very first day of June kicks off with National under-7 in Kolkata. Then Altibox Norway starts in Stavanger, Norway from 4th June starring Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand and other elite players. Asian Continental starts on 6th June in Xingtai, China. Israel hosts a strong Masters and Open tournament from 23rd June. Mayor's Cup continues the summer season of GM tournaments in India from 8th June in Mumbai with it's twelfth edition. The third GM tournament of the summer starts from 18th June with critically acclaimed Goa GM Open. World Chess is slated to bring Chess to television with Armageddon The Beginning from 10th June.

The art of looking for Candidate moves

31/05/2019 -

By playing games of chess, looking at games of masters, and solving positions, you develop a feel for chess. This is what we call intuition. When you glance at a position the first moves that come to your mind are because of your intuition. A good chess player has developed a fine intuition for the game through his incessant hardwork. However, this is not enough in a practical game, because there are often many hidden possibilities which the intuition cannot grasp on first look. Hence, it is important to dig deeper for options. This art of digging deeper in the position is called the search for "Candidate Moves". In this article GM Swapnil Dhopade talks about the important subject with the help of a few examples. Also we have the solution to Swapnil's previous challenge.

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