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Let's rebuild Odisha - an online tournament to raise funds for the destruction done by Fani cyclone

08/05/2019 -

On 12th May 2019, an online blitz tournament will be held to raise funds for the destruction done by 'Fani' cyclone in Odisha. The entire money received through donation will be given to Chief Minister's Relief fund. The tournament has no entry fee. Each player is requested to donate a minimum of Rs 100, however there is no maximum limit. The tournament will take place at 8 p.m. so even if you are playing some tournament or have some other work, you can still take part in it. Certain parts of the state have been badly affected and the normal life has been badly disrupted. Photo: PTI

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Special Grand Chess Tour 2019 contest only for Indians

08/05/2019 -

Grand Chess Tour 2019 starts today at Côte D’Ivoire. But before that begins, we would like to let you know about a contest where you can win either the official collectors edition Sinquefield cup book signed by the GCT participants and a Chess board signed by the GCT participants. This contest is open only to Indians and has been made possible by the efforts of IM Tania Sachdev. So, what do you have to do to win them? Well you just have to predict the four qualifiers for the Grand Chess Tour finals in London that will be held in December this year. However there is a procedure that needs to be followed. In this article we explain it to you. Mind you, today, 8th of May 2019 is the last date for taking part. Photo: Grand Chess Tour

Harikrishna's endgame sorcery explained

07/05/2019 -

It seems like reaching an equal endgame against Harikrishna is a recipe for disaster! The India no.2 has been playing some phenomenal endgames since the Shenzhen Masters. Hari continued his form at the Tepe Sigeman & Co. and is now on 3.0/4 after his rounds three and four victory against Nils Grandelius and Nihal Sarin. How does Harikrishna do it? How is he able to beat such strong opponents from relatively equal endgame positions? IM Sagar Shah has been following Hari's games quite closely and in this article he tries to reveal the key elements of Harikrishna's successful endgame play. We also have a very beautiful endgame lesson from a game played in 1984 between Kovacevic and Ribli. Don't miss this instructive article.

A tournament in France organized by an Indian!

06/05/2019 -

What makes the 4th Noisiel Open 2019 so unique? There are two reasons which make the event special. Sometimes things do not happen as we planned, and sometimes the opposite. IM P. Iniyan didn't want to play in the event at first and instead wanted to prepare for the Dubai Open. With 5 GM norms, P. Iniyan was short of 13 Elo points from the GM title, and at the last moment, he decided to take part in it. With a strong performance of 2638, scoring 7.0/9 points and remaining undefeated P. Iniyan not only was the 1st runner up but also became India's 61st Grandmaster! 4th Noisiel Open 2019 thus made a particular place and a part of GM P. Iniyan's life. The second reason is that the event is organised by Narayanin Oupindrin, the Indian origin French citizen and International organiser who represented the Chennai University team for four years between 1983 and 1986. In this pictorial report, we try to know more about this event in depth.

Swayams Mishra - India's 62nd GM, accomplished trainer and an IT Engineer

06/05/2019 -

Born in 1992, 26-year-old Swayams Mishra has become India's latest GM on 5th of May 2019 when he achieved his final GM norm at the Polonia Wroclaw GM norm tournament. Swayam's story is one of grit and persistence. After achieving two of his GM norms in 2014 and 2015, he had to wait for nearly three and a half years to get the final GM norm. In that period, Swayams not only evolved as a chess player but also as a human being. He became an IT engineer from KIIT university, he became a FIDE trainer and has helped several of his students to unlock their true potential. This is a story of a boy who had no sponsors to support him in his journey, but with the help of his family, friends and well wishers claimed the highest title in chess. An exclusive interview with India's 62nd GM Swayams Mishra.

Gavi Siddayya wins Karnataka State Amateur 2019

05/05/2019 -

Gavi Siddayya of Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education (SCASE) became the surprise winner of the Karnataka State Amateur Chess Championship by scoring an unbeaten 7.5/8. Despite starting out as the eighth seed and drawing his round 3 game, Gavi managed to win the tournament. Top seed FM Yashas D finished half-a-point behind the champion at 7.0/8 and secured the first runner-up position. Second seeded Vinayak Kulkarni suffered the only loss against the eventual champion of the tournament, scored 6.5/8 and secured third place. The tournament was organized by Innovators Chess Academy from 25th - 28th April 2019 at SCASE. Photo: Sushrutha Reddy

Nihal Sarin crosses 2600 on the live rating list at Tepe Sigeman & Co.

05/05/2019 -

In the first round Nihal Sarin played the opening like a book, middlegame like a magician, but couldn't play the endgame like a machine. The result was a draw in a completely winning position against GM Ivan Saric. In round two he was up against Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu. The 14-year-old was under some pressure, but he managed to wriggle out of the mess. Two draws in the first two rounds has helped Nihal to take his live rating past the 2600 mark, making him the youngest 2600 GM in the world at present. Harikrishna, the top seed, missed a winning position against Tiger Hillarp Persson in round one and drew his round two game against Parham Maghsoodloo. Round 1 and 2 report from Sweden.

Adhiban plays à la Alekhine at the Capablanca Memorial 2019

05/05/2019 -

The Capablanca Memorial in Havana Cuba began on the 3rd of May 2019. Indian interest is sparked in the tournament thanks to the participation of B. Adhiban, who recently crossed 2700 on the Elo rating list. Adhiban is the top seed of the tournament and judging by his form, looks like the favourite to win this six player double round robin (10 rounds) event. However, he will face stiff challenge from legendary Vassily Ivanchuk, American talent Samuel Sevian, Spanish no.2 Anton David Guijarro and a couple of local players - Daniel Albornoz Cabrera and Yuri Gonzalez. Adhiban has begun by playing two Cuban opponents in first two rounds and is in joint lead with 1.5/2. In his second round game against Cabrera, he played a dazzling attack. Complete analysis of this Alekhine like game at the Capablanca Memorial.

Shankhodip and Rajanya win 31st West Bengal State Under-11 2019

04/05/2019 -

Shankhodip De and Rajanya Datta won 31st West Bengal State under-11 in Open and Girls category respectively. Shankhodip scored 7.5/8 and finished half-a-point ahead of the runner-up Rwitik Chakraborty. Debaprabho Gorai also scored 7.0/8 but due to a lower tie-break score, he was placed 3rd. Rajanya scored 6.5/7 and finished half-a-point ahead of Mrittika Mallick, who scored 6.0/7 and finished at 2nd position. Jagriti Agarwal secured 3rd position with a score of 5.5/7. The 31st edition of West Bengal State Under-11 Open and Girls 2019 witnessed a mammoth 318 participants from various districts across the state. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

A look at "The Complex Najdorf"

04/05/2019 -

The Sicilian Najdorf is one of the most popular openings in chess! But what do you do if you wish to enter the Najdorf universe for the first time? What would be the right way to learn such complex opening? Grandmaster Victor Bologan proposes this repertoire to answer all the main lines, and sidelines. The Najdorf is a dynamic opening which matches those players who like to play with intensity. But a less well-known rationale is that if one wants to become stronger as player, then the Najdorf is a gym for the budding chess mind! Thanks to a wealth of ideas, strategic themes and tactical patterns, the Najdorf has all one needs to learn how to play the middlegame. Photo: ChessBase

IM Raghunandan shows how to handle the pressure of winning the final round to make a GM norm

04/05/2019 -

GM norms are extremely difficult to achieve. You need a performance of 2600 in an event to get this distinction. IM KS Raghunandan scored his maiden GM norm at the Dubai Open 2019. This result in itself is creditable, but what make Raghunandan's achievement even more noteworthy, is the fight back he showed after losing two games. After a 4.5/5 start, he lost two of his games. It could have been very easy to just give up at this point. But Raghunandan fought back. He drew his eighth round game. In the final round he was in a must-win situation against the strong Indian GM Sandipan Chanda. These last round must-win situations are extremely stressful, but Raghunandan rose to the occasion like a champion and achieved his maiden GM norm! Here's the article that tells you about how Raghu achieved his norm along with the boy's annotations of his final round victory.

The Problemist Diary - Part II

03/05/2019 -

After a successful first article - the problemist diary Part I, which was well received by our readers, Satanick Mukhuty is back with part II. The topic of this edition is "Some more terms and themes". When you go over the article you realize that solving composed problems or studies, much like chess positions, is a lot about understanding the patterns and themes. Terms like half-pin and third-pin seem difficult to comprehend at first. But when you delve deeper and go over these problems patiently, you will be improving your problem solving skills. This is exactly what we want to do with the Problemist diary series. We want to teach you and make you fall in love with the beautiful world of chess compositions!

Magnus Carlsen: "India is going to be the strongest chess country in the world"

03/05/2019 -

The GRENKE Chess Classic came to a close on Monday evening with Magnus Carlsen dominating the field once again. Carlsen scored 7½ points out of his nine games and remained a point and a half ahead of his nearest rival. After his final round victory, Aditya Pai, who was present at the venue, caught up with the world champion to talk about his latest achievements, his thoughts on the upcoming Fischer Random world championship and his views on Indian chess and the potential of young Indian players.  "I’ve said already a few years ago. India is going to be the strongest chess country in the world and I see no reason to go back on that" is what Magnus had to say!

FIDE Women's Candidates: Drawing of lots

02/05/2019 -

For the first time in almost 22 years, FIDE Women's Candidates will take place at the end of this month in Kazan, Russia at Nogai Hotel from 29th May - 19th June 2019. The drawing of lots for the Women's Candidates Tournament took place on 30th April, in the Chess Museum of the Central Chess Club in Moscow, named after the 6th World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. The ceremony was attended by FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and Honorary FIDE Vice President Judit Polgar - the strongest female player of all time. Organized by the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan, FIDE and the Russian Chess Federation, the Candidates has a record prize fund of €200000. But more importantly, the winner of this double round-robin tournament will become the reigning champion Ju Wenjun’s challenger, with half a million euros at stake. Photo: FIDE

Vidit's blindfold magic on 2nd of May at 9.30 p.m. IST

02/05/2019 -

We often see top chess players not looking at the board while calculating. It seems that their attention is somewhere else, yet after a few minutes they make the move without having even glanced at the position. What do you think they were doing for the last few minutes? Well, they were thinking in their head. They did not need to see the chess board to calculate the variations. They could do it in their head. So how do these super GMs calculate without a chess board? How are they able to make complex decisions in their mind, which normal players cannot fathom. Well, on 2nd of May 2019, we get India no.3 and a GM rated 2707 Vidit Gujrathi to tell us all about how to calculate better in blindfold. At the same time Vidit will be available online for live interaction via chat.

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