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GCT Paris Day 2: Anand slips to the fifth spot with three straight draws

22/06/2018 -

Viswanathan Anand was co-leading the Paris leg of the Grand Chess Tour after the first day with a nice win in the second round against Vladimir Kramnik. But on day two, the Indian ace was unable to pull out a win while his rivals sped past him in terms of score. However, Anand hasn't lost a game either; he concluded day two with three straight draws. Going into the final day of the rapids, Anand, with a score of 3.5/9, remains a full point behind leader Wesley So. Aronian and Karjakin are also half-a-point ahead of him at 4.0/10.

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Learn from the great Patriarch of chess - Mikhail Botvinnik

22/06/2018 -

If Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik could learn from the great Patriarch of chess Mikhail Botvinnik, we are sure you can also learn a great deal from this great master. Hence, ChessBase has launched it's 10th DVD in the series of Master Class on Mikhail Botvinnik where some of the capable tutors like Pelletier, Marin, Mueller and Reeh dissect the play of the fifth World Champion. In this article IM Sagar Shah tells you all about how studying the classics helped him to become a stronger chess player. He shows you one of his favourite games of Botvinnik and how he applied what he learnt, in his game at the under-19 nationals back in 2007!

The launch of ChessBase India Foundation

21/06/2018 -

ChessBase India started two and a half years ago with the mission of powering chess in India. Over the years, everyone in the organization has worked tremendously hard to unite the chess community of India. We have received great support and love from you and that is the reason why we think we are in the ideal position to start this ambitious project - The "ChessBase India Foundation". There are many people all over the world who want to contribute financially to the growth of Indian chess, there are many talents in India who are in need of these finances. ChessBase India Foundation aims to act as a bridge. We believe that when ordinary people come together and contribute, extraordinary things can happen to our chess society.

Paris GCT Day 1: Anand beats Kramnik!

21/06/2018 -

Vishy Anand is the master of making comebacks. After not playing so well at the Leuven leg of the Grand Chess Tour and finishing at the bottom of the table, Anand came out strong in the Paris leg and after first day of rapids, he is the joint leader. Anand scored two draws and one win. The draws came against Mamedyarov and Aronian, while the win was against Vladimir Kramnik! The game between Anand and Kramnik was a tense encounter where the Indian champion managed to weave some excellent tactics around the Russian's king. In the end Kramnik blundered a rook and resigned the game.

Now Indian school kids know more than what a "Russian school boy" ever knew!

20/06/2018 -

"Even a Russian School Boy would know this" had been a very famous quote in the past years. This statement was a testimonial to the tremendous chess culture that existed in Russia, formerly known as the Soviet Union. But things are changing now. Indian youngsters are becoming much stronger than their Russian counterparts. The perfect example of this was the White Rook inter-school chess tournament held in Sochi, Russia where 79 Russian school teams and 21 International teams participated. Indian team of Gukesh, Leon, Rakshitta and Savitha from Velammal Vidyalaya went to Sochi and simply crushed the competition by scoring 33.5 points out of a possible 36! Full report and game analysis.

Schaakweek Apeldoorn: Pragnanandhaa finishes with all decisive games

20/06/2018 -

Praggnanandhaa might have missed a shot at his final GM norm at the Schaakweek Apeldoorn closed round robin but his will to win was undeterred. Out of his nine games in the tournament, Praggnanandhaa did not sign peace in even one. He either won with pride or lost with dignity. In the end, he finished with a meagre score of 3.0/9 but his vehement desire to win his games is a clear indication that the boy is not too far from his final GM norm. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Batkhuyag Munguntuul wins the SBI Life AICF Woman Grandmasters Round Robin in a thrilling finish

20/06/2018 -

It was for the first time that a closed Round Robin Women's International Tournament was held in India. Although no Indian player was able to make a WGM norm, the amount of learnings that our girls took home was mammoth. The winner of the event was Mongolian IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul. In the last round she edged out Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, who lost her game to third placed Srija Seshadri. Srija, Aakanksha and Vantika gained Elo points from the event, while Monnisha, Divya and Rakshitta gained experience! Rakshitta scored just 0.5/11, but we tell you why it can be a blessing in disguise. Photos and interviews by the mother-son duo of Supriya and Avathanshu Bhat. 

Harikrishna finishes strong to beat Navara in Prague

19/06/2018 -

Pentala Harikrishna won the CEZ Chess Trophy this Saturday after defeating David Navara in a 12-game rapid match. The Indian scored three wins in the final games to overcome the one-point advantage Navara had amassed before the last day of play. It was a great result for the hastily invited Harikrishna, who replaced Ding Liren at the last minute. | Photo: Prague Chess Society

Using chess to make a difference - The "Invest in Chess" initiative

19/06/2018 -

The Invest in Chess is a very unique mission started by a student at the University of Chicago, Sharan Subramanian. The idea of this initiative is not only to spread, teach, and promote chess, but also to raise awareness of its numerous practical and educational benefits. They try to make it easier for more people to have access to chess because it is, truly, more than a game. Invest in Chess focuses especially more in underprivileged communities. Their goals are to use chess as a tool that can help increase the high school graduation rate and decrease the crime and violence among youth. Below is a report and photos by Sharan where he shares his journey so far and makes an appeal to all the chess loving family to be a part of this initiative.

Nakhbayeva and Munguntuul set up a mouth watering clash!

18/06/2018 -

Things are shaping up like a Bollywood thriller at the SBI Life AICF Women Grandmaster's Round Robin tournament in Mumbai. After nine rounds we have a sole leader - Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan, who had a great day on the 17th of June as she scored 2.0/2 and took her tally to 7.0/9. But she cannot yet breathe easy as Mongolian top seed Batkhuyag Munguntuul is right on her heels with 6.5/9 and the duo meet each other in the tenth round. It is going to be a mouth watering clash!

GCT Leuven: Anand finishes fifth in Blitz; So takes title despite final round loss!

17/06/2018 -

The final day of the Grand Chess Tour in Leuven was a complete barnburner. Wesley So's 1.5 point lead almost evaporated as lost in the very first round and was even caught in the lead by Sergey Karjakin, eventually. In the final round, So was being chased by Karjakin and Maxime Vachier Lagrave who were both only half a point behind. The crunch moment came when So lost his final round game and gave his chasers a chance to overtake. But then, MVL and Karjakin also lost, letting so take away the title! Meanwhile, Vishy Anand amassed 4.5 points on the final day to finished fifth in the blitz and eighth overall.

Batkhuyag Munguntuul crushes the Sicilian like a boss!

17/06/2018 -

The SBI Life AICF Women's Grandmaster Invitation tournament is very interestingly poised after seven rounds. Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova joined Guliskhan Nakhbayeva at the top after she defeated the woman in form Srija Seshadri. Although the game played by Gulrukhbegim was very nice, the honours for the best game of the day surely went to top seed Batkhuyag Munguntuul who defeated overnight leader Vo Thi Kim Phung in an excellent game from the white side of the Sicilian Defence. We set you test positions and ask you to solve them and see if you can play like the Mongolian!

Singh is King!

17/06/2018 -

With a rating of 2084, Arvinder Preet Singh started as the 26th seed at the World Amateur Chess Championships below 2300 that were held in Cagliari, Italy from the 22nd to the 29th of April 2018. He lost his second and sixth round and with a score of 4.0/6 it seemed as if it would be just another normal event. But the Punjab lad pumped himself up for the final stretch and scored three wins in the last three rounds. More importantly he defeated the existing leaders in their personal encounters and when the last round was over, Arvinder Preet Singh had become the World Amateur Champion!

GCT Leuven: Anand makes a nice comeback; So's lead narrowed to half

16/06/2018 -

Blitz is one of those time formats that unmasks the mortality of even the greatest wizards of the game of chess. In Leuven at the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the first day of blitz began with some ingenious attacks, mindboggling blunders and incredible saves. More than once, bigwigs like Anand, Aronian, So etc were seen leaving pieces en prise, hanging checkmate in one and missing elementary knight forks! We have an illustrated report on all the action. 

"Forced to wear a headscarf is violative of my human rights" - Interview with Soumya Swaminathan

16/06/2018 -

“Ideally Official Tournaments should be held in places where player's basic human rights are ensured”, says WGM Soumya Swaminathan after withdrawing from the Asian Nations Cup 2018 due to compulsory rule of wearing a hijab during the tournament. The Asian Nations Cup will be held from the 27th of July to 4th of August 2018 in Hamadan, Iran. Soumya has refused to travel to the tournament as she thinks that being forced to wear the hijab violates her human rights. This stand by Soumya which started as a small Facebook post has snowballed into all the leading newspapers and websites covering it. ChessBase India spoke with Soumya and lets you know all that is on her mind.

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