Powerplay 26: A tale of three mating attacks!

25/04/2018 -

Nigel Short once said, "Modern chess is too much concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it, checkmate ends the game!" The art of checkmating our opponent is something that we learn when we are young. But once we know what checkmate is all about, we hardly go back to that subject. In order to ensure that you polish your art of pattern recognition related to mating attacks, Daniel King has come out with his latest Powerplay DVD - Powerplay 26. It's named as checkmate challenge - essential knowledge. In order to tell you what this DVD is all about, IM Sagar Shah takes you on a journey of three tales. Three tales of mating attacks by players of three different generations!

Noora - a bestselling book on the thoughts of a blind girl written by a chess player!

24/04/2018 -

Abir Sinha is a International FIDE Rated player with an Elo 1832. Some of his chess achievements include finishing runners-up at the Philadelphia Open (under-2000) and winning the Hawaii Open (under-2000). Recently, he wrote a book on poetry, not related to chess, but about the feelings of a blind girl called Noora. The book smashed all records as it raced up to number 16 position among the four lakh books on Amazon. In this article, Abir tells us not only about the book, but he also shares with us the secret of how chess helped him to write this book.

Record entries at the Gujarat State Rapid and Blitz 2018

24/04/2018 -

Chess is booming just about everywhere in India. Gujarat which would witness around 50-100 entries for the State Rapid and Blitz selection, saw nearly 200 participants fighting it out for the title of the fastest player in the state. The work that Gujarat State Chess Association is doing at the grassroot level is surely bearing fruits. The winner of the blitz event was the young 14-year-old Vrandesh Parekh, while the rapid section was won by the experienced player from Vadodra Maulik Raval. We have the report of this entire tournament that was organized by ChessBase India Power. 

Amruta Mokal's live coaching session (Part III) on Kan with a good cause!

23/04/2018 -

The ChessBase India live coaching by Amruta Mokal on Sicilian Kan is back! Today, 23rd of April, at 9 p.m. IST. Amruta will be talking about the Maroczy bind structure with 5.c4 against Kan. This was the same line that was used by Magnus Carlsen in the World Championship 2014 to fight against Vishy Anand. Anand didn't really have a great position out of the opening, but Amruta has some new ideas to share with you. Apart from this we would urge you to contribute from your end. If you enjoy the lecture or you do learn something of value then do consider donating some money on the links given in the article. This money will be donated fully to deserving talents of Indian chess in a transparent manner. 

FIDE World Schools starts in Albania

22/04/2018 -

The FIDE World School Championships is taking place in Durres, Albania from the 21st-29th of April 2018. Siblings Tarun and Trisha Kanyamarala, who originally hail from India, but now represent the Irish flag are present at the tournament. The Kanyamaralas have been on the road travelling from one tournament to the next in the last four months. Tarun sends us a report from Albania about their travelling experience and also video analysis of his and Trisha's (his sister) first round encounter.

Novendra Priasmoro wins Bangkok Open 2018, Deepan second, Gukesh scores maiden GM norm

22/04/2018 -

The Bangkok Chess Club Open 2018 had many surprises in store. There were ten GMs above the rating of 2500 including some very strong grandmasters - Nigel Short, Hrant Melkumyan, Jan Gustafsson etc. However, the first prize was taken home by Novendra Priasmoro - an Indonesian player, about whom no one knew anything much. The second place was won by India's Deepan Chakkravarthy - we show you one of his blistering wins. And the third place went to 11-year-old D. Gukesh who made his maiden GM norm! Indian talent Rithvik Raja achieved his maiden IM norm. All this and more in our final report from the Bangkok Open 2018.

Praggnanandhaa achieves his second GM norm in Greece

21/04/2018 -

Praggnanandhaa became an IM at the age of 10 years and 10 months. Sergey Karjakin held the record for the youngest GM in the world - 12 years and 7 months. With nearly one year and nine months to go it seemed as if Pragg would break Karjakin's record. However, it was not to be and although the young lad from Chennai crossed 2500 Elo mark, he could achieve just one GM norm. Many people felt that it was the pressure on his shoulders of becoming that youngest GM in the world that was not letting Pragg play his natural game. Now that we are past that phase, Pragg is showing his free flowing game and achieved his second GM norm in smooth style at the 4th Fischer Memorial GM norm tournament in Heraklion, Greece.

India's most celebrated trainer GM R.B. Ramesh turns 42 today!

20/04/2018 - GM Ramesh, one of the most celebrated coaches of Indian chess, turns 42 years old today. He has worked tremendously hard to build Chess Gurukul and currently is one of the best trainers in the world of chess thanks to his untiring efforts. He has helped the Indian team win its first team medal and has trained some of the finest talents in the world like Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali, Divya Deshmukh and many others. Recently he published his first book - Logical Decision Making in Chess and Davide Nastasio reviews it and tells you why he thinks the book is a pure masterpiece!

Akshayakalpa Karnataka State 2018: Girish Koushik is the richest state champion in the history of Indian chess!

20/04/2018 -

When it comes to controlling one's nerves, there is no one better than Girish Koushik. The youngster from Bangalore was lost in his final round game against Thejkumar, but he hung on and took home the glittering trophy, Rs.1,00,000 and the title of Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Champion 2018. He is the richest state champion ever in the history of Indian chess. Girish did a lot of hard work on the final day by drawing Thej in the last round and beating Stany in the penultimate one. Second place went to Thejkumar and Ojas Kulkarni was third. A comprehensive report with analysis of the key games.

CBIJ #03: Who is the highest rated under-11 in the world?

19/04/2018 -

The third edition of CBIJ (that's ChessBase India Juniors) brings to you all the news about the Asian Youth 2018 and the players that did a fantastic job at the event. It also features an interview with Siddharth Jagadeesh, the World no.1 in U-11 category. Siddharth Jagadeesh represents Singapore but originally hails from India. He tells us about his bold decision to leave school and pursue chess and also sends us two instructive annotated games. We received a poem from young Trisha Krishnan, our first little contributor! Do check out the answer to last week's trivia and know more about the player. Try your hand at this edition's trivia! Enjoy the third edition of CBIJ by our young editor-in-chief Avathanshu Bhat. 

Akshayakalpa Karnataka State 2018: Thej, Stany, Girish or Isha?!

18/04/2018 -

The Akshayakalpa Karnataka State 2018 has reached a highly interesting juncture right before the last day of the event. Two more rounds are to be played and some things have panned out as expected, while a few things have happened which absolutely no one could have imagined. Thejkumar, Stany and Girish Koushik are in the lead with 7.5/8, but the surprise of the tournament is clearly Isha Sharma who is also on the same points. The reigning state women's champion scored wins over Likhit Chilukuri and N. Sanjay in the last two rounds and has added an altogether different dimension to this event.

IM Harsha Bharathakoti wins Kathmandu Open 2018

18/04/2018 -

IM Harsha Bharathakoti drew his last round game against GM Azer Mirzoev and became champion of Kathmandu Open 2018 with a score of 7.5/9. He won a gigantic trophy and NRS 200000. Seven people ended up with 7.0 points each. Azer Mirzoev of Azerbaijan, had the best tie-break score and he secured the first runner up position bagging home NRS 120000, followed by Tarlev Konstantin of Ukraine, who got NRS 80000. Top 3 board games might have ended up in a draw but the result does not do justice to their hard fought devastating battles. In this report, we bring you photos, games and videos from the final round of the tournament.

Akshayakalpa Karnataka State 2018: Four way lead with 6.0/6

17/04/2018 -

Six rounds have been completed at the Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Championships 2018. We have four leaders on 100% score - Thejkumar, Arvind Shastry, Girish Koushik and Yashas D. 14 players follow them on 5.5/6, which also includes the top seed Stany G.A, who drew his game against Likhit Chilukuri. The biggest prize money state tournament of the year organized by Akshayakalpais surely going to get exciting in the last four rounds. We have a report until round six with pictures, game analysis and more.

Harsha Bharathakoti in sole lead after penultimate round in Kathmandu Open 2018

16/04/2018 -

IM Harsha Bharathakoti took sole lead with a score of 7.0/8 after defeating GM Deep Sengupta in the 8th round. There are five players at the joint second position with 6.5/8, Azer Mirzoev, Tarlev Konstantin, Himal Gusain, Alon Greenfeld and P Shyam Nikhil. Azer Mirzoev and Tarlev Konstantin drew their games quickly and Sandipan and Shyam Nikhil's marathon game ended up in a draw. Total NRS 10 lacs is up for grabs for all the prize winners, first prize being NRS 2 lacs. Final round starts at 9 a.m. NST tomorrow. We bring you games, photos and videos from round 7 and 8.

Akshayakalpa Karnataka State Day two: The build-up before the showdown!

16/04/2018 -

What can you expect when players of 900 - 1000 points Elo difference play against each other? Well, definitely the higher rated player should win with ease, right? You can see that the trend is - it is becoming increasingly difficult for the stronger players to score easy wins because the overall level of play has gone up. You can see this very clearly when players like Thejkumar and Stany who are nearly 2500 rated faced off against 1600 Elo opposition. Akshayakalpa Karnataka State is also setting benchmark in how players and parents are being entertained and educated in between the rounds. Speakers like environmentalist Vani Murthy, GM Srinath Narayanan, IM Sagar Shah and FI Niklesh Jain shared all their knowledge with the audience.