A candid conversation with GM Deepan Chakkravarthy

28/08/2017 - The National Challengers 2017 was a thrilling affair. GM Swapnil Dhopade was leading the event almost all the way through. But just then, in came GM Deepan Chakkravarthy who beat all odds and clinched the title by winning five straight games! To talk about this sensational performance, ChessBase India's Aditya Pai caught up with Deepan. In this interview, Deepan not only speaks about the nail-biting finish at the National Challengers but also analyses his final round game and gives insights into his life and chess in general.

 

Asian Cities kicks of in KIIT, Bhubaneshwar

27/08/2017 -

Asian Cities 2017 is being held in the Kalinga Institute Campus, Bhubaneshwar from the 26th of August to 1st of September 2017. Rasht from Iran is the top seed with the local KIIT team being the second seeds. Twelve teams are taking part in this event. Five teams are from India: KIIT, Bhubaneshwar,  Kolkata, Puri, Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar, while we have six International teams from Iran, UAE, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Oman, Palestine and Chinese Taipei. We have round one report.

The Champion from Chudamani: IM Sidhant Mohapatra

27/08/2017 -

170 km away from the capital city Bhubaneshwar, Odisha is a small village called Chudamani. This is where a talented lad, and India's latest International Master is from. There was absolutely no chess culture at that place, but Sidhant Mohapatra braved all the odds and made a name for himself in the chess world. ChessBase India's youngest author Avathanshu Bhat caught up with him and did an interview. We present it now to you and this will help you to get to know the champion from Chudamani better. 

Come, play blitz against the best in Indian chess!

27/08/2017 -

ChessBase India prize money blitz tournaments are something that players all over India look forward to with great excitement. These events not only provide you a platform to play against the best players of the country but also to earn prize money by playing from your couch! The third ChessBase India online blitz on 10th September is dedicated to 12 years of Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy (DBCA). And this time we have made it bigger and better. Prize fund of Rs.50,000 and first place Rs.12,500. Already eight grandmasters have confirmed their participation.

11th ChessBase India show with Peter Heine Nielsen

25/08/2017 -

On 29th of September 2007 Vishy Anand drew his game against Peter Leko in Mexico City and became the World Champion. This was Vishy Anand's first undisputed World title. It was a moment of great pride and glory for Indian chess. And now we are nearing the tenth anniversary of this brilliant achievement. The eleventh ChessBase India show will deal with Anand's performance at this Mexico World Championship and the guest is none other than his second at that very tournament Peter Heine Nielsen. Expect some very exciting stories and secrets to be revealed!

Who will be India's 50th grandmaster?

24/08/2017 -

India got its first grandmaster in the form of Vishy Anand in 1988. Slowly the number increased with great talents of Indian chess like Barua, Thipsay, Kunte and others flowing in. Recently there has been a surge in chess popularity in the country and this is being shown in the sharp growth of grandmasters. We now have 49 GMs. The last one was Abhimanyu Puranik, making his final norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters. The million dollar question now is: Who will be India's 50th GM? We give you the candidates for the golden jubilee grandmaster! 

Deepan Chakkravarthy is the National Challengers 2017 Champion

24/08/2017 -

In what could be called nothing short of Bollywood action, Deepan Chakkravarthy played a Karpovian (apologies to Smyslov fans) endgame and beat the leader Swapnil Dhopade to take the 55th National Challengers title. Swapnil, who led the tournament right from the start, had to be content with the 2nd spot. Himanshu Sharma took the third place. In this report we have detailed analysis of the game Swapnil vs Deepan and we also tell you about who qualified for the National Premier 2017.

Aronyak Ghosh wins Bengal FIDE rated Rapid tournament

23/08/2017 -

It was a huge rapid event in Kolkata that was organized by Pioneer Chess School and West Bengal Chess Association. The tournament was held on the 8th and 9th of August with a time control of 25 minutes + 5 seconds increment. Youngster CM Aronyak Ghosh won the title and took back home the first prize of Rs.10,000! IM Somak Palit and Koustav Chatterjee also scored the same points but had to settle for second and third spot respectively on tiebreak. We have a report on the tournament as well as some nicely captured videos of the action during the event.

National Challengers round 11: The battle for nine qualification spots intensifies!

23/08/2017 -

The game between two Caro Kann experts Lalith Babu and Swapnil Dhopade was drawn on the top board. Himanshu Sharma also couldn't break through the defences of Aravindh Chithambaram. This meant that Swapnil still leads the tournament with 9.5/11, but four players are on his heels with 8.5 points. Apart from Himanshu and Aravindh, they include Deepan Chakravarthy and Debashis Das. There are only two rounds left for the tournament to end and nine spots at stake for National Premier 2017. It's heating up!

India gets its 49th grandmaster - Abhimanyu Puranik!

23/08/2017 -

Just a day after Vidit Gujrathi became the fourth Indian to cross 2700 in the FIDE Elo list, we have more good news from the state of Maharashtra. India got its 49th grandmaster in the form of Abhimanyu Puranik from Pune. The 17-year-old made his final GM norm with a round to spare at the Abu Dhabi Masters 2017 and also crossed 2500 Elo. It's raining grandmasters in India, and we are just one away from reaching the 50 GMs mark!

GM Laxman Rajaram is the National Blitz champion 2017

23/08/2017 -

We all know how strong R.R. Laxman is at shorter time controls. He once again proved that calling him blitz king of India would be quite appropriate as he went on to win the National Blitz Championship 2017 with a mammoth score of 10.0/11. The second place went to Chennai's P. Karthikeyan while Bengal's Mitrabha Guha performed admirably to finish third. We have an interview with the winner and also an invitation to a blitz tournament which you can play from the comfort of your home.

National Challengers round 10: Watch out for Lalith Babu!

21/08/2017 -

After scoring eight wins out of his nine games, Swapnil Dhopade decided to make a quick draw in the 10th round of the 55th National Challengers, Ahmedabad. Two of his other teammates from Railways, Ravi Teja and Himanshu Sharma, were pitted against one another on board two. They also drew their game exactly after 25 moves as Dhopade had done. On one hand, this result let Dhopade get away with his quick draw and maintain his lead, while on the other, it gave Lalith Babu MR the opportunity to join Himanshu in the second place. After sweating blood against Mary Ann Gomes in an 85 move long battle, Lalith succeeded. We have a report with games and pictures. 

Vidit Gujrathi becomes the fourth Indian to cross 2700

21/08/2017 -

India number three GM Vidit Gujrathi had been knocking on the doors of 2700 for quite some time now. He finally achieved that milestone at the Spanish Team Championship 2017 in Linares. Vidit played for board one of Team Solvay and scored 4.5/7 against some super strong opponents. He gained 8.7 Elo points and reach 2701.7 on the live rating lists. As he won't be playing any events in August, his published rating on 1st September will be 2702. He is the fourth Indian after Anand, Sasikiran and Harikrishna to achieve this coveted feat of crossing 2700 Elo.

Young sketcher goes the extra mile to save fellow chess player

20/08/2017 -

Ikramul Haq Siam is fighting a battle of life and death. The degenerative disc disease has paralysed his right leg. The boy needs to get his surgery done as soon as possible. For that he requires financial assistance. 17-year-old chess player from Kolkata Chandreyee Hajra has decided to go the extra mile to help her fellow chess player. Known for her sketching, Chandreyee will sketch the portrait of any interested chess player and all the money that she earns will be donated for the good cause. Read more about this wonderful gesture.

National Challengers round 9: Swapnil Dhopade is unstoppable

20/08/2017 -

Having registered another victory to his name, GM Swapnil Dhopade seems to be running away with the title this year at the 55th National Challengers, Ahmedabad. In round 9 he played against the much lower rated Udit Kamdar. Although Swapnil was the clear favourite in this matchup, the youngster really cracked the whip before giving away the full point. Report with pictures, games and analysis.