Padmini Rout is the National Champion!

25/11/2015 -

With 8.5/11 Padmini won the 42nd Ramratna National Women Premier 2015 by a full point. The defending champion played a superb tournament scoring seven consecutive wins to seal the title in her favour with a round to spare. Her last round loss to K.Priyanka was surprising but did little to affect the tournament standings. Soumya Swaminathan got the better of Swati Ghate to clinch the second spot and Bhakti Kulkarni finished third. We have a detailed report with analysis and some exclusive pictures sent to us by IM Nisha Mohota.

Men's Premier 10: Karthikeyan beats Vidit

25/11/2015 -

We had predicted the possibility of the tournament becoming a two-way race if Vidit was beaten by Murali Karhikeyan, and he succeeded! Will this result become the turning point in the tournament, a cruel twist in the fate of the leader? Only time can answer this question. In other notable games, Sethu breezed to an easy win, while Praneeth brought down yet another grandmaster -- this time an out of sorts Shyam Sundar, whose tournament has gone for a toss after a bad cold hit him hard. Neelotpal scored his second victory by beating Shyaamnikhil.

Men's Premier 09: Vidit inches closer to the title

24/11/2015 -

The ninth round witnessed only three results, and two of them have had a notable effect on the crosstable. Vidit won comfortably against the second-placed P. Karthikeyan, who was relegated to the third position because Murali Karthikeyan won his fifth game in this tournament. In the tenth round, he takes on the leader himself, and a win here would throw the tournament wide open. Otherwise, Vidit has all but sealed his victory. Arghyadip Das won against Swapnil as his sacrifice turned into a deficit in the endgame.

Men's Premier 08: clash of the titans!

23/11/2015 -

Round eight witnessed the highly awaited Sethu-Vidit clash, which lived up to its top billing in the complexity and the excitement it generated. Deep Sengupta won his first game of the tournament by defeating Shyam Sundar while M.R. Venkatesh took down Swapnil. Kunte managed to win with a sweet little tactic after Arghyadip blundered. M. Karthikeyan wiped out Rathnakaran on the kingside while P. Karthikeyan put it across Shyaamnikhil.

Men's Premier 07: first IM norm for Praneeth

22/11/2015 -

The seventh round could produce only one result -- Vidit beat Arghyadip to take a comfortable one point lead over the second-placed P. Karthikeyan, who drew a very strange game against Rathnakaran. Amidst all these draws, Praneeth Surya scored the first IM-norm of his fledgling career as he was held by Murali Karthikeyan, who at one point had a worse position.

Krishna Teja wins National U-25

21/11/2015 -

The city of Patna, the capital of Bihar, hosted the 24^th edition of the National U-25 Championship. This tournament was the final age-category National event of the year 2015 and managed to attract sixty-three players. Newly minted IM Krishna Teja N. of Andhra Pradesh won the tournament with 8.5/9. We have pictures, analysis and choice tactics for you.

Men's Premier 06: Sethu and Neelotpal scammed

21/11/2015 -

There were three wins and four draws in the sixth round, but let these results not fool you! Sethu invested a humongous amount of time in the early middlegame, only to gift Rathna the point in a platter. P. Karthikeyan won against Praneeth while Kunte allowed Venkatesh his first victory in this tournament. Neelotpal had a better position against Deep Sengupta -- so much better that he was sedated into a textbook draw.

Men's Premier 05: Praneeth stuns Sethu

20/11/2015 -

The biggest news of the fifth round was Praneeth's victory over the defending champion Sethu. Vidit defeated his former coach and mentor Kunte in a positionally elegant manner while an unfit Shyam Sundar put it across P. Karthikeyan with hardly any problems. Deep Sengupta's woes continued as he lost yet again, this time to M. Karthikeyan who seems hell-bent on winning every game after a forgettable start. After the kind of starts they had to this tournament, both Venkatesh and Rathnakaran can't complain much about their results, as they drew with Neelotpal and Arghyadip respectively. Swapnil, meanwhile, won an instructive endgame.

Women's Premier R04-06: Soumya in sole lead

19/11/2015 -

Soumya Swaminathan leads the National Women Premier after six rounds with a score of 5.0/6. She is followed closely by Swati Ghate and Padmini Rout who are on 4.5/6 and Pratyusha Bodda on four points. Especially worrying is the form of Tania Sachdev who is only on 2.0/6. The participants recieved a fine boost as the Governor of Bengal visited the venue. With five rounds to go this is shaping up to be an exciting contest. We have some nice pictures as well as analysis from the event.

Men’s Premier 04: four Blacks wave the white flag

18/11/2015 -

The fourth round saw four decisive games, and White won all of them. Rathnakaran fell to the same line that had destroyed him in the second round. Praneeth’s Najdorf could not suppress Arghyadip’s queenside onslaught. Sethu played a fine game and converted easily after Shyam Sundar missed his chance to equalize. Kunte and Shyaamnikhil settled for a quick draw, while P. Karthikeyan won a pawn, but could not break through Deep’s defenses. Venkatesh finally had reasons to smile, after he held an unfit Vidit to a draw. The game of the day was played by India's bright hope Murali Karthikeyan.

Men's Premier 03: Captain Evans' gambit!

17/11/2015 -

Four decisive games meant that it was a fighting Tuesday here at Thiruvarur. Kunte and M. Karthikeyan managed to open their accounts, the latter at the expense of an extremely consistent Venkatesh who remains at a sorry 0/3. To both Vidit and P. Karthikeyan's dismay, they were held to draws. Deep and Rathnakaran lost their second consecutive games, the former tragically from a won position. Praneeth caused yet another upset when he took down Dhopade while Shyam Sundar and Arghyadip played out an entertaining draw. The tournament was also graced by a hero of yesteryears: the Evans Gambit!

Women's Premier R01-03: Swati and Soumya lead

16/11/2015 -

After three rounds at the National Women's Premier 2015, two girls from Pune, Swati Ghate and Soumya Swaminathan are in the lead with a score of 2.5/3. Behind them is Pratyusha Bodda who just beat the top seeded Padmini Rout. A lot of interesting games were played in the event - not to be missed is Padmini's Tal like play against Bhakti Kulkarni.

Men’s Premier 02: Favourites sent packing

16/11/2015 -

Blood spilled left and right as Caissa paid no heed to reputations. Many a higher rated seeds were left doing double takes at their own positions. The upset of the day was Neelotpal’s victory over the defending champion Sethu. P. Karthikeyan meanwhile accounted for M. Karthikeyan, and he leads the tournament with Vidit Gujrathi, who displayed yet another gem of a preparation. Three GMs remain stuck in the island of 0/2.

Men’s Premier 01: Five decisive games

15/11/2015 -

What a scintillating start to the 2015 National Men’s Premier! We saw it all: an example of near perfect preparation, missed chances and even a loss on time! Sethu beat Murali Karthikeyan after the latter missed his chance to equalize; Vidit destroyed Praneeth in a well-prepared line. Venkatesh shot himself on the foot, Kunte defended well but strangely donated a pawn to Shyam Sundar, while Shyaamnikhil committed suicide against Rathnakaran, losing on time in a better position.

S.L. Narayanan becomes India’s 41st grandmaster

14/11/2015 -

Former National Junior Champion S.L. Narayanan has shown steady progress throughout his chess career. On Saturday, at the Philippine International Open, he crowned his forward march by taking his rating across the 2500 mark and earning a GM norm in the process – his third norm – which makes him India’s 41^st grandmaster. A report on the tournament with a special focus on India's latest grandmaster.

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