Goryachkina wins Women's Candidates with two rounds to spare

15/06/2019 -

Goryachkina drew her game against former Women's World Champion, Tan Zhongyi with ease after the latter did not take the only chance she had. Thus Goryachkina wins the Candidates with two rounds to spare. She will face the reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun in Women's World Championship Match. Gunina wins her second game in-a-row when she defeated Mariya Muzychuk, although Mariya had a fantastic position for some time. Anna Muzychuk defeated Kateryna Lagno emphatically to climb to second position. Nana Dzagnidze handed Kosteniuk her second consecutive defeat heading into the final rest day. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Caruana's London Redemption and Yu Yangyi's Stirring Finish!

15/06/2019 -

Fabiano Caruana grabs the spotlight today! The World No.2 handed Magnus his only loss of the tournament in the Armageddon, after missing a simple win in a crazy classical game, and thus finished 4th on the table after a disastrous start. Yu Yangyi commemorated his Norway Chess finish with a thumping of Mamedyarov within a mere 30 moves! He finished an impressive tied 2nd with Levon Aronian, who managed to get past Anand in the tiebreakers. So and Grischuk ended their tournament with unorthodox wins over MVL and Ding Liren. A massive report from Norway Chess by Tanmay Srinath.

Asian Continental: Can Sethuraman do in 2019 what he achieved in 2016?

15/06/2019 -

Sethuraman S.P. caught Abhijeet Gupta in a superior knight versus bishop ending, and won with a fine display of endgame technique. Murali Karthikeyan overlooked a tactical point and suffered yet another defeat at the hands of  Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan. S.L.Narayan's scything king-side onslaught in Sicilian Sveshnikov proved too much for Vidit Gujrathi. Elsewhere, in the women's section Bhakti Kulkarni went down to Phạm Lê Thảo Nguyên after a grinding 89 moves duel. Bhakti suffered her second defeat in a row. It was round 8, the penultimate round of Asian continental open and women's championship 2019 and we now have a sole leader in Sethuraman SP of India!

ChessBase 15: Replay Training - part 2

14/06/2019 -

The first part of the tutorial about the new "Replay Training" function in ChessBase 15 explainded how to use this function. The second part explains how to optimize your training and how to save the results of your replay sessions. Try it, have fun, get better! | Drawing: ChessBase

Women's Candidates: Goryachkina is a win away from winning the Candidates

14/06/2019 -

Valentina Gunina wins a marathon game against Nana Dzagnidze, after Nana missed Gunina's terrible blunder in the middle game. Gunina fought for almost 6 hours and 106 moves before she secured the full point after suffering two consecutive losses. Kosteniuk self-destructed as early as move no.15 and it was all downhill from there. Tan had no difficulty converting her advantage to a win. Anna Muzychuk becomes the first woman who remains unscathed against Goryachkina in the tournament as she made another draw in their second encounter. Mariya kept pushing but Lagno did not budge and at the end they had to settle for a draw. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

Magnus Carlsen wins Norway Chess 2019 with one round to spare!

14/06/2019 -

What a player! What a record! Magnus Carlsen vanquished Yu Yangyi in an artful endgame to take sole 1st in Norway Chess for the 2nd time! That too with a round to spare! His 7th tournament win in a row is testament to his efforts and verve, as he successfully puts behind him a pale patch of performances at the Norway Chess. Fabiano Caruana played a magnificent game as black in the Reversed Rossolimo to defeat Levon Aronian and retain chances of sole second. MVL, Anand and So took their time in the Armageddons to vanquish their rivals, and cling on to chances of being the best of the rest. An all-inclusive report from Norway Chess by Tanmay Srinath.

Abhijeet Gupta stops the Karthikeyan Express

14/06/2019 -

Adhiban's beast mode didn't quite work against Karthikeyan's charming form and it was Abhijeet Gupta instead who rose to the occasion in the following round, giving the in-form his first taste of defeat. Amidst ups and downs Sethuraman kept his boat steady, not losing a single game and emerging as one of the leaders.Top seed Vidit Gujrathi lived up to his class, clinching third victory in a row against Vaibhav Suri. Elsewhere , in the women's section, Bhakti suffered a blind spot, blundered a piece, going down against Irine Kharisma Sukandar. Round six and seven report of the Asian Continental 2019. With just two rounds to go, the battle is heating up for the five World Cup spots in the open and one in women's section. 

Akhil and Siddhi win 33rd National Under-7 Open and Girls 2019

13/06/2019 -

Sri Akhil Prasad of Andhra Pradesh and Siddhi Rao of Karnataka both scored 9.5/11 in their respective open and girls group to win 33rd National under-7 championship held in The Newtown School, Kolkata from 1st to 6th June 2019. They both won a shining beautiful huge trophy and ₹26000 cash each. Both Akhil and Siddhi are their respective state under-7 champion. Rishabh Kumar of Delhi and Apaar Saxena of Karnataka finished at 9.0/11 in open category. They were placed 2nd and 3rd as per their tie-break score. Sannah M of Tamil Nadu also finished at 9.5/11 but due to a lower tie-break score she had to settle for 2nd place. Sreekarthika Velmurugan also from Tamil Nadu scored 9.0/11 and finished 3rd. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Carlsen's Cascade and Ding's Annihilator underline an inexorable day!

13/06/2019 -

Ding Liren's obliteration of the Grunfeld meant that Mamedyarov didn't get a second chance in the Armageddons. Fabiano Caruana played one of the best games of the tournament against Vishy Anand, but the American No.1's time trouble prevented him from claiming a well deserved win. The remaining classical games finished drawn, with Magnus Carlsen having to suffer a bit before splitting the point. In the Armageddons, Magnus extirpated So and won after the latter forced a threefold repetition, while Caruana blew open Anand's kingside in a Quiet Italian forcing resignation. Meanwhile, Aronian and MVL won their respective encounters in diverging styles to climb up the leaderboard. A comprehensive report from Norway Chess by Tanmay Srinath.

Women's Candidates: Goryachkina unstoppable, Kosteniuk scores a win

13/06/2019 -

Kosteniuk scored the only win of the round when she defeated Gunina, who again pushed too hard. Gunina exclaimed, " I just want to finish. It's really too long for me, I am not ready for this tournament." All three other games ended up in a draw. Goryachkina was never in trouble against Lagno, who was the closest to have any chance of narrowing the gap but Goryachkina prevailed and maintained her lead by 2.5 points. Anna had an uneventful draw against former Women's World Champion Tan Zhongyi. Mariya had a half chance against Nana but that also ended up in a draw. Both Anna and Mariya are tied at the third spot at 5.0/10 each after Lagno is who at 5.5/10. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili

2074 rated Balkishan checkmates two opponents, moves to 5.0/6 at the Mayor's Cup 2019

13/06/2019 -

In a GM event where you have 26 grandmasters and 13 IMs taking part, the chances of a 2074 rated player doing well are quite less. But Balkishan from Karnataka is changing this perception. He has 5.0/6 and is already gaining 53 Elo points. He has beaten Rohith Krishna (2347), Subhayan Kundu (2373) and GM Deepan Chakkravarthy (2557). Against Subhayan and Deepan, he was quite lucky, as in both the games his opponents were better but blundered in direct mates! The tournament is being led by GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan with 5.5/6, followed by a group of eleven players on 5.0/6. This group includes two Indians - Balkishan and Niranjan Navalgund. An illustrated report from Mumbai with pictures by Amruta Mokal. 

Kidambi on Karthikeyan's queen sacrifice

13/06/2019 -

India's 19th Grandmaster Sundararajan Kidambi writes on Karthikeyan Murali's latest incredible Queen Sacrifice against Alireza Firouzja in round 5 of the ongoing Asian Continental 2019. Kidambi wrote a post on his blog after more than a year. We all are aware of Kidambi's impeccable knowledge of the game and how meticulous he is with his analysis. In this article, he discusses the game with incredible details, his observation on key elements in an early Queen Sacrifices. He also shares past instances where similar things have happened. He makes the readers think and study the past games by sharing similar Queen sacrifices. Photo: ChessBase India archive/Shahid Ahmed

Srijit Paul wins Saturday Club Youth Rapid Rating 2019

12/06/2019 -

Srijit Paul wins Saturday Club Youth Rapid Rating 2019 by scoring 8.0/9. FM Mitrabha Guha also finished at the same score. However, due to a better tie-break score, Srijit Paul edged ahead and clinched the title and Mitrabha had to settle for first runner-up position. Arya Bhakta scored 7.5/9 and finished at third place. However, due to his phenomenal performance, he won the 'Most Promising Player' - President's Award. The award was adjudged by the arbiters of the tournament. Total ₹150000 Prize fund was distributed among 65 Prize winners. The tournament was jointly organized by Saturday Club and Alekhine Chess Club, sponsored by Ollypop in association with association with The Telegraph. Arjuna Awardee GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly was the Chief Guest in the Prize Distribution Ceremony. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Karthikeyan plays the game of his life, beats Firouzja with a queen sac on move 9!

12/06/2019 -

Grandmaster Karthikeyan Murali pulled off a brilliancy by sacrificing his queen as early as move ninth and flabbergasting his young talented opponent Alireza Firouzja. Vidit recovered from his previous round's upset with an emphatic win with the black pieces over CRG Krishna. Adhiban is slowly and steadily coming into the beast mode with three consecutive wins. Elsewhere in the women's section, a resolute Bhakti continued her streak by clinching yet another victory. Eesha Karavade faltered and found herself in a lost ending against her lower rated rival. It was the 5th round at the Asian Continental open and women's championships, in this report we bring you the highlights of the day's action.

Nikhil Dixit wins Varadraj Memorial All India Rapid Rating 2019

11/06/2019 -

Fourth seeded FM Nikhil Dixit scored an unbeaten 8.0/9 to win Varadraj Memorial All India Open Rapid Rating held at Chhatrapati Shahu Stadium, Satara on 30th and 31st May 2019. Ranveer Mohite also finished with 8.0/9. However due to a lower tie-break score, he had to settle for the runner-up position. Three players scored 7.5/9 and out of them Sammed Jayakumar Shette was placed third, due to his tie-break score. The tournament witnessed 198 players from various states across the country. Total ₹100000 Prize fund was distributed among 124 prizes. Satara District Chess Association and Varadraj Memorial Trust jointly organized this event. Photo: IA Kaviraj Sawant

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