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Harsha Bharathakoti dominates 24th HZ University of Applied Sciences Open 2022

16/08/2022 -

GM Harsha Bharathakoti started 24th HZ University of Applied Sciences Open with three consecutive wins. He lost the fourth round game to FM Shreyas Royal (ENG). The 21-year-old did not let that loss deter him. He went on to win the next five games to finish a full point ahead of the field 8/9. Seven players scored 7/9. Former World Champion GM Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR) and IM Liam Vrolijk (NED) was placed second and third according to tie-breaks. Top three prizes were €2000, €1300 and €800 each. Harsha becomes the second Indian after K Sasikiran (2004 and 2010) to win this event which has been won by the likes of Ivan Sokolov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Michal Krasenkow, Fabiano Caruana, Baadur Jobava and Loek van Wely among others. Photo: Official site

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FTX Crypto Cup 2022 R1: Praggnanandhaa beats Firouzja for the very first time

16/08/2022 -

Praggnanandhaa had not defeated Alireza Firouzja in any format until yesterday. The recently turned 17-year-old started his Meltwater Champions Chess Tour FTX Crypto Cup 2022 with a resounding victory over the former world no.2. The current world no.4 struck back immediately in the second game. However, he faltered in the next and Praggnanandhaa took the lead. The fourth game ended in a draw, which meant Praggnanandhaa won the match. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian were the other three victors of the round. Praggnanandhaa will face Giri in Round 2 which starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: ChessBase India live stream

Meet the 75 Grandmasters of Indian chess on our 75th Independence Day

15/08/2022 -

India got its independence from the British empire on 15th of August 1947. Chess was almost non-existent in India back then. 75 years later, India is becoming a stronger nation in economic, technological and in various sphere and in the growth of chess it is already moving towards the status of a super power. India's last GM Pranav V. achieved the grandmaster title on 8th of August 2022. With that the country got its 75th GM in the 75th year of its independence. Check out the article to know more about each of these 75 grandmasters and the growth and development of Indian chess. Thumbnail image created by Vivek Sohani. 

Aronyak Ghosh wins 46th Ciutat de Badalona Open 2022, Anuj Shrivatri second

15/08/2022 -

IM Aronyak and IM Anuj Shrivatri both scored 7/9 each at 46th Ciutat de Badalona Memorial M Castella Open 2022. Aronyak edged past Anuj due to better second tie-break score. They faced each other in the sixth round which ended in a draw. Four players scored 6.5/9 each. They are - IM Dylan Isidro Berdayes Ason (CUB), Saurabh Anand, Ritvik Krishnan and IM Filemon Cruz (PER). They secured third to sixth place according to tie-breaks. Top three prizes were €1000, €700 and €400 along with a trophy each. This is Aronyak's first tournament victory in Spain. He is sponsored by Sadhana app. Photo: CE Sant Josep

Praggnanandhaa set to battle against Carlsen, Aronian, Duda and Co. at FTX Crypto Cup

15/08/2022 -

The second Major event of Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022 season is FTX Crypto Cup. It will be completely an in-person esports event. All eight players will be playing from Miami, Florida in USA. Praggnanandhaa will be battling against Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Wildcard entrants Alireza Firoujza, Anish Giri, Liem Quang Le and Hans Niemann. Each match of the round-robin tournament will comprise four games. FTX Crypto Cup Round 1 starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Will Carlsen be able to defend FTX Crypto Cup title or someone elses will win the 2022 edition? Photo: chess24

Vantika Agrawal scores her second IM-norm at 44th Chess Olympiad 2022

14/08/2022 -

A lot of Indian women performed well at the 44th Chess Olympiad 2022. Yet, WGM Vantika Agrawal was the sole Indian to score an IM-norm. It was her second IM-norm. She also crossed 2400 in the live ratings in the process. She scored her maiden IM-norm at FIDE Grand Swiss 2021, a little over two months after becoming India's 21st WGM. She scored both IM-norms at two major events, Olympiad is certainly the biggest one. She had a very good opportunity to beat WGM Zuzana Borosova (SVK) in the final round. A win could have earned her an individual medal, team finishing fourth etc. It was not meant to be. Nevertheless, she is well on track to become India's 11th woman to become an International Master after Vaishali became 10th last year. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Valentin Baidetskyi wins 35th Schwarzacher Open 2022, Praveen Kumar third

14/08/2022 -

IM Praveen Kumar C started the 35th Schwarzacher Open 2022 with 0.5/2. He won the next four games and then drew with the second seed GM Robert Zelcic (CRO). He defeated the top seed GM Mladen Palac (CRO) in the penultimate round. A draw in the last round against IM Valentin Baidetskyi (UKR) and GM Alexandre Dgebuadze's (BEL) win ensured all three of them end the event with the same score 6.5/9. Baidetskyi, Dgebuadze and Praveen were placed first, second and third according to tie-breaks. Top three prizes were €2500, €1500 and €100 each. The main category having only 34 participants made it almost like a strong closed event. Photo: Official site

The young guns who ruled the Olympiad- Team Uzbekistan

13/08/2022 -

After the closing ceremony, well past midnight, IM Sagar Shah made his way to the Grand Sheraton hotel where the Uzbekistan team was staying. Youngsters - Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Javokhir Sindarov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, and Jakhongir Vakhidov had just won the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad 2022. The Uzbek team was kind enough to give their time for an interview where all five of them sat together. We asked them about their best moves, and best games, and also spoke about what this victory means to them and their country.

Striking Originality

13/08/2022 -

The advancement of technology meant the computer becoming stronger than ever. Chess is now more preparation dependant than ever. If you go unprepared to a tournament, you might quite possibly lose the game in the opening or in the early middlegame. A strong endgame knowledge will also seem futile. Almost everyone is ready to blitz out their preparation. The originality in play is getting reduced with the vast availability of readymade materials. A lot of players may think pushing the h-pawn is an Alpha Zero innovation, GM Sundararajan Kidambi shows examples of different players where they did long before computer became a necessity. He talks about Striking Originality on GM M R Venkatesh's 37th birthday, 20th May 2022, the day he published this on his blog. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Vignesh N R dominates 47th Ciudad de Sevilla Open 2022

13/08/2022 -

IM Vignesh N R scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 47th Ciudad de Sevilla International Open. He finished a full point ahead of the competition. Despite needing only a draw in the final round to win the tournament, Vignesh seized his opportunity and pushed for a win. GM Ilmars Starostits (LAT), FM Jose Gabriel Cardoso Cardoso (COL) and IM Sebastian Felipe Sanchez (COL) scored 7/9 each. They were placed second, third and fourth according to tie-breaks. The only other Indian taking part in the event, IM P Shyam Nikhil scored 6.5/9 to secure ninth place. Top three prizes were €1500, €1200 and €1000 along with a trophy each. Photo: Ismael Nieto

Unbeatable Ukraine wins Gold at 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 Women

12/08/2022 -

The Ukraine women's team featured three world champions in their team since 2014. The team comprised of 14th Women's World champion GM Anna Ushenina, 15th Mariya Muzychuk, one-time World Rapid and two-time World Blitz champion, GM Anna Muzychuk. Ushenina is the only player who was also part of 37th Turin Olympiad, Gold medal winning team Ukraine. She is also the only one of the team, who remained unbeaten in the entire event. Ever since Anna Muzychuk's return to the Ukraine team in 2014, they won have a medal in each Olympiad. Since the Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, all of them have persevered through difficult and uncertain times. Yet, they managed to remain unbeaten and clinch an important Gold in these trying times. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Marc' Andria Maurizzi clinches 2nd Bastia Open 2022, M R Venkatesh second

12/08/2022 -

France's youngest GM Marc' Andria Maurizzi and GM M R Venkatesh scored an unbeaten 6/7 each at 2nd Bastia International Open 2022. The encounter between them in the penultimate round, ended in a draw. Venkatesh persevered his final round game against FM Daniel Barrish (RSA). Despite being completely lost for the better part of the game, Venkatesh's tenacity eventually paid off as his opponent blundered in a winning position and lost the game. IM FT Praveen Kumar C was the only other Indian taking part in the event. He scored 5/7 to finish ninth overall and win the first prize in Rating category 2000-2199. Photo: Corsican Circuit

Kumar Gaurav triumphs at 1st Juii Bora Rating Open 2022

12/08/2022 -

Top two seeds of the tournament, Arpan Das and Kumar Gaurav scored an unbeaten 9/10. They finished 1.5 points ahead of the field. Kumar secured first place and Arpan was adjudged second according to tie-breaks. Ashok K Sah and Subhajit Dhar scored 7.5/10 each. They secured third and fourth place respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹325000. Top three prizes were ₹45000, ₹34000 and ₹25000 cash each. A total of 120 players including a player from Bangladesh took part in this six-day ten-round Swiss League Open Rating tournament held from 10th to 15th July at ADP College, Nagaon, Assam. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Play chess in the beautiful city of Abu Dhabi!

11/08/2022 -

One of the biggest and most famous chess festivals in the world, the Abu Dhabi Chess Festival is going to start on 16th August 2022.   The "land of the Gazelle" will play host to many 2700+ GMs who will participate in the Master's event. A total of 83 Indian players will participate in the Masters section, while 77 Indian players will play in the Open section. Some of the top Indian players in the Masters section include GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, and Abhijeet Gupta What is the schedule and prize money for the event? Who are the top Indian players participating? We present all the information in this short article. Photo courtesy: The official website of the Abu Dhabi International Chess festival.

Invincible Uzbekistan claims Gold at 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 Open

11/08/2022 -

The average age of Uzbekistan Open team was 20 years. The youngest member of the team Javokhir Sindarov is 16-years-old. He was also the second-youngest Grandmaster in history for a brief time. Nodirbek Yakubboev, Jakhongir Vakhidov and Shamsiddin Vokhidov remained undefeated in a total of 23 games out of 44. In fact, Uzbekistan team members lost only three games in the entire event. They never lost a match as a team. Armenia also scored 19/22. They secured Silver according to tie-breaks. India 2 secured Bronze scoring sole 18/22. One thing is for sure, GM FST Ivan Sokolov follows a strict regime for his trainees and that shows in the results and statistics, one which no one can deny. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes