Prishita Gupta and Adhiraj Mitra become 36th National Under-17 Champions

They can't see the board, but they read it better than most of us. The Mind Champions Challenge, a rapid tournament for visually impaired chess players, returns for its 4th edition on Saturday- 17th October at the Phoenix ChessBase India Chess Club, Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla. The event is sponsored by the Lions Club of Bombay Uptown and organised with the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB), ChessBase India and Phoenix Marketcity. It has a prize fund of Rs. 53,000 and no entry fee . Two-time champion Swapnil Shah and defending champion Rohit Jadhav will both be looking for the another title. Can we have a new Champion this time? Here is everything you need to know.

Arpan Das from West Bengal scored 8/9 points to win the 2nd Rungta Cement International Open FIDE Rating Classical Chess Tournament 2026. IM Aradhya Garg remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and scored 8/9 points to finish 2nd on tiebreak scores. FM Harshit Ranjan Sahu finished 3rd. The total prize fund was ₹6,00,000, with top 3 prizes of ₹1,00,000, ₹60,000, and ₹40,000, along with trophies. Photos: Basant Khandelwal

Chess sells itself as a contest of calculation, where chance has been removed. Yet some elite players keep lucky pens, repeat outfits and meals, or give a cat a place in their pre-game routine. The interesting question is not whether a charm can change a position on the board; it is why people reach for one when the result matters and control feels limited.

Finding a chess coach has always worked the same way: you ask in a WhatsApp group, somebody forwards a number, and you hope that you've find the right coach for yourself. ChessDial, by ChessBase India, replaces that with something where you can actually search for an ideal coach for you — by city, by language, by the level you are at, by whether you want somebody online on a weekday or sitting across the board from you on Saturday. Every listing is checked by a human before it goes live, and every coach sets their own rate. ChessDial has crossed 100 verified coaches and academies — Grandmasters down to first-lesson teachers, in fourteen languages, with the fee printed on the page before you talk to anybody! If you're a coach - what are you waiting for? Listing on ChessDial is free!

Being a captain is a little like watching your child take an important exam. The preparation is done, the test has begun, and there is nothing left to do but wait and watch. The result matters, but all the parent can offer is their presence. We found some interesting photos from the Olympiad that show how the captains spent those long hours. Photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz

Candidate Master Saurabh Choubey of Madhya Pradesh scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 points to win the 26th Mizoram Open Rapid Chess Tournament. Johnson Zoremthara Chhangte of Mizoram scored 8/9 points to secure 2nd place. Mizoram Chess Association organised this tournament on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee and 50 years in chess. We interviewed Saurabh after his win; check out this report. Photos: Mr.Lalchhauna

What does it take to build a chess community where there was none? In Bhadohi, it took two cousins, a handful of borrowed boards and ten young women willing to teach what they had just learned. This is the story of Checkmate Her Limits, and of the mentors leading it. Checkmate Her Limits, launched by Shreejan Learning Hub on January 1, 2026, aims to empower these young girls and teach them chess.

Grandmaster Abhimanyu Puranik scored an unbeaten 8/9 points to win the 1st Saakar Foundation All India Open Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2026. Four players, including IM Akshay Borgaonkar, FM Kaivalya Sandip Nagare, IM Kushagra Mohan, and FM Jaiveer Mahendru, scored 7.5/9 to finish in 2nd to 4th place. Saakar Foundation organised the tournament on 4th October with a ₹4,00,000 prize fund. The top 3 prizes were ₹1,00,000, ₹65,000, and ₹41,000 along with trophies. Photos: Mr.Rajendra Shidore

ChessBase India was among the creators invited to the YouTube Impact Summit 2026, held at the Leela in New Delhi on 29th of September. Sagar Shah was part of a panel discussion. The impact summit is one of YouTube's marquee event where they release to the country the impact that YouTube has managed to create.

Coming from badminton and motorsport, Naganethra Reddy expected chess to feel quiet and hard to read. Watching the Global Chess League changed that: the drama was in the glances, pauses, and small gestures around the board, and in the stories shared through the commentary. Here’s what she thinks.

The current superstars of the Indian chess team, World Champion D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin, are today strong players in every format of the game, but the foundation for all of them was laid in classical chess. From childhood, all of them grew up playing classical events across India and around the world. It is classical chess that, in the true sense, balances your process of thinking, of understanding the game and then of taking the right decision. That is why it is important for every budding player to play it, and that is why we are organising the Khelo Chess India Classical tournament in Bhopal every three months, and we invite you to come and take part in this event.

Premier Chess Academy’s Chess for Everyone 3.0 combined four days of FIDE-rated Classical chess with outstanding performances by Kerala’s young talents and a memorable special appearance and simultaneous exhibition by Super Grandmaster and Arjuna Awardee Vidit Gujrathi. Sahoo Utkal Ranjan of Odisha scored a perfect 8/8 to win the tournament, while this edition gave young players an unforgettable opportunity to meet, interact with, and play with Vidit Gujrathi. Photos: Premier Chess Academy

IM Harsh Suresh scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win the 1st Vijay Anand Chess Academy Rapid Rating 2026 in dominating fashion. CM Sarveshwaran V., Vignesh B., and M.S. Midilesh scored 8/9 points to finish in 2nd to 4th place according to tiebreak scores. The tournament was organised by Vijay Anand Chess Academy at the Hall of Chess, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai. The total prize fund was ₹4,00,000, with top 3 prizes of ₹30,000, ₹25,000, and ₹20,000 along with trophies. Photo: Guna

The Western Asian Youth & Junior Chess Championships 2026 are set to take place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, from October 22 to 31, 2026. Organized by the Gujarat State Chess Association, the prestigious regional championship offers ambitious young talents a great platform to earn direct FIDE titles and norms. All the players who took part in the age-category national championships last year are eligible to take part in this. Read more details.

Firgun Talent and Habitat Chess Club brought together eight FIDE-rated players for five days of training and serious practice under IM Nikhil Dixit at The Fern Habitat, Mundhwa, Pune. Organised by Deepti Shidore (Founder of Firgun Talent) and Balraj Ghai (Owner of The Habitat), the camp had an average rating of around 2200 and brought together a group of ambitious players, the group included two FMs, five titled players all of them 2100+ FIDE rated! Read all about the camp in the article below.

Chess lovers with a taste for solving have something special to look forward to this week in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi NCR. On October 9, a collaboration between ChessBase India and Chess Community Jabalpur will bring the city its first-ever chess solving contest. And the very next day, on October 10, a grand event will take place across Delhi NCR, which is already turning into a hub for chess solving thanks to the continued efforts of Chess Coffee Connect and the Shivika Rohilla Chess Academy. All details and registration links follow in this article.

“Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man,” Swami Vivekananda once wrote. Education, therefore, is not just about textbook knowledge, but about bringing out the potential within every student. This idea comes alive in the work of Sandip Upadhyay, a government school teacher from Gujarat who teaches chess absolutely free of cost. He has helped several young players begin their journeys in competitive chess, with some going on to become rated players. Read on to discover Sandip’s story and the journeys of the players he has helped nurture.

Kanishkaraj V of Chennai scored an unbeaten 8/9 points to win the 6th KCA International FIDE Classical Rating 2026. Kanishkaraj and Kolla Bhavan were both unbeaten throughout the tournament and scored 8/9 points to finish in the top 2 spots according to tiebreak scores. The tournament was organised in Melapalayam, Panruti, Tamil Nadu. The total prize fund was ₹4,00,000, with the top 3 prizes of ₹40,000, ₹30,000, and ₹20,000, along with trophies. Photos: R.Pandian

A unique All India Open Freestyle Chess Tournament took place on 27 September 2026 at Chennai Citi Centre, Chennai, under the All India Freestyle Chess Association, with support from 64 Squares Chess Academy. GM Ilamparthi A.R. and GM Srihari L.R. scored 5.5/6 points to secure the top 2 spots. The tournament had a total cash prize pool of Rs 2,00,000. The top 3 prizes were ₹50,000, ₹30,000, and ₹20,000, along with trophies. The tournament was sponsored by Mr Kailasanathan of Microsense, who has supported Indian chess for a long time. Photo: Mr. S.C. Subramaniam

14-year-old Vivaan Vishal Shah becomes an International Master. Vivaan scored his final IM norm at the SixDays Budapest Sept 2026 GM-A Round Robin to become India's Latest International Master. With this title, Vivaan also became the youngest IM from Gujarat at the age of 14, breaking the recent record of Jval Saurin Patel. We caught up with Vivaan after his tournament, where he talked about his journey, challenges, and much more.

IM P. D. S. Girinath emerged as the champion of the Masters Chess Academy, Kanyakumari 1st International FIDE-rated Open Chess Tournament 2026, held from 3 to 7 September 2026 at Jubilee Hall, Holy Cross College, Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. Top-seeded International Master P. D. S. Girinath scored an impressive 7.5/8 points to claim the championship. Girinath finished on the same score as Kolla Bhaavan of Andhra Pradesh, who also scored 7.5/8. However, Girinath secured the first place on tie-break, with Bhaavan finishing as the runner-up. Photos: IA M Ephrame

GM Shyaam Nikhil P emerged as the champion of the MEPCO Sports Academy 1st International FIDE-rated Open Chess Tournament, scoring 8.5/9. Vignesh Kannan P, Nishant Abhijeet Jawalkar and CM Sarveshwaran V finished on 8/9, making the race for the top places closely contested. The nine-round event featured a ₹2,00,000 prize fund, 56 cash prizes and 51 trophies. Photos: Jeyam Subbaiah

The biggest obstacles to progress in chess are the habits and mistakes that players do not even realise they are making. After six years of coaching, IM Nikhil Dixit has identified several recurring issues among players, particularly those rated between 1400 and 1900. In this article, he shares 10 common problems he has observed and explains how players can address them to make their training more effective.