FIDE Moscow GP: Giri, Mamedyarov, Aronian and Karjakin get eliminated

19/05/2019 -

At the conclusion of round 1.1 in FIDE Grand Prix 2019 Moscow, three players were on the brink of elimination. They are Mamedyarov, Aronian and So. They were in a must win situation to head for Playoffs. Two of them could not surive - Mamedyarov and Aronian. Both of them lost their round 1.2 game which caused elimination. However So bounced back and defeated Duda to head for Playoffs. Dubov played an impressive attacking game to knock Giri out of the tournament. Aronian got eliminated by Nepo after the former blundered a pawn in the opening. Vitiugov and Jakovenko failed to score in a must-score game to get eliminated from the tournament. Photo: World Chess

Nielsen on 10 years of Mexico 2007 (R08): Anand draws against Gelfand, maintains his lead

18/05/2019 -

Anand became the undisputed World Champion for the first time in 2007 at the World Championship event held in Mexico. We are celebrating this occasion with inputs from his second Peter Heine Nielsen. We have reached the 8th round of the tournament. After round 7 Anand was leading with a half point gap, followed by Boris Gelfand. In the eighth round it was an all important duel between Gelfand and Anand. Vishy played a new idea in the Catalan that involved moving his bishop twice and taking his queen to what seemed like a passive square. But Vishy and Nielsen had worked out all the details and Anand effortlessly held the draw. Let's go over this game with analysis by Peter Heine Nielsen.

Moscow Grand Prix Round 1.1: The Poles have a great day!

18/05/2019 -

The Grand Prix series 2019 which will determine two spots in the Candidates 2020, has revamped its format. Instead of the round robin or swiss format which it followed in the last few years, we are witnessing a World Cup like knock out event. As there are world class players taking part, this knock-out event is going to attract a lot of eyeballs. The first leg of the Grand Prix began in Moscow on 17th of May. Out of the 8 games that were played, three were decisive. Both the Polish players won their games with Duda getting the better of So, and Wojtaszek beating Mamedyarov. The other decisive game was Nepomniachtchi scoring a win against Aronian. So, Shakh and Lev had their task cut out on day two to win at all costs in order to avoid being knocked out.

Gaining 100 Elo points with one book!

18/05/2019 -

By reading this book you will increase your chess skills, not only in attack and defence but also it benefits your level of calculation. This book has 13 chapters out of which 1-8 are about attacking chess and 9-12 are about defensive techniques. The Attack part starts with Levon Aronian and Vishy Anand's game from Wijk aan Zee 2013. If you are an Anand fan then you have that game at the tip of your tongue! The Defence section begins with quite an unseen game between Vallejo Pons and Aronian from Bilbao 2012. There are games like these before the beginning of each of the chapter, which give us the taste of the puzzles ahead. A review of Jacob Aagaard's book Attack and Defence from the GrandMaster Preparation series by Aajaneya Phatak.

Shashikant and Jennitha win All India Open for Physically Disabled

18/05/2019 -

Top seed and the favorites of the tournament, IM Shashikant Kutwal of Maharashtra and WIM Jennitha Anto K of Tamil Nadu, win All India Open Championship 2019 for Physically Disabled held at Trichy, Tamil Nadu on 4th and 5th May 2019. The event was a selection tournament for 19th IPCA World Championship which will take place in Slovakia next month. Both Shashikant and Jennitha remained undefeated throughout the tournament as expected. Jennitha finished at 100% score of 5.0/5, Shashikant made a draw in the final round and finished with 4.5/5 to clinch the title. Here is a pictorial report of the tournament. Photo: Baskaran

Isuru Alahakoon - Four time Sri Lanka National Champion

17/05/2019 -

Sri Lanka’s Olympiad gold medalist (Category D in 2014 Tromso, Norway) and four times national champion (2012-2014 and 2018) Isuru Alahakoon (rated 2092) was able to obtain his first chess title FIDE Master with a score of 6.0/9 in the recently concluded Asian Zonal 3.2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to that, he had participated in Commonwealth Championships 2018 in open section where he finished at 25th position with a score of 6.0/9. The 31-year-old chess player and trainer who has represented Sri Lanka four times at the Olympiad and several times in Commonwealth and Zonal tournaments shared his long journey and experience of playing chess in an interview with Marlon Fernando. Photo: Marlon Fernando

Chess Bonanza in Tamil Nadu

16/05/2019 -

A Chess bonanza in Tamil Nadu is awaiting the chess lovers. It is a well known fact that Tamil Nadu dominates the chess field in India – be it the number of top players it has produced, the effective chess administration, leading the field of arbiters (three A grade arbiters out of seven in India) and so on. What is the secret behind the extraordinary growth in chess? The simple fact is that Tamil Nadu conducts more tournaments in all levels than most of the other states. The players are immensely benefited out of these tournaments to enhance their quality and rating. Photo: Tournament circular

Indian chess players raise Rs.33121 in 'Let's Rebuild Odisha' fundraiser tournament

16/05/2019 -

The Indian chess community came through and raised ₹33121 in just four days to contribute towards the Chief Minister's Relief fund to help rebuild Odisha after the devastation caused by the cyclone 'Fani'. India's latest GM Swayams Mishra who is a regular in ChessBase Online Blitz tournaments is also a native from Odisha. He contributed and participated in this event. Laxman made his contribution and played the tournament. India's second youngest GM R Praggnanandhaa was also among the contributors and participant. Reigning National Women's champion WGM Bhakti Kulkarni and Pune lad Aditya Samant's father made the biggest contribution of the event of ₹5000 each. Pranav Venkatesh won the tournament, just hours after finishing 2nd in National under-13 open 2019. A report by the tournament director and coordinator Shahid Ahmed.

Vidit tames Hungarians at the IMSA mind games 2019

15/05/2019 -

The IMSA world mind games is an important event in a calendar year. Mainly because chess is one of the many other mind sports played at the festival. Chess gets excellent exposure among other mind games like Go, Bridge, Xiangqi, and Droughts. 16 players in the open section and 16 in the women are fighting it out in rapid and blitz format. Indian representation is made by Vidit Gujrathi in the open and by Humpy and Harika in the women's section. Vidit is on +1 after eight rounds with wins against two Hungarians Rapport and Leko. Humpy has had a dismal event and is on 2.5/8, while Harika too hasn't really fired is on 3.5/8. We bring you a detailed report after day two. 

Padmini finishes joint first at Sydney International Open 2019

15/05/2019 -

IM Padmini Rout finished joint first at Sydney International Open 2019 with a score of 7.0/9. FM Raymond Song of Chinese Taipei also scored 7.0/9 and he was declared champion on tie-breaks as he defeated Padmini in round 4. The only other Indian to play in the tournament was GM Abhijit Kunte who scored 6.5/7 and finished at 3rd position. Kunte's biggest feat of the tournament was to defeat the eventual champion in round 5. Padmini finished ahead of three GMs with a performance rating of 2501. She also increased her rating by 16 points, making the total increase in her Australian tour by 21 points. The report contains games and photos from the tournament. Photo: New Zealand Chess News

Peter Heine Nielsen on 10 years of Mexico - We are restarting the series!

15/05/2019 -

In 2017 we had started a series "Peter Heine Nielsen on 10 years of Mexico 2007". It was exactly 10 years since Anand had become the undisputed World Champion and in order to celebrate this occasion we had published seven articles from rounds one to seven of the World Championship 2007. These articles had insights by Anand's second at the event Peter Heine Nielsen. IM Sagar Shah had interviewed Nielsen in Lithuania in 2017 and the videos were filled with great insights into how Anand won his second World Championship title. It's been nearly one and a half year since we started the series in 2017. In this period the following of ChessBase India has grown humongously and we think this is the right time to restart the series of articles. For all those who had missed the first seven articles, here's a recap.

LIVE! Follow Vidit, Humpy and Harika at IMSA mind games 2019

15/05/2019 -

The IMSA mind games is a unique event because it brings five board games together - Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and Xiangqi. The event is held from 14th to 18th of May 2019. We have the tournament in rapid and blitz format. These are two separate events and the points and not carried over from the rapid to the blitz. 16 players fight it out in 11 round swiss tournament in both open and women's section. India is represented in the open section by GM Vidit Gujrathi and in the women's section by Humpy and Harika. On this page you can follow all the live games going on along with live commentary by GM Gata Kamsky and Jovana Houska. Live games begin each day at 11.30 a.m. IST

The 30-minute Anish Giri challenge!

14/05/2019 -

At the sixth round of the Shenzhen Masters 2019, Anish Giri played a fine game against Yu Yangyi to score an important victory that helped him win the tournament. But as they say, at the highest level most of the amazing calculations lie beneath the surface! That's what happened in the game. Anish pushed his pawn to d5 on the tenth move. The critical test was to take the pawn but Yu Yangyi ignored it and went for something else! What would have happened if the Chinese player would have taken the pawn. Well, Anish had thought for nearly 30 minutes to figure out the complexities! And so here's you chance to setup the same position, think for 30 minutes and then compare your thinking with a 2787 Elo rated super GM!

S Prasanna wins Ananthapuri Parents 1st Open 2019

13/05/2019 -

Untitled S Prasanna of Tamil Nadu wins his second consecutive tournament at Kerala. He scored an unbeaten 7.5/8 to win the tournament. He finished half-a-point ahead of seven players who finished at 7.0/8. Alan Diviya Raj finished at 2nd place due to a better tie-break score and top seed of the tournament IM M Chakravarthi Reddy of Telangana was placed third. Total 396 players participated from three different federations including England and New Zealand along with India. The tournament was organized by Ananthapuri Parents Chess Club from 11th - 14th April 2019 at Thiruvananthapuram. Total Prize money worth ₹500000 was distributed among 154 prizes. Photo: Ananthapuri Parents Chess Club

King Magnus wins the first leg of Grand Chess Tour 2019 in Cote D'Ivoire

13/05/2019 -

After Tata Steel Masters, Shamkir and Grenke it seemed like Magnus was simply untouchable in classical chess. But what about rapid and blitz? Would he be able to dominate in the same way against some of the short time control experts like Nakamura, Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi etc. Well, the answer to this question is a resounding yes as Magnus played tremendous chess in Abidjan to take home the first leg of Grand Chess Tour with a whopping 3.5 point difference over the nearest rival. The only bad news for Magnus fans is the fact that MVL beat Magnus in both their individual blitz encounters. But apart from this Carlsen dominated the tournament to register his fourth tournament victory of the year.

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