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Sethuraman wins silver at the 2nd Binhai Open in China

21/01/2020 -

S.P. Sethuraman, the 24th Grandmaster of India, kick-started the new year with an emphatic unbeaten performance at the second Binhai Chess Open in China. The week-long swiss tournament took place from the 13th to the 18th of January in the beautiful coastal metropolis of Tianjin in Northeastern China. Sethuraman was the only Indian in the event which attracted a total of ninety-eight participants, including four GMs and eight IMs, from around the world. Nine rounds were played following classical time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment for every move from move one.  

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Tata Steel R08: Fabi joins Alireza in the lead

20/01/2020 -

World no.2 Fabiano Caruana bounced back from a position which was atrociously close to losing and defeated Vishy Anand to catch up with Alireza Firouzja on the leaderboard. Magnus Carlsen registered his very first victory in the tournament by beating Nikita Vitiugov after an extraordinary spell of seven draws. In the Challengers category as many as five out of seven games ended decisively. Pavel Eljanov maintained his lead by holding Nodirbek Abdusattorov to a draw, while Nihal Sarin was ousted from the chasing group by David Anton Guijarro. The eighth round of Tata Steel Chess 2020 was full of action, we bring you the highlights in this illustrated report.

Sanket, Saravana Krishnan and Pranav score major upsets on day 2 of 12th Chennai GM Open 2020

20/01/2020 -

22 players are in the lead with full points at the conclusion of round 3 of 12th Chennai GM Open 2020. Day 2 had double rounds. There were several upsets. Among them the notable ones are, 16-year old Sanket Chakravarty defeated the defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia in round 2. Pranav V defeated GM Alexei Fedorov and IM P Saravana Krishnan defeated the in-form Delhi Open 2020 runner-up GM Aleksej Aleksandrov. Top seed of the tournament, GM Pavel Ponkratov scored a fantastic win and halted Pranesh's fantastic momentum which he started in Delhi. Second seeded Martinez also picked up two fine victories to stay in the lead. Photo: R Anantharam

Ju bounces back in Game 9 of FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020

20/01/2020 -

The defending World Champion Ju Wenjun bounced back from her Game 8 loss, just like the Challenger Goryachkina did after suffering a loss in Game 4. Ju employed Reti opening for the first time in this event and it is safe to say that it worked. She might have not gotten an advantage out of the opening but bringing her opponent to uncharted territory definitely helped her gain some early advantage in the middlegame. After Ju was unable to maintain her advantage, she sacrificed an exchange which Goryachkina returned, eventually liquidating into a favorable Queen and minor piece ending for the Champion. Game 10 takes place on 20th January 2020 at 3:30 p.m. local time, 1 p.m. IST. Photo: Michael Friedman / FIDE

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program 2020 Day 9: The most unique chess camp ever comes to an end

19/01/2020 -

"This is the most unique chess camp ever," says GM Boris Gelfand, who was one of the trainers at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training Program 2020. It is for the first time in the history of chess that a World Champion and a World Championship Challenger spent over 50 hours each with the young super-talents of a particular nation. Kramnik and Gelfand gave it their all to the 14 youngsters throughout the duration of the training program. It was possible that on the last day, they could take things a little easy. But it was quite the contrary. Kramnik and Gelfand came with the resolve to complete the entire syllabus they had prepared and they worked harder than all of the previous days. In this article you get to know about what transpired on the final day, photos from the last day of the camp and interviews with both Kramnik and Gelfand on their experience. 

Tata Steel R07: The grind of a future World Champion

19/01/2020 -

The 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja continued his sensational run in the seventh round of Tata Steel Chess 2020, registering a powerful win against America's Jeffery Xiong and stunning the star-studded field by emerging as the new sole leader. The clash between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand, the two World Champions, ended in a hard-fought draw, while elsewhere Fabiano Caruana and Jorden Van Foreest kept up their good forms by beating Daniil Dubov and Nikita Vitiugov respectively. In the Challengers group, Nihal Sarin bounced back with a sublime positional victory over Dinara Saduakassova. We bring you an illustrated report from Wijk Aan Zee.  

Arul and Anupam shine at 12th Chennai Open 2020 Round 1

19/01/2020 -

11-year old Arul Prakash (IND, 1648) shocked everyone when he defeated GM Saptarshi Roy (2460) in the opening round of 12th Chennai Open 2020. Reigning National under-11 girls champion Anupam Sreekumar held GM Venkatesh M R to a draw, after the latter missed multiple chances of win. The 12th edition of the tournament witnesses a total participation of 244 players from 21 countries comprising of 29 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WGMs. Total prize fund ₹1500000 will be distributed among the prize winners, with the champion walking away with ₹300000 cash prize and a trophy. Top seeds had a smooth start, defending champion GM Levan Pantsulaia scored a comfortable win. Photo: Jitendra Choudhary / R Anantharam

Kirill Shevchenko clinches XLV Seville Open 2020

19/01/2020 -

18-year old GM Kirill Shevchenko (UKR) scored a win in the final round and finished a full point ahead of the competition at 8.5/9 to win XLV International Open "City of Seville". Shevchenko could have easily taken a draw in the final round to clinch the championship as Grigoryan, the only person who could overtake Shevchenko, already made a quick draw. GM Karen Grigoryan and GM Andrey Shariyazdanov finished at 7.0/9, they were placed second and third respectively. IM Ravi Teja S, GM Swayams Mishra, IM Arghyadip Das and IM Padmini Rout all four of them finished at 7.0/9 each at shared sixth position. Padmini was the only woman to finish in top 30. Photo: Ismael Nieto

Vitaliy Bernadskiy wins XXXI Roquetas de Mar Open 2020

19/01/2020 -

Both GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) and GM Karen Grigoryan (ARM) finished at 7.5/9. Bernadskiy clinched the championship due to a better tie-break score and Grigoryan had to settle for the runner-up position. Bernadskiy won a trophy and €2000 cash prize. GM Tigran Harutyunian finished at third place with a score of 7.0/9. CM Rajarishi Karthi missed an IM-norm by a whisker, he gained 62 Elo rating points. CM Shahil Dey was the highest gainer among Indians by 122 points, WFM Savitha Shri B is the second highest gainer with 102 points. Total 297 players participated from 30 countries across the world. Photo: Club Ajedrez Roquetas

Tata Steel R06: A dastardly Dubov onslaught

18/01/2020 -

Sixth round of Tata Steel Masters saw only two out of seven encounters finish decisively. The best game of the day by far was the one between, Daniil Dubov and Vladislav Artemiev, the two young Russian talents, where the former displayed some fantastic bit of attacking chess. In the Challengers group Pavel Eljanov emerged as the sole leader beating Max Warmerdam with the black pieces, while Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Nihal Sarin drew respectively against Jan Smeets and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. The "Wimbledon of chess" is almost halfway through here in Wijk Aan Zee. We bring you an illustrated round six report. 

Shevchenko takes sole lead, Arghyadip stays ahead in XLV Seville Open 2020

18/01/2020 -

Kirill Shevchenko beat Lu Shanglei to take sole at 7.5/8 heading into the final round of the tournament. IM Arghyadip Das slipped a bit in the middle game against GM Andrey Shariyazdanov. However his opponent was unable to spot the intermediate move which allowed Arghyadip to regroup and equalize, leading to a draw. Both GM Swayams Mishra and IM Ravi Teja S scored comfortable draws. GM Shardul Gagare perhaps played one of the best game of the round, however he was unable to capitalize on his chances and eventually lost the game against GM Di Li. Both IM Padmini Rout and WIM Pratyusha Bodda won their respective matches to setup an All-Indian clash in the final round of the tournament. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Goryachkina wins and leads FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020

18/01/2020 -

Aleksandra Goryachkina beat Ju Wenjun for the second time in FIDE Women's World Championship Match 2020 and for the first time she has taken the lead. The score is now 4½-3½. Goryachkina playing with white pieces opted for QGD Exchange variation. The Challenger Goryachkina played aggressively in the middlegame and the defending champion played quite passively. Ju's defence proved to be futile as Goryachkina created a center passed pawn after neutralizing black's center passed pawn with ease. With four games to go and the second stage being held in Russia, all signs seem to point towards the Challenger. She was able to make a comeback immediately after suffering a loss, can Ju do the same? Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE

A valiant Vishy in Eindhoven

17/01/2020 -

The fifth round of the ongoing Tata Steel Chess Tournament was played in a new venue in Eindhoven yesterday and became witness to a sparkling performance by the five-time World Champion Vishy Anand. Vishy's mammoth experience proved too much for his young and talented opponent Jeffery Xiong of the United States who ventured to surprise him with an unusual move in the French Winawer. Elsewhere, Alireza Firouzja too got back in his form and shocked Anish Giri in a tricky rook-pawn ending. In the Challengers group, as many as six games ended decisively. Nihal Sarin suffered his first defeat in the hands of Lucas Van Foreest, while Surya Shekhar Ganguly was held to a draw by David Anton Guijarro. 

Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Program 2020 Day 6+7+8 : Celebrating Pongal and Chess

17/01/2020 -

On 15th of January 2020, the entire atmosphere at the Microsense Kramnik Gelfand Training camp lit up with the Pongal celebrations. The mood was upbeat and this has been carried forward on the next days as well. Co-founder of ChessBase Frederic Friedel is here with at the venue with his son Martin. Amongst all of this, the second half of the training of the students continues in full flow as Kramnik has begun working on the Italian Opening, while Gelfand has taken up the task of working on the Semi-Slav. In this article you get the entire feel of what is happening at the Coastal Paradise villas in Chennai along with a couple of instructive chess positions explained by the young super talents!

Shardul Gagare and Arghyadip Das stay in the hunt at XLV Seville Open 2020

17/01/2020 -

GM Kirill Shevchenko (UKR) and GM Lu Shanglei (CHN) are in the joint lead with 6.5/7 at the end of the seventh round of XLV Seville Open 2020. They will face each other in the penultimate round. Among the Indians, both GM Shardul Gagare and IM Arghyadip Das registered fine victories and they are now just a half point behind the leaders at 6.0/7. GM Swayams Mishra and IM Ravi Teja S drew their respective games, they are at 5.5/7. Among the Indian women, IM Padmini Rout, IM Nisha Mohota, WIM Pratyusha Bodda and WIM Shalmali Gagare all won their respective games and they are now at 5.0/7. The tournament has only two rounds left to go. Photo: Amruta Mokal and Shahid Ahmed