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Asian Chess Excellence Awards 2023: Gukesh receives Player of the Year and AICF bags Most Active Federation

03/03/2023 -

On 1st March 2023 at 5th Annual Asian Chess Excellence Awards, several Indian players and the Indian governing body of chess were awarded for their fantastic achievements in 2022. The awards won in various categories are: Man of the Year - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M K Stalin, Player of the Year - GM D Gukesh, Most Active Federation - AICF, Best Women's team of the Year - Indian Women's team comprising Humpy, Harika, Vaishali, Tania and Bhakti, Coach of the Year - GM R B Ramesh, Women's Coach of the year - GM Abhijit Kunte, Best Junior Player - GM Leon Luke Medonca, and Youth Player of the year - Ilamparthi A R. Photo: AICF

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Pranav Venkatesh aces Promethean Rapid Rating Open 2023

03/03/2023 -

GM Pranav Venkatesh scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to clinch Promethean Rapid Rating Open 2023. He started with eight straight wins and gained a full point lead heading into the final round. Since a draw in the final round was enough for him to become champion, he drew with the eventual runner-up IM Rathanvel V S. Three more players IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H, IM Ratnakaran K and IM Nitin S scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third to fifth respectively according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹500000. The top three prizes were ₹51000 + trophy, ₹41000 and ₹31000 each respectively. This is Pranav's first rating tournament victory of 2023. Photo: NA Sushruta Reddy

Sayantan Das convincingly clinches 6th Cannes Chess Open 2023, becomes India's 81st Grandmaster

02/03/2023 -

IM Sayantan Das won 6th Cannes Chess Open A part of 36th International Games Festival. He defeated the top seed of the tournament, GM Alexander Motylev in the final round to become a clear champion 7.5/9. This win also helped him to cross 2500 in the live ratings and become India's 81st and Kolkata, West Bengal's 11th Grandmaster. The total prize fund of the tournament was €8000. The top three prizes were €1800, €1200 and €700 along with a trophy each. Sayantan had fulfilled all the norm requirements in January 2017. However, he finally completed the rating requirements on Sunday 26th February 2023. GM Diptayan Ghosh is the only other Indian to make a top ten finish, scoring 7/9 and was placed fourth. Photo: Susan Polgar

Buying an Electronic Chess Board: A Comprehensive Comparison

02/03/2023 -

Are you a chess fanatic looking to upgrade your chess skills? Or an enthusiast wishing to have someone to play against without the hassle of actually seeking out a worthy opponent? Or a fan just interested in looking at games played by famous chess masters from history? Maybe you’re playing a match against a rival and want your supporters across the globe to be able to follow it from their devices. All this is now possible on a physical board that you can touch and feel right in front of you. How? With an electronic version of the age-old chequered board. In this article, Paras Gudka compares five specific electronic chess boards.

Laxman triumphs at CMI Tessellate Rapid Rating Open 2023

02/03/2023 -

GM Laxman R R scored an unbeaten 7.5/8 to win CMI Tessellate Rapid Rating Open 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the competition and the sole draw he conceded was against 15-year-old Aswin Sairam. Three players Sai Vishwesh C, Arun R U and Mridav M scored 7/8 each. They were placed second to fourth respectively according to tie-breaks. Only Sai remained undefeated among them. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹103250. The top three prizes were ₹20000 + trophy, ₹15000 and ₹10000 each respectively. This is Laxman's first rating tournament victory of 2023 and quite possibly many more to come as he has the habit of winning a lot of tournaments.

Ilamparthi tests Gukesh from Dusseldorf to Hamburg!

01/03/2023 -

Gukesh is just 16 years old, but no one considers him as a young talent anymore. He is a full-blown top GM. His live rating is 2730 and he is currently world no.20. It would be appropriate to call Ilamparthi, a young talent. The boy is 13 years old. He is the current world under-14 champion and an IM with an Elo of 2423. Both Gukesh and Ilamparthi did really well in Dusseldorf at the WR Masters and Juniors respectively. It was now time for something fun on our train journey from Dusseldorf to Hamburg. Check out the this article to solve 10 tough positions posed by Ilamparthi to Gukesh!

Gukesh and Nihal win Best Young Achiever and Spirit of Sports at Sportstar Aces Awards 2023

01/03/2023 -

On 28th February 2023, Sportstar premiered the Sportstar Aces Awards 2023 on their youtube channel. D Gukesh was nominated for Best Young Achievers Male award along with Vishwanath Suresh (Boxing), Payas Jain (Table Tennis) and S Gurunaidu (Weightlifting). Nihal Sarin was nominated for Spirit of Sports award along with three other nominees. Both Gukesh and Nihal won the awards in their respective nominated categories. This was Nihal's second consecutive award at the Sportstar Aces Awards after he won the BYJU's Young Athlete of the Year (Male) award in 2022. Vishy Anand and Pravin Thipsay also attended this event. Photo: Sportstar

Satheesh wins Chalakudy Chess Academy Below 1600 Rating Tournament 2023

01/03/2023 -

Satheesh M scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win Chalakudy Chess Academy Below 1600 Rating Tournament 2023. He finished a half point ahead of the field and also defeated the eventual runner-up. 12-year-old Sayanth Krishna scored 8/9 to finish second. He gained a massive 150 Elo rating points. 14-year-old Sidharth Mohan and Jos Paul Davis scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third and fourth according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹300000. Top three prizes were ₹25000, ₹15000 and ₹10000 along with a trophy each. A total of 382 players participated in this three-day nine-round Swiss League Rating tournament organized Chalakudy Chess Academy in Thrissur, Kerala from 10th to 12th February 2023. Photo: Vipin Vijayan/Chalakudy Chess Academy

Endgame Magic #229: Indian talent Leon Luke Mendonca shows endgame highlights from his games

01/03/2023 -

GM Dr. Karsten Mueller is an endgame legend. His knowledge in endgame play is impeccable. Twice or thrice in a month he has the Endgame Magic show with one of the well-known guests who visit the ChessBase office. Karsten's guest on Episode #228 and #229 was India's 67th GM Leon Luke Mendonca. Leon recently finished at third place at Kragero Resort Chess 2023. Leon was at the ChessBase studio in Hamburg, Germany. Find out how you can watch the entire episode in this article along with a position from the show which was discussed. You can watch the Endgame Magic Show on-demand with a ChessBase Premium account. Photo: Endgame Magic #228/ChessBase

Aravindh Chithambaram dominates MPL National Blitz Chess Championship 2023 with a perfect 11/11

28/02/2023 -

GM Aravindh Chithambaram (TN) just keeps creating record after record. He scored a perfect 11/11 to win MPL National Blitz Chess Championship 2023. Thus, he became the first person in Indian chess history to become National Rapid and Blitz champion for three consecutive editions* between 2019 and 2023. Of course his 11/11 first place finish record cannot be broken unless the total number of rounds increases in future editions which is highly unlikely. He also finished a staggering 2.5 points ahead of the field. IM Nubairshah Shaikh (MAH) and IM Avinash Ramesh (TN) scored 8.5/11 each to finish at second and third place respectively. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

New: Herman Grooten: Key Concepts of Chess - The Hedgehog

28/02/2023 -

In order to understand openings properly, the middlegame should actually be studied first. Because all plans in the middlegame link directly to the ideas from the opening. Almost everything is hung up on pawn structures. Therefore, IM Herman Grooten takes the club chess player by the hand to take a closer look at common middlegame structures. Knowing just the opening is never enough. One must learn about the resultant middlegame structures that arises from any particular opening. Check out this new DVD and strengthen your understanding of the Hedgehog pawn structures. Photo: ChessBase

Himal Gusain wins 19th Caspian Cup 2023, Kushagra Mohan third

28/02/2023 -

IM Himal Gusain won 19th Caspian Cup Category A 2023 scoring an unbeaten 7/9. Three other players also scored the same and remained undefeated. They are - GM Hovik Hayrapetyan (ARM), IM Kushagra Mohan and IM Arash Tahbaz (IRI). They were placed second to fourth according to tie-breaks. The top three prizes were 3000000, 2000000 and 1600000 Iranian Real which is approximately ₹58000 as the first prize. This is Himal's second tournament victory of the year, after starting the year by winning Surya Trophy Rating Open 2022 on the very first day. Photo: IA Khatere Azizi

Abhijeet Gupta conquers Graz Open 2023

27/02/2023 -

GM Abhijeet Gupta won International Graz Open 2023 scoring 8/9. Despite losing the second round, he made a strong comeback by winning the next seven games in-a-row, finishing a full point ahead of the competition. In the final round, he defeatetd the top seed of the tournament and Poland no.3, GM Bartosz Socko. The total prize fund of the tournament was €8500. The top three prizes were €1500, €1000 and €600 each respectively. This was Abhijeet's first tournament triumph he started in 2023. Earlier, he started the year by finishing second at MPL 59th National Senior Chess Championship 2022. Photo: Internationales Schachopen Graz

Ilamparthi wins WR Chess Juniors U-14 Boys and Blitz 2023

27/02/2023 -

The reigning World Under-14 Open champion, Ilamparthi A R won WR Chess Junior Under-14 Boys with a perfect 5/5. He also won the Blitz event. These triumphs came 11 days after he became India's latest International Master at 21st Rochefort Chess Festival Masters 2023. Ilamparthi also got trained by the former world championship challenger, the legendary GM Boris Gelfand and Germany no.1 GM Elisabeth Paehtz along with other participants of the junior tournament. He also got an opportunity to witness WR Chess Masters action live in action. We all hope he soon becomes a GM and strong enough to participate in the Masters events. Photo: Lennart Ootes/WR Chess 2023

Aravindh Chithambaram scores a hat-trick of National Rapid triumphs

26/02/2023 -

India's first triple crown champion, GM Aravindh Chithambaram creates history again. The Tamil Nadu GM becomes the first Indian to win National Rapid Championship for three consecutive edition. He achieved it by remaining undefeated. His scores were 10.5/11 in 2019, 8/9 in 2022 and now 8.5/11 in 2023. It will be years for anyone to match his feat, let alone break it. Despite the championships not taking place in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Aravindh did not lost his touch. Five more players scored 8.5/11. IM Nubairshah Shaikh (MAH) and GM Mitrabha Guha (WB) were adjudged second and third according to tie-breaks. Round 1 of MPL National Blitz Chess Championship 2023 starts tomorrow from 9 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

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