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Salem Saleh wins Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup Blitz, Nihal third

10/12/2021 -

UAE no.1 Salem Saleh scored 8.5/11 to win Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup Blitz. Despite losing consecutive games in fifth and sixth round, the sharp tactician made a fantastic comeback by winning the next three games to get back at the top. In the end, he finished a half point ahead of the competition. Both Bassem Amin (EGY) and Nihal Sarin scored 8.0/11. They were placed second and third according to tie-breaks. Salem won US$ 2000, Bassem US$ 1800 and Nihal US$ 1600. Nihal's biggest victory of the event was to win against the eventual champion of the event, Salem Saleh in the fifth round. Zhansaya Abdumalik (KAZ) won the Best woman prize. Photo: Amruta Mokal

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FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships will not be held in Kazakhstan in December

09/12/2021 -

Arguably one of the most exciting event of the year - FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships which was announced last month, to take place at the usual last week of December, now stands not to take place at that time. The reason behind is the COVID restrictions being enforced by the government of Kazakhstan. Since this event witnesses the participation of over 300 players from various countries across the globe, it seems to be a big challenge for FIDE to find a new place where it can host so many players with fewer restrictions and keeping safety in mind, so that maximum players can play. FIDE has mentioned publishing an update later this week. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE

Nodirbek Abdusattorov wins 2nd elllobregat Open in Playoffs, Karthikeyan Murali finishes second

09/12/2021 -

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew his final round game against Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP). Since Karthikeyan Murali and IM Pere Garriga Cazorla (ESP) won their respective games, Playoff was enforced. Karthikeyan prevailed the home-country player in the Semifinals, however he lost the Finals of the Playoff against Abdusattorov. Thus the top seed won the tournament, Karthikeyan secured second place and Pere was placed third. They won €10000, €5000 and €2000 cash and a trophy each respectively. IM Aditya Mittal and FM Aditya S Samant secured their second GM and IM-norm respectively. Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Carlsen vs Nepo World Championship 2021 Game 10: 1 point away from 5th World Championship title

09/12/2021 -

After losing two consecutive games, Ian had the uneviable task of fighting for a win with the black pieces. However, he took the pragmatic decision of playing the Petroff and going into the safe mode with the black pieces. Magnus was more than happy with a draw as he is now just one point away from becoming the World Champion for a record 5th time. The score is now 6.5-3.5 in the favour of the World Champion. We bring you all the action from the venue in Dubai in the form of pictures, videos, analysis, interviews and more.

Nandhidhaa P V makes a historic shared first place finish at 47th La Roda International Open 2021

09/12/2021 -

WGM Nandhidhaa P V makes a historic shared first place finish at 47th La Roda International Open 2021. In 46 editions of the tournament, no woman had ever shared first place or finished in top three of the event. That changed yesterday when Nandhidhaa, GM Boris Chatalbashev (DEN) and Karen Grigoryan H (ARM) scored 7.5/9 each. Boris won the tournament, Karen secured second place and Nandhidhaa was adjudged third according to the tie-breaks. They won €2500, €1500 and €1000 cash and a trophy each respectively as their prize. The total prize fund of the tournament was €12500. Photo: La Roda Open

Carlsen vs Nepo World Championship 2021 Game 9: What's wrong with Nepo?

08/12/2021 -

The World Championship Match might end well ahead of schedule as Ian Nepomniachtchi has lost his 3rd game in the match. The score now stands at 6-3 in the favour of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. If Game 8 saw a simple blunder of a pawn by Nepo, Game 9 witnessed an entire piece being dropped by the Challenger. Why is this happening to Ian? Is it lapse in concentration? Is it too much of pressure? We bring you the game 9 report with analysis, pictures, videos, quotes, anecdotes and much more! Carlsen now needs only 1.5 more points in the remaining 5 games to retain his World Championship title for the 5th time.

Laxman R R wins Dr. Ajit Kumar Singh Kasliwal and Suneeta Singh Memorial All India Rapid Rating Open

08/12/2021 -

Starting out as the third seed of the tournament, GM Laxman R R of Integral Coach Factory, scored an unbeaten 8.0/9, to finish a half point ahead of the competition and win Dr. Ajitkumar Singh Kasliwal and Suneeta Singh Memorial All India Rapid Rating Open. Kartavya Anadkat, IM Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Harish Sharma, IM Himal Gusain, Priyanshu Patil and Chandrajeet Singh Rajawat scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed second to seventh according to the tie-breaks. The tournament had the total prize fund of ₹125000 with the first prize being ₹21000 and a trophy. It took place on 19th and 20th November at The Emerald Heights International School at Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Photo: Nubairshah's youtube channel

2nd elllobregat Open R8: Abdusattorov surges ahead

08/12/2021 -

Top seed of the tournament Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) has claimed sole lead 6.5/8 for the first time as he beat Eltaj Safarli (AZE) in the penultimate round of 2nd elllobregat Open 2021. IM Aditya Mittal continues his good form as he drew with GM Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP) to score his second GM-norm with a round to spare. Arjun Erigaisi drew with Nikita Meshkovs (LAT) after the former's opening mistake went unnoticed. Karthikeyan Murali scored a win in a tumultuous game. Eleven players are at 6.0/8 including four Indians - Karthikeyan, Arjun Erigaisi, Sethuraman and Aditya Mittal. Round 9 starts today at 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup R1-3: Nihal makes an incredible queen sacrifice

07/12/2021 -

The last time Nihal Sarin played a tournament which took place at the same venue as the world championship was back in 2013 when he won the National Under-9 Boys with an unbeaten score of 9.0/11. The uber strong Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Cup, an invitational Rapid and Blitz Rating tournament for players above 2600+ male and 2450+ female, witnesses the participation of 24 players including 22 GMs and 2 IMs across 22 nations. The tournament average rating is 2547. Total prize fund - US$ 30000, first prize in Rapid - US$ 6000 and first prize in Blitz - US$ 2000. Top Russian and third seed of the tournament, Vladimir Fedoseev leads with a perfect 3.0/3. Photo: Eric Rosen/FIDE

2nd elllobregat Open R7: Top seed Abdusattorov is back in the title fray

07/12/2021 -

IM Aditya Mittal made a great save against GM Arjun Erigaisi in a completely lost position in the seventh round of 2nd elllobregat Open 2021. Top seed of the tournament, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) beat IM Thomas Beerdssen (NED) to join six other leaders 5.5/7. They are - Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP), Arjun Erigaisi, Eltaj Safarli (AZE), Nikita Meshkovs (LAT), Muradli Mahammad (AZE) and Aditya Mittal. In the penultimate round, Aditya will face Jaime, Arjun Erigaisi will be up against Nikita and Abhimanyu Puranik 5.0/7 will be facing Muradli. Round 8 starts today at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

Carlsen vs Nepo World Championship 2021 Game 8: Be Water, my friend!

06/12/2021 -

A game of chess is often like a marathon. At the start you might not feel up to the task, but as your body gets warmed up, you start enjoying yourself. You start flowing! This is exactly what happened with Magnus Carlsen in game 8 of the World Championship Match 2021. He had come with an intention to draw the game, but a few suspect decisions by Nepo and Magnus was in his element. The game was still very much under control and it looked like we were moving towards a draw, when Nepo blundered big time. With this win Carlsen, has become a huge favourite to win the match. He is already leading 5-3 with 6 games to go. For Nepo things are absolutely clear, he has to go all out!

World Chess Championship - the Arena

06/12/2021 -

The ongoing world chess championship between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi is held as part of the ‘Dubai Expo 2020’, postponed exactly by a year due to the global pandemic and held between Oct 2021 - Mar 2022 at Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The world championship along with the DP World Tour Golf Championship and the Cricket Twenty20 World Cup are the other sporting events conducted in the country coinciding with Expo 2020. The Expo, a suggested six-month, US Dollars 7 billion event which has been about nine years in the making with the participation of 182 countries, is a global extravaganza targeting about 25 million visitors where the world chess championship is a peripheral sporting attraction. The venue is situated within a 45 minutes drive from the major transport hubs of Dubai through a dedicated metro station, built specifically for the purpose.

2nd elllobregat Open R6: Arjun Erigaisi and Aditya Mittal in a five-way lead

06/12/2021 -

IM Aditya Mittal drew with GM Sethuraman S P in the sixth round of 2nd elllobregat Open 2021 to maintain his lead. Arjun Erigaisi beat Marcin Krzyzanowski (POL) to join the leaders at 5.0/6. Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP), Eltaj Safarli (AZE) and Nikita Meshkovs (LAT) are the remaining three players who are at 5.0/6 each. Karthikeyan Murali, Sethuraman and Karthik Venkataraman are the Indians at just a half point behind 4.5/6 each. Arjun Erigaisi and Aditya Mittal will face each other in the seventh round. It starts today at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Patricia Claros Aguilar

New: Andrew Martin: The Barry Attack

05/12/2021 -

Not quite a London System and not quite a Veresov. The unusually named ‘Barry Attack‘ lies somewhere between the two. Yet another challenging queen pawn system that Black has to prepare for. In fact, the ’Barry Attack’ had roots as early as 1922, when Tartakower experimented with what was then an unknown opening, but didn’t really take off until the late 1970’s and 1980’s, when a whole series of strong players such as Niaz Murshed and several English masters started to win game after game with it. On this new ChessBase video course, FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin gets you ready to play the Barry in your own games. Photo: ChessBase

Carlsen vs Nepo World Championship 2021 Game 7: Wait or Strike?

05/12/2021 -

Until game 5 things were moving along quite slowly in the match. The score was tied at 2.5-2.5. And then Magnus Carlsen struck gold in the 6th game. Since then things have changed. The challenger can no longer go for his solid approach. But at the same time he has to take care not to fall behind by two points in the match as that would be impossible to recover. In the 7th game Ian Nepomniachtchi had the white pieces, but very little time to prepare. Also because of the marathon game that they played in the previous rounds, it is quite possible that his energy levels were running low. It was a dry draw and the score is now 4-3 in Carlsen's favour. IM Sagar Shah brings you the game as well as some memberable moments of meeting chess fans in Dubai.

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