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Mitrabha Guha wins a double at Melbourne Open for the second year in-a-row

05/05/2025 -

GM Mitrabha Guha won a double for the second consecutive year at Melbourne International Open 2025. This time he won Rapid and Blitz Rating events, unlike last year when he won the Classical and Blitz events. Mitrabha scored 8/9 and 12.5/13 to become the champion in Rapid and Blitz Rating tournaments respectively. IM Felix Xie (NZL) won the Major section. He scored an unbeaten 7/9. IM Arghyadip Das, GM Sayantan Das and Mitrabha scored 6.5/9 each. They secured second, third and fourth place respectively. The total prize fund in the Major was AU $7450. The top three prizes were $2500, $1750 and $1250 each respectively. For Rapid, the total prize fund was AU $1050. The top three prizes were $350, $230 and 150. Blitz prize fund was AU $840. The top three prizes were $300, $200 and $140 each. This was Mitrabha's sixth and seventh overall, fifth and sixth rating tournament triumph of the year.

ChessBase 18 and Mega 2025 are here

ChessBase 18 is an all-new program that helps you manage all your databases as an ambitious player. Mega Database 2025 has 11 million games with over 113,000 games annotated by masters. The cost of ChessBase 18 is Rs.4499/- and the cost of Mega Database 2025 is Rs.6499/- However, if you go for the combo the total amount comes to Rs.8999 (instead of 10,998/-) helping you save Rs. 1999/-.

ChessBase 18 + Mega 2025 Combo

Arun Kataria amazing at 1st Katni Rapid Rating Open 2025

05/05/2025 -

FM Arun Kataria scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 1st Katni Rapid Rating Open 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. Vaibhav Nema scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. Kamad Mishra and CM Prakhar Bajaj scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third and fourth respectively according to tie-breaks. Arun's sole draw was against Prakhar in the fifth round. The total prize fund was ₹200000. The top three prizes were ₹25000, ₹20000 and ₹15000 along with a trophy each. The two-day nine round rapid rating tournament was  organized by Katni District Chess Association at Hotel Mangalam Manor in Katni, Madhya Pradesh on 7th and 8th April 2025. This is Arun's second rating tournament triumph in the same week, after he won another rapid rating open two days before this. Photo: IA Kanchana Choudhary

India wins 31 medals at Western Asian Youth Chess Championships 2025

05/05/2025 -

India has won a total of 31 medals including 6 Gold, 14 Silver and 11 Bronze medals at Western Asian Youth Chess Championships 2025. A total of 16 medals were won individually and 15 were team medals. R Aaranya won 3 Gold and a Silver medal, and Anvi Deepak Hinge won 2 Gold and 4 Silver medals, and Teesha Byadwal got 2 Gold, a Silver and a Bronze in Under-8 Girls category. Aamuktha Guntaka and Amulya Guruprasad won a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal each in Under-14 and Under-18 Girls category respectively. IM Ethan Vaz won 2 Silver and 3 Bronze in Under-16 Open. FM Jaiveer Mahendru received 2 Silver and 2 Bronze in Under-18 Open. WCM Pratitee Bordoloi won 2 Silver medals in Under-12 Girls category. Photo: asianchess.com

KCA 1st GM R7: Balkishan crushes Mehar, maintains pursuit with Aakash

05/05/2025 -

GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO) defeated one of his coleaders, GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) to emerge sole leader 6.5/7 at KCA's God's Own Country's 1st GM 2025. IM Semetei Tologon Tegin (KGZ) scored a big win over GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM). Balkishan A scored a brilliant win over IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H. He made his intentions clear early in the game and did not give any chance to his opponent to get back in the game. FM Aakash G converted his longterm extra pawn advantage into a win against GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM). Balkishan will have the tall task to stop the sole leader, Pantsulaia. The remaining two pursuers - Aakash and Semetei will clash against each other. Round 8 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Himal Gusain dominates 3rd Knight Chess Academy Karunagapally Rating Open 2025

04/05/2025 -

India's highest rated IM - Himal Gusain scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 3rd Knight Chess Academy Karunagapally Rating Open 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. Ram S Krishnan scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. Three players - Ajinraj, Abdallah M Nisthar and Dipesh Seeraj K S scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third to fifth respectively according to tie-breaks. Himal's sole draw was against the eventual runner-up, Ram in the sixth round. The total prize fund was ₹400000. The top three prizes were ₹40000, ₹30000 and ₹20000 along with a trophy each. The five-day nine round rating tournament was organized by Knight Chess Academy Karunagapally at Fatima Mata National College in Kollam, Kerala from 10th to 14th April 2025. This is Himal's second rating tournament triumph of the year. Photos: Unnikrishnan P G / Knight Chess Academy Karunagapally

New: Charlie Storey - The Black Sniper: A Hypermodern Weapon for Attackers!

04/05/2025 -

The Black Sniper is back – sharper and deadlier than ever! This dynamic system (1...g6, 2...Bg7, 3...c5 against 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.c4) creates unpredictable, high-pressure positions, leaving opponents struggling to adapt. Apart from downloading files and installing on your computer, you can now stream videos and study from ChessBase books on any device - computer, smartphone, tablets etc. The app runs on both Windows and Mac OSX. For Windows device, Windows 10 or higher is required. So grab this Fritztrainer by Charlie Storey enrich your knowledge and increase your opening arsenal. Photo: ChessBase

Chiranth convincingly clinches 2nd Namma Bengaluru Category C Below 1800 Rating Tournament 2025

04/05/2025 -

Chiranth M D scored an unbeaten 9/10 to win 2nd Namma Bengaluru Category C (Below 1800) Rating Tournament 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. Six players - Sai Sharma, Indrajeet S P Suryapranjal, Vaddi Abhiram, Nihal N Shetty, K Iniyan and A K Jagadeesh scored 8/10 each. They were placed second to seventh respectively according to tie-breaks. Suryapranjal, Abhiram and Nihal remained undefeated among them. Chiranth drew with the eventual runner-up, Sai in the last round to become the champion. The total prize fund was ₹1500000. The top three prizes were ₹100000, ₹80000 and ₹70000 along with a trophy each. The four-day ten round Rating tournament was organized by The Golden Aura Trust at Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka from 15th to 18th April 2025. This is Chiranth's first tournament triumph of the year. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

KCA 1st GM R5-6: Aakash and Balkishan best Karthikeyan and Tornike

04/05/2025 -

GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO), GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM) and GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) are the three leaders 5.5/6 at KCA's God's Own Country's 1st GM 2025. WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih's (INA) winning streak came to an end as she lost both of her games against Levan and GM Karen Movsziszian (ARM). One of the leaders after fourth round, IM Rajesh Vav had a tough day. He lost to Karen and then drew the following game. FM Aakash G had a great day as he defeated GM P Karthikeyan and drew with GM Van Huy Nguyen (VIE). Balkishan A drew with GM Deepan Chakkravarthy before finishing the day with a win over GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO). Both Aakash and Balkishan are at 5/6 each with IM Mehar Chinna Reddy C H. These three are currently the top Indian performers after Round 6. Round 7 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Christopher Yoo is the Champion of Sardinia World Chess Festival Open-A 2025

03/05/2025 -

Grandmaster Christopher Yoo became the Champion of the Sardinia Chess Festival Open-A 2025 scoring 7.5/9 points. He made a solid draw with the White pieces against GM SL Narayanan in the final round to win the tournament! GM Ihor Samuenkov took 2nd place and GM Lorenzo Lodici finished 3rd - both winning their final round games, and scoring 7/9 points. Tigran Soghomonyan won the Open-B scoring 7.5/9 points, and the Open-C was won by Sushruta Reddy scoring 8/9 points! The next edition of the tournament - Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026 will be played from 3rd-10th May. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

ChessBase India YouTube Members Support Chess Players with Laptops

03/05/2025 -

Laptop is an essential training partner for every chess player. With the right software, players can analyze games and prepare faster. But they can truly benefit from these tools if they have a fast and reliable laptop. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford a laptop that meets their needs, which is why we launched this initiative last year. We provided 14 young, aspiring chess players with Lenovo Yoga Slim laptops worth Rs. 1 lakh each. This was funded through YouTube Memberships, to support their training. Seeing its impact, we are thrilled to bring it back for a second edition! This year, we are going to provide the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED to deserving chess players. If you are a chess player in need of a better laptop, check out the article to learn how you can apply.

Your Chance to Participate in the Israel Chess Solving Championship in Mumbai on May 11

03/05/2025 -

Mumbai is set to organise the Chess Solving Contest on Sunday, May 11 at Phoenix Marketcity, Kurla! From 2 PM to 7 PM, participants will solve artistic chess puzzles of specially composed positions like mate-in-2, endgame studies, helpmates, and selfmates. There are two categories for the contest: Experienced solvers and newcomers. Around 35 entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. The entry fee for this contest is ₹100. Top performers will get cash prizes worth ₹10,000. So if you enjoy chess and love solving puzzles, this event is for you! Read the full article to know how to register, what to expect, and how to prepare.

Webster University and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley are cochampions at President's Cup 2025

03/05/2025 -

Webster University and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley were announced as cochampions of President's Cup 2025. Both teams scored 7/12 each. Their head-to-head opening round battle ended in a 2-2 draw. According to the rules, Webster got the trophy as they had better tie-break scores. Saint Louis University scored 6/12 to finish third and The University of Texas at Dallas finish fourth scoring 4/12. GM Harsha Bharathakoti contributed 1/3 for Webster University. GM Yasser Quesada Perez is the top scorer 2.5/3 for his team. GM Jose Gabriel Cardososo Cardoso is the highest scorer 2.5/3, for his team UTRGV. This is the world's strongest collegiate championship as the final stage comprises of teams full of GMs and IMs. Photo: Webster University

New Champions crowned at Japan Cadets and Youth Chess Championships 2025

03/05/2025 -

The first weekend of April 2025, saw two events conducted simultaneous in Tokyo – The Japan Youth Chess Championship and the Japan Cadets Chess Championship. A total of 130 players participated in the two events combined. Mayur Gondhalekar writes about these two events. CM Cocoro Matsumura became the Youth (U-18) champion scoring an unbeaten 5.5/6. Misaki Yamada won among girls scoring 4/6. Check out the photos of names of various winners of U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 and U-16 category. The winners of each category and those who achieved a win rate of 50% or higher, will be seeded at All Japan Championship 2025 which will take place this month. Photo: Japan Chess Federation

KCA 1st GM R4: Rajesh Vav makes a perfect start

03/05/2025 -

WIM Diajeng Theresa Singgih (INA) defeated her second consecutive IM opponent at KCA's God's Own Country's 1st GM 2025. The Indonesian IM defeated IM Maksim Schekachikhin to maintain a perfect score 4/4. Four players are currently at 4/4. They are - top seed, GM Karen H Grigoryan (ARM), GM Levan Pantsulaia (GEO), IM Rajesh Vav and Theresa. Rajesh defeated Samarth Rajesh Ragavan comfortably. Ahaz E U missed a win against GM Tornike Sanikidze (GEO). IM Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Shrayan Majumder and Paras Dilip Bhoir had well contested draws against GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, GM Van Huy Nguyen (VIE) and GM Marat Dzhumaev (UZB) respectively. Round 5 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Sardinia World Chess Festival 2025 Round 8: Can SL Narayanan stop Christopher Yoo?

02/05/2025 -

Grandmaster Christopher Yoo enters the final round of the Sardinia World Chess Festival 2025 with a half-point lead over the field. He will face GM SL Narayanan with the White pieces in the final round tomorrow! GM SL Narayanan won a wonderful game with the White pieces against GM Luca Moroni. IM Loic Travadon has his GM Norm confirmed for the final round tomorrow, and FM Francesco Bettalli has good chances to score his GM Norm if he can draw against GM Leon Mendonca in the final round tomorrow! Games start from 9 AM local time, 12:30 PM IST. Photo: Niklesh Jain

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