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Think and Decide - Part 2

04/08/2020 -

India's 31st GM Shyamsundar M launched his website on 30th May 2020. The site is rich of various content, one of the main features of the site is 'blog' where Shyamsundar himself explains various chess themes with illustrative games and diagrams. Shyamsundar is an accomplished player and a successful trainer. He has been a second to the Indian Men's team in Batumi Olympiad 2018 and also one of the seconds for Women's World Championship 2018 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In his second blog post, Shyamsundar talks about Sticking to our playing style in the critical moments of the game by showing an example from his game with fantastic explanation mentioning the decisions he took along with the tournament situation. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

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Carlsen Draws First Blood | Legends of Chess Final Round 1

04/08/2020 -

The Magnus Force makes winning look easy! Magnus Carlsen has been unstoppable, winning match after match, and today he continued his sparkling run, beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in the first of 3 rounds in the Legends of Chess Final. Carlsen got off to a good start, winning Game 1 with the Black pieces, after Nepo's opening experiment did not go according to plan. However, the ever resourceful Nepo struck back with a brilliant victory in game 3, in what many call one of the games of the tournament, outplaying the World Champion before finishing with a flourish and thus taking the match to the blitz tiebreakers. However, Carlsen would not be denied, winning both blitz games to win Round 1 of the finals. Nepo now has a mountain to climb if he is to throw a spanner in the works of the Carlsen juggernaut. A comprehensive report by Tanmay Srinath.

New: Simon Williams - The Exciting Budapest Gambit

03/08/2020 -

Are you tired of playing d5 against 1.d4 or c4? Grandmaster Simon Williams, one of the most creative GMs in the chess world, has tackled the flamboyant Budapest Gambit. Williams' typically fun and entertaining way of teaching is paired with serious theory, as he is always very well-prepared to show extraordinary variations. The English Grandmaster honestly reflects on how this opening can backfire, and goes over several traps that can be triggered against White. If you want to learn about an exciting new opening, Budapest Gambit is definitely worth a try. Photo: ChessBase

Nepo vs Carlsen in Blockbuster Finale! | Legends of Chess Final 4 Round 3

03/08/2020 -

A tale of grit and rigour will be decided in a match between the two best speed players in the world! After losing the 2nd match by the slimmest of margins, Ian Nepomniachtchi won his 3rd Round Match against Anish Giri 3.5-2.5 to set up a dream final with Magnus Carlsen. It wasn't a smooth ride for Nepo, whose speed of play often resulted in painful mistakes, but his resourcefulness more than compensated for this drawback, as he saved 4 bad positions in the first 4 Rapid games. Anish Giri kept getting brilliant positions out of the opening from both colours, but his usually superb technique was missing from action, as Nepo remarkably saved lost positions, which he followed up by playing beautifully to win the second Blitz game and go through to the finals.  Tanmay Srinath brings forth an exhaustive report.

Carlsen Marches On, Giri Forces Decider | Legends of Chess Final 4 Round 2

02/08/2020 -

Magnus Carlsen has truly become the benchmark of consistency! A favourite in all the tournaments he participates, he now advances to the Finals of the Legends of Chess tournament, easily defeating the Russian Legend Peter Svidler 2.5-0.5 in both the matches! Svidler needed a win in the 2nd round to force a decider, but his inconsistency worked against him, as Carlsen won the first two games and easily drew the last one with White to win the round and the match. In the other semifinal, Anish Giri was a point down twice, but fought back like a lion to win the decisive Armageddon, keeping his chances of meeting Magnus in the final alive. While Magnus awaits both Giri and Nepo have everything to win and lose as the 2nd semi final will be decided on the final day! A comprehensive report by Tanmay Srinath.

Carlsen and Nepo Start Strong | Legends of Chess Final 4 Round 1

01/08/2020 -

After a rest day, Magnus Carlsen has come back stronger than ever! The World Champion beat Peter Svidler 2.5-0.5 in the first of 3 matches by winning both his Black games! In a show of brilliant risk-reward judgement Carlsen critically opened his king in game 1, but understood that disrupting the psychological balance in his favour would reward aplenty, and he outplayed Svidler to win in 27 moves, displaying subtle understanding of the opponent and the positions. Ian Nepomniachtchi beautifully beat Anish Giri in Games 2 and 3 after being tortured for 131 moves in the first game, playing remarkable chess in positions with disrupted material balances to throw Giri off his tracks. With 2 matches to go, both Giri and Svidler need to win on demand to progress to the Finals. An illustrative report by Tanmay Srinath.

Last call for The Knighthood Online Blitz Open this Saturday 1st August

31/07/2020 -

The biggest ever prize fund for a ChessBase India Online Blitz Open on Playchess server will take place this Saturday 1st August titled - The Knighthood Online Blitz Open. One Man Army - Sujit Varghese contributes the entire prize fund of the event, the entire entry fee received for the tournament will go into the betterment for Specially Abled (Blind, Physically Challenged, Mute and Deaf) players of India. That's not all. Age group and Specially Abled prize winners will get an opportunity to play against GM Vidit Gujrathi in a simul event on Sunday 2nd August. Hurry up, register yourself if you haven't yet as the last date is approaching fast on 31st July 8 p.m. IST.

India's 66th GM who balanced his chess and education - Akash G.

31/07/2020 -

2020 seemed like a year that India would get no GMs due to the Covid-19 situation. However, we have some good news to share with you: India has got its 66th GM and he is 23-year-old Akash Ganesan from Tamil Nadu! Akash's success story tells us that balancing chess and education is possible. After taking a semi-break from chess for nearly five years and becoming an engineer, he showed his class by becoming a GM with great focus and dedication! In this interview with ChessBase India Akash reveals his method of working, what helped him to become a GM, the role of his coaches and parents, his future plans and much more. 

Teimour Radjabov teaches the King's Indian Defence | 400,000 special

30/07/2020 -

How would you like to learn to play the King's Indian Defence (KID)? How about a 1½-hour lesson by a 2765 rated super-grandmaster, the number 9 in the world? Azerbaijani GM Teimour Radjabov is one of the finest exponents of the KID in the world, and illustrates this interactive lesson with games from his stellar career. It was our way of celebrating the occasion of 400,000 subscribers on the ChessBase India YouTube channel. Thank you Teimour for this instructive and illuminating lesson!

Carlsen's Numinous 9! | Legends of Chess Round 9

30/07/2020 -

He just can't be stopped! Magnus Carlsen won his 9th match in row despite not playing his best chess, ending Kramnik's qualification hopes. Vassily Ivanchuk had to win outright against Anand to retain hopes of qualifying, but needed luck in the Armageddon to seal the tie, missing out by a point. A string of favorable results in other games meant that Peter Svidler qualified last, but not before suffering and losing to Anish Giri. Boris Gelfand got past Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Armageddon after coming back from a loss as White in the 1st game by playing brilliantly in the 2nd. Ding Liren ended the most horrible tournament of his life on a high by beating Leko, who started well but struggled to win good positions, and finally ended up last. Tanmay Srinath brings forth an illuminating report.

Wojtaszek wins 53rd Biel GMT, Harikrishna finishes second

30/07/2020 -

Harikrishna gave his all and won the final round against Anton Guijarro. However Wojtaszek also won his game against Studer. Thus Wojtaszek won the 53rd Biel Chess Festival GMT with 37 points, Harikrishna finished at second position with 36.5 points and Adams secured the third position with 35.5 points. Harikrishna was the best in Classical event as he scored an unbeaten 5.5/7 and he also beat the eventual champion Wojtaszek in Round 5. That's not all, Harikrishna's 2878 performance allowed him to gain 13 rating points and he is now World no.20 according to the live ratings list. He has also regained India no.2 spot. Harikrishna had quite a fantastic event. Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Vladimir Chuchelov on Caruana, Giri, Radjabov, Yifan, Vidit and Strategic Balance

29/07/2020 -

In terms of trainers in the world of chess there are very few who can rival the achievements of Vladimir Chuchelov. 50-year-old Vladimir lives in a small town of Eupen in Belgium. He shuns public attention and has very few interviews and information published about him online. It's a pity that very little is known about a man who has trained the absolute best in the world of chess - Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Teimour Radjabov to name a few. Vladimir is also well-known in the chess world for his Strategic Balance. What is Strategic Balance, and how does Chuchelov work with these elite players? IM Sagar Shah decided to interview the man. This article tells you all about the genius of Vladimir Chuchelov.

Can Harikrishna win 53rd Biel Chess Festival GMT?

29/07/2020 -

Harikrishna has a very good chance to win 53rd Biel Chess Festival GMT. However for him to win the tournament, the first thing he needs is to beat Anton Guijarro in the final round. Then Wojtaszek either needs to make a draw or lose against Noel Studer. In case Harikrishna draws then Wojtaszek must lose and Adams also needs to lose or make a draw with Naiditsch. Harikrishna beating Edouard in Round 6 and Wojtaszek making a draw with Keymer, allowed the tournament to be wide open for anyone between Wojtaszek, Harikrishna and Adams to win the championship. Who do you think will the 53rd Biel Chess Festival. Find round starts in a few hours. Photo: Biel Chess Festival

Giri makes the Final Four | Legends of Chess Round 8

29/07/2020 -

With one round to go in the preliminaries, the Legends of Chess has had 3 out of the final 4 decided. Anish Giri joins Magnus Carlsen, who beat fellow qualifier Ian Nepomniachtchi, despite losing in the Armageddon to Ivanchuk, as his consistent performances in the last few matches sees him make the cut with a round to spare. Peter Svidler bests Vladimir Kramnik to leave himself as the favourite to qualify last with a round to go. Ding Liren conquers Anand with a game to spare, winning both games with Black to regain his confidence for future events. An exhaustive report by Tanmay Srinath.

Talk of the Universe: Ganguly in conversation with Humpy

28/07/2020 -

Koneru Humpy is the current World no.2 among Women. She won the FIDE World Rapid Championship last year in December. Earlier this year she won the second edition of Cairns Cup. Apart from the usual chess tournament interviews, we don't get to hear much from Humpy. Surya Sekhar Ganguly continues to bring in various top players from the chess universe and he manages to unravel the side of the players we haven't seen, the stories we haven't heard. In the two-part Live interview, Ganguly discusses Humpy's first step into chess, her initial years, her father playing a key role in her chess career, how she handled criticism, her triumph, comeback after two years of break and much more. Photo: Surya's youtube channel.

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