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14-year-old Aydin Suleymanli's move that would have made Dvoretsky proud!

27/02/2020 -

The Aeroflot Open is considered to be one of the strongest events in the world of chess. Over 60 GMs are taking part in the tournament, with 33 of them being above 2600 Elo. After eight rounds of intense chess, with just one round to go, can you guess who is the leader of the Aeroflot Open 2020? It's the 14-year-old talent from Azerbaijan IM Aydin Suleymanli (2474). Aydin's performance at the event has been off the charts. He has played all opponents above the rating of 2600 and beaten four of them. He has an Elo performance of 2816 and with a draw in the last round he could well become the champion! In round eight he played a gem against Parham Maghsoodloo and in this article we have a closer look at this brilliancy.

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Aeroflot R07: Adhiban and Aravindh join the chasing pack of eight players

26/02/2020 -

Rauf Mamedov continues to be in the sole lead after seven rounds at the Aeroflot Open 2020 but there are now as many as eight players following him closely just half a point. India's Adhiban Baskaran and Aravindh Chithambaram have too joined this chasing octet after scoring emphatic wins against Arjun Erigaisi and Bharath Subramaniyam respectively but Vaibhav Suri has slipped down the leaderboard suffering his first and a rather abrupt defeat in the hands of David Paravyan. We bring you an illustrated report from Hotel Cosmos, Moscow.

Alex Averbukh wins Tachikawa Chess Open 2020

26/02/2020 -

CM Alex Averbukh of Japan, scored 5.0/5 to win Tachikawa Chess Open 2020. He finished a full point ahead of the competition. Four players finished at 4.0/5. Koji Noguchi and top seed Atsuhiko Kobayashi secured second and third place respectively according to their tie-break score. The tournament was organized by Tachikawa Chess Club at two different venues in Tokyo, Japan on 8th and 9th February 2020. First day two rounds were played at Hamamatsucho and on second day the final three rounds were played in Tachikawa. Photos and Tournament report by one of the participants, Seiji Nakagawa.

With last two rounds to go, who are the top performing Indians at the Aeroflot Open 2020

26/02/2020 -

The Aeroflot Open 2020 is entering a crucial phase. Last two rounds of the tournament are left to be played. Several Indians have performed well until now and if they continue to do so, could well return back with top places as well as norms. In the A group it is Adhiban and Aravindh Chithambaram who have excellent chances of a podium finish. Youngsters Aditya Mittal, Bharath Subramaniyam, Pranesh and a few others have chances of making a GM norm. In the B-group we have Ameya Audi and Rathanvel who have played exceedingly well and are currently the best performing Indians with 5.0/7. They are followed by Sammed Shete, Nitish Belurkar and M.R. Venkatesh. In the C-group Rahul Sangma has good chances to fight for the top prize.

Opening training with Fritz 17: 100 repertoire proposals

25/02/2020 -

Creating a good and reliable opening repertoire is a difficult task. Fritz 17 offers an alternative: premade opening repertoires, on four levels, from "Easy" to "Professional". All of them are solid repertoires that have stood the test of practice and will give you a good (though not necessarily better) position after the opening. Fritz 17 is the latest software in the long line of chess playing programs. It also comes with Fat Fritz* as an engine. Fritz 17 comes with premade opening repertoires starting from easy to professional. This tutorial will help you in learning how to use and reap the benefit of premade opening repertoires. Photo: ChessBase

Gukesh wins Cannes Open and moves to a live rating of 2565!

25/02/2020 -

2020 has begun well for youngster D. Gukesh. After winning the Hillerhød Chess Club event, he went on to ace the Cannes Open as well. In a field that had over ten grandmasters, Gukesh scored 7.5/9 with a rating performance of 2667. While Gukesh's performance and live rating of 2565 is impressive, what is even more jaw-dropping is the fact that the youngster has never used an engine for his preparation! In this article, Gukesh sends us an annotated game from the Cannes Open which, like always, he has analyzed without an engine. Cannes Open will also be memorable for Gukesh's father as well who gained over 100 Elo points in C-group and finished ninth! A detailed report on Gukesh's victory along with an interview with the winner. 

Aeroflot R06: Vaibhav Suri stuns top seed Vladislav Artemiev

25/02/2020 -

India's Vaibhav Suri became the one to pull off the big stunner in round six of Aeroflot Open 2020 by defeating none other than the event's top seed Vladislav Artemiev of Russia. With four draws in the last five rounds, Vaibhav was having a somewhat lacklustre tournament, but with this one redeeming victory he has now successfully broken into the top ten on the leaderboard. Elsewhere, the 16-year-old Arjun Erigaisi too delivered a power-packed performance beating the strong Armenian Grandmaster Haik M. Martirosyan, while Bharath Subramaniyam managed to hold his own in a tense battle against the winner of this year's Gibraltar Masters David Paravyan. We bring an illustrated report.

Victory for Vishnu Prasanna at 4th Shaastra Rapid Rating 2020

24/02/2020 -

GM Vishnu Prasanna scored a fantastic 9.5/10 to win 4th Shaastra Rapid Rating Open 2020. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. GM Deepan Chakkravarthy secured second position with a score of 9.0/10. Twelve players finished at 8.0/10. GM Priyadharshan Kanappan was placed third according to the tie-break scores. Total 439 players including 7 GMs, 11 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs participated in this two-day event organized by Shaastra IIT Madras at IIT Madras on 22nd and 23rd February 2020 making it the strongest and biggest edition in the tournament's history. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Aeroflot R04+05: Bharath's opening misfortune and beastly glimpses of Adhiban

24/02/2020 -

Bharath Subramaniyam scored a brilliant upset in round four defeating Zhou Jianchao of China but failed to hold his own against the Azerbaijani veteran Rauf Mamedov. Sethuraman S.P. too slipped down the rank-list after suffering his first loss of the tournament in the hands of Manuel Petrosyan. Elsewhere, Adhiban Baskaran kept his solid form going with intermittent show of ferocity, while Praggnanandhaa R. was stunned by an opening novelty. Rounds four and five of the Aeroflot Open were full of instructive action and in this combined report we bring you the highlights, games, photos, and much more.

Will the Coronavirus mar the 'youngest' Candidates tournament ever?

24/02/2020 -

With an average age of just 28.5 years, the Candidates tournament 2020 is going to be a cracker of an event. Eight players will fight it out against each other to determine the worthy challenger for Magnus Carlsen. While Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren are clearly the favourites, one cannot discount Alexander Grischuk, Anish Giri and Ian Nepomniachtchi. At the same time we have three dark horses in the form of Radjabov, Wang Hao and Alekseenko. With less than a month to go for the event (begins on 15th of March), the player's preparations would be in full swing. But there are many twists in the plot, even before the event has begun - most notably the Coronavirus which is jeopardizing the participation of the Chinese players. We bring you a detailed preview of the Candidates 2020.

Seven players in the lead with 5.0/5 at Shaastra Rapid Rating 2020

22/02/2020 -

Seven players are in the lead with 5.0/5 at the halfway mark of 4th Shaastra Rapid Rating 2020. They are GM Vishnu Prasanna, GM Priyadharshan Kannappan, IM D K Sharma, IM Ravi Teja S, GM Laxman R R, IM P D S Girinath and FM Rohith Krishna S. This is the biggest and strongest edition in this tournament's nascent history. Total 439 players comprising of 7 GMs, 11 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs are taking part in this two-day event at IIT Madras, co-sponsored by Akshayakalpa and nurtr. Total Prize fund ₹300000 is up for grabs with the first prize being ₹45000. The tournament concludes on 23rd February 2020. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Aeroflot R03: After Pranesh it is now Bharath's turn to sizzle

22/02/2020 -

With a perfect score of 3.0/3, Rauf Mamedov has taken the sole lead after three rounds at Aeroflot Open 2020. However, there are five players led by 13-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam and S.P. Sethuraman of India who follow him closely just half a point behind. Bharath registered his second victory in this event by beating none other than the second seeded Gabriel Sargissian and is all set to take on Zhou Jianchao in the next round. Be it Pranesh M or Bharath, it seems there is always some Indian junior ready to cause an upset each day. We bring you a detailed pictorial report.

Firouzja blitzes past Vidit to conquer Prague!

22/02/2020 -

After Round 7 the question to be answered was who would take 2nd place behind Vidit, and just 2 games later it was Vidit taking 2nd place after 3 harrowing losses on the final day! Duda was merciless, exploiting every inaccuracy and mistake to blow Vidit off the board, and keep himself in contention. Alireza Firouzja survived a really complex battle against David Anton, who missed a beautiful win at one point, and by the end of the round Vidit and Firouzja were to engage in a Blitz tiebreak to determine the winner, as the two had the best tiebreak among the lot tied on 5/9. A shocked Vidit bravely mustered up the strength to fight, but his nemesis, the clock, managed to win the battle, as he lost on time in the second game, to concede the tournament to the rising Iranian.

Aeroflot R02: Sethuraman is one of the four leaders

21/02/2020 -

Rauf Mamedov, Sethuraman S.P., Zhou Jianchao, and Shant Sargsyan are the four players who have emerged as leaders with perfect scores of 2.0/2 after two rounds at the ongoing Aeroflot Open 2020. Deep Sengupta, who pulled off a stunner in round one by defeating the young Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Abdusattorov, found himself quite out of depth yesterday in a French sideline against Sethuraman. The latter thus took charge early on in this all India clash and displayed some high-class technique with his pair of bishops to bring the full point home. Elsewhere, players like Bharath Subramaniyam and Raja Harshit kept the solid show going, while Pranesh M pulled off the big shocker of the day by crushing GM Boris Savchenko in a mere 21 moves. 

NEW: Mastering the Sicilian Najdorf

21/02/2020 -

The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6) has been one of the most popular openings for decades. Players of every level like it and it also was an important part of the Black opening repertoire of two legendary World Champions: Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov. To know about one of the most popular variation at the very top and also at club level, this dvd by GM Yannick Pelletier is the latest addition to ever evolving Najdorf variation as he explores the latest theoretical developments. Photo: ChessBase

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