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Vidit's heartbreak

21/02/2020 -

What a turnaround! After 32 moves it looked like Vidit Gujrathi had the Prague Masters 2020 title in his hands. Another 32 moves later, he suffered his 1st loss in the tournament to David Navara, that too with his last White, changing the narrative completely! The fight for 1st place has suddenly been blown wide open, as now there is a pack of 3 players chasing Vidit, the most recent addition being David Anton, who crushed Nils Grandelius with Black to return to +1. Nikita Vitiugov's masterful handling of the London System left him with a clearly winning position against Duda, but instead of finishing Black off immediately Vitiugov opted to win technically, and ended up allowing a fortress that the latter managed to hold comfortably. An exhaustive report by Tanmay Srinath.

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Pranesh punishes Savchenko's dubious play

21/02/2020 -

13-year-old Pranesh M shocked Grandmaster Boris Savchenko in the second round of the ongoing Aeroflot Open 2020. The Russian tried to surprise his young opponent with the offbeat Scandinavian defense but soon found himself on the receiving end of the Indian's fierce play. The game ended in just 21 moves and turned out to be a thorough one-sided demolition. In this article we bring you the full encounter with detailed move by move analysis. Pranesh is rated below 2550 but is still competing in the open A category of the event. He has already amassed 1.5 points in the first two rounds and if he keeps going like this, the 2nd GM norm shouldn't be too far away.

Aeroflot Open Chess Festival begins, Indians looking to take the event by storm

20/02/2020 -

The Aeroflot Open Chess Festival has begun in Moscow and will continue till the 29th of this month. Featuring players like Vladislav Artemiev, Gabriel Sargissian, Parham Maghsoodloo, Alexey Sarana, and Adhiban Baskaran, it is one of the most exciting events to follow. The unique time control of 100 minutes for the first 40 moves plus 50 minutes for the next 20 and 15 minutes for the rest with an increment of 30 seconds per move that is being followed in the open A section is expected to produce long and exciting fights between the players. We bring you a preview of the tournament along with a brief report of the first round.

The clash between India no.2 and 3 at the Prague Masters 2020

20/02/2020 -

The Prague Master 2020 had an intriguing sub-plot to it even before it started - the battle for India's No.2 Position between Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna. Vidit and Hari have played 3 classical games against each other, and 8 games in total, before this round. Hari has always had a stranglehold over the young Vidit, scoring 2.5/3 in their classical encounters. In Round 7, both of them faced off, with Vidit playing white. He got a very nice position out of the opening, but Hari defended tenaciously, and soon the draw was agreed. In the other games, Shankland beat Grandelius in a long Grunfeld middlegame, and Firouzja defended brilliantly against Duda's experimental Anti-Slav system to move back to +1. An extensive report by Tanmay Srinath.

Seven things that made Cairns Cup 2020 special

19/02/2020 -

The second edition of the super-elite Cairns Cup took place from the 6th to the 17th of this month in St. Louis, Missouri. Hosted by the famed St. Louis Chess Club, the event featured ten of the leading female players in the world and was fittingly dubbed as the strongest women's tournament ever in the history of chess. Author Satanick Mukhuty covered the entire event from day one and was bemused by the scale and intensity of the action it produced. In this article he speaks about the seven things that in his opinion make the Cairns Cup 2020 stand out among similar other high-profile events.

Last four seats left for the ChessBase India Group Tour to Dubai and Sharjah 2020

19/02/2020 -

The Sharjah Masters have published their player's list and the top seed of the event is none other than World no.10 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The Dubai Open is yet to publish its player's list but we are sure that it will also be a very strong event. In order to give Indian youngsters the exposure of playing in two world class events, and also to save the costs related to parents having to accompany their kids to the tournament, we have the ChessBase India Group Tour for both Dubai and Sharjah events (28th March to 16th April). Since the last article was published, we already have four people who have confirmed their participation in the group tour. We only have four slots left. Read the article to know more about the events and also the special features provided by the ChessBase India team. 

With 4.5/6, Vidit maintains a full point lead

19/02/2020 -

Definitely a pact with the Gods! After a rest day in an event, one might expect players to have come up with some fresh ideas and inventive opening schemes to play for a decisive result in their favour. However, all the games ended peacefully, continuing the trend of even rounds ending in draws. Today it was Sam Shankland's missed chance that headlined the round - he had numerous opportunities to finish Markus Ragger off, but simply failed to find the best plan in the critical positions. Nikita Vitiugov essayed the London System for the 2nd game in a row, and got a very pleasant position against the leader Vidit Gujrathi. Vidit escaped somehow and maintains a full point lead. The remaining three games were rather uneventful, which means the status quo in the standings with 3 rounds to go. A detailed report by Tanmay Srinath.

Gukesh wins the tournament held to celebrate 110th anniversary of the Hillerød Chess Club

18/02/2020 -

If you want to achieve something truly special, you have to move away from the crowd. Gukesh and his family are an excellent example of the same. While every youngster plays around 100-120 rated games in a year, Gukesh played over 200 to become a GM. While everyone usually feels that you should play in only strong events, Gukesh decided to play in the Hillerød Chess Club tournament where he was the second seed. He scored 8.0/9, gained some valuable Elo points and won the tournament by a half point margin. Before he left for his next tournament - the Cannes Open in France, we got in touch with him and did an interview on his victory. Get to know the unique thoughts of India's finest talent. 

Endgame training with the ChessBase Magazine

18/02/2020 -

Endgames can be tricky - which offers good chances to save or gain a point if you know what you are doing. It will all go in vain if you don't convert a winning position or know how to draw, the entire accurate play in opening and middle game will be moot if you are finish it. Most of the time when we reach endgame, we have less time to think. So it is better to know the theory as much as possible to save time over the board and make the most out of the time pressure and crunch endgames. ChessBase and the ChessBase Magazine help you to know what you should do and what you can do in the endgame. Photo: ChessBase

Karnataka's third and India's 63rd GM Girish Koushik gets felicitated by Infosys

17/02/2020 -

Karnataka's third and India's 63rd GM Girish Koushik was invited by The Chess Club of Infosys Ltd., Bangalore on 3rd February 2020 to felicitate him. Girish Koushik also played a simultaneous exhibition match against top seven players of Infosys and he won them all. He also shared how chess shaped his life and few snippets from his journey so far. After the conclusion of simul, Girish spent some time with the players and explained their mistakes and advised them on their game. The core members of Chaturang, an active chess group of totaling 200 employees had a fantastic time interacting with the grandmaster. A pictorial report by Ganesh Gopalan. Photo: Ganesh Gopalan

Vidit dismantles Firouzja, enters World Top 20!

17/02/2020 -

The Prague Masters 2020 has reached the half-way mark, and it has been a one man show so far! Vidit Gujrathi has shown amazing composure and concentration, drawing with Black and winning with White. Today he dismantled Alireza Firouzja in the Exchange Slav after the latter mistakenly grabbed a poisoned pawn and found himself resigning on move 24. David Navara also showed some fighting spirit, to best Nils Grandelius in the symmetrical English to begin his comeback in the event. Sam Shankland missed too many opportunities, as Anton escaped. Nikita Vitiugov was close to winning against Harikrishna, but missed some nuances that could have killed the game off and had to split the point. Ragger confidently held Duda to a draw in the Exchange Ruy Lopez. A detailed report by Tanmay Srinath.

Koneru Humpy wins the strongest Women's tournament ever in the history of chess

17/02/2020 -

Koneru Humpy has added one more feather to her cap by winning what has been reckoned as the strongest Women's tournament ever in the history of chess. The Cairns Cup 2020 concluded in St. Louis just a few hours ago with the Indian phenom finishing clear first with a score of 6.0/9 points. Alexandra Kosteniuk, who was Humpy's nearest rival going into the last round, failed to catch-up as she was effectively taken down by the reigning World Champion and top seed Ju Wenjun. Thus, in the final standings, Ju leapfrogged Alexandra and finished sole second, half a point behind Humpy. We bring you a brief express report highlighting the dramatic moment from the event's final day. The full report will follow soon.

Cairns Cup R08: Humpy takes sole lead and inches closer to the title

16/02/2020 -

The fight for the top spot escalated to an altogether different level in the penultimate round of Cairns Cup 2020. On one hand Koneru Humpy thoroughly out-prepared Valentina Gunina in the opening and demolished her in a mere 35 moves, while on the other the 16-year-old Carissa Yip stole the show by beating the reigning World Champion and top seed Ju Wenjun. Elsewhere, Alexandra Kosteniuk too continued to be a class act by taking down Nana Dzagnidze with some brilliant show of technique. The strongest women's tournament in the history of chess will thus enter its ninth and final round with four players in contention for the first place. Humpy is in sole lead with 5.5/9, Kosteniuk follow her just half a point behind, and Ju Wenjun and Mariya Muzychuk share the third place with 4.5/9 each.

Prague Masters 2020 R4: Firouzja's absurd gaffe, Vidit maintains sole lead

16/02/2020 -

When two sides play a perfect game of chess, the game more often than not ends up a draw. Today, while all the 5 games ended up as draws, 3 of them didn't follow the stated script. Alireza Firouzja exhibited passion and imagination, confusing Nikita Vitiugov with a speculative knight sacrifice to gain a decisive advantage, but made two inexplicable moves to gift the latter a draw. Duda was seriously worse after 9 moves, but his opponent David Anton failed to find the most incisive continuation, continuing his roller-coaster ride in the tournament. Harikrishna played the forgotten Sozin Attack, and had to soon defend for a while to see out the game to a draw. Markus Ragger was tortured by the exchange down David Navara for a while before concluding peace, and Nils Grandelius signed a rather tame draw with the tournament leader Vidit, who retains sole lead. A detailed report by Tanmay Srinath.

Swati Ghate speaks about the watch incident and suggests possible solutions

16/02/2020 -

WGM Swati Ghate was inconsolable and wept for hours after she lost her game due to wearing a wristwatch against Tania Sachdev in the final round of the National Team Championships 2020. A day after the incident, when Swati felt a bit better, she decided to write a post on Facebook about what had transpired. The thoughtful post with a tinge of humour began with the words, "What a coincidence that on a Valentine's day, I find myself in middle of controversy linked to a watch gifted by my husband." Swati not only explains what happened with her, but also gives possible solutions to the watch rule. Also in the article is IM Nisha Mohota's take on this entire episode.

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