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Gujarat GM R09: IM Neelash Saha beats third Grandmaster in a row

29/09/2019 -

International Master Neelash Saha is absolutely on fire, in the penultimate round of the 2nd Gujarat International Open he defeated GM Deepan Chakkravarthy to register his third victory against a Grandmaster in a row. Saptarshi Roy also won his round nine encounter to remain in strong contention for the title prize, while Ivan Rozum agreed to a quick draw in just 15 moves in his encounter against Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder. Going into the final round of the event Ivan is still the sole leader with 8.0/9 points but Saptarshi and Neelash follow him closely just half a point behind with 7.5/9 each. Sayantan Das, Sandipan Chanda, and Manush Shah have also climbed up the leaderboard by winning their respective games in the ninth round and now have every chance at overtaking the leaders in the last day of the tournament.

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The Kashvi Chess School is organizing two mega events this october

28/09/2019 -

The Kashvi Chess School and Hale Vidyarthigala Sangha Karnataka Public School are jointly organizing two mega events this October in the beautiful coastal town of Kundapura in Udupi. The total prize fund of the two tournaments is a whopping Rs.20,32,000 with Rs.1,00,000 for each champion. The first one is an open event that will take place from the 10th to 14th of October, while the second one is a below 1600 event that will be held from the 15th to 17th. This is great news for all chess lovers in Karnataka as the state hasn't witnessed many tournaments of such grand stature in the past. The event has been promoted in a big way by the organizers and has already garnered high praises from several top players of the country. In this article we get to know all about the first Kashvi Chess School Open and below 1600 FIDE rating chess tournaments.

Gujarat GM R08: Ivan Rozum dashes ahead, Saptarshi Roy fights back

28/09/2019 -

Top seed Ivan Rozum has taken a full point lead over the rest of the field after defeating FM Manush Shah in the eighth round of the ongoing 2nd Gujarat International Grandmaster Open here in Ahmedabad. Saptarshi Roy too recovered well after his last round's setback to beat IM Denis Eraschenkov with the black pieces. IM Neelash Saha also kept up his good form as he got the better of GM Maxim Lugovskoy and squeezed out a victory after a 76-move long battle. All in all, after the completion of eight rounds, Ivan Rozum sits atop the leaderboard with an unbeaten 7.5/8 points. While Saptarshi Roy, Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder, Himanshu Sharma, and Neelash Saha follow him a point behind with 6.5/8 each.

A new generation of FritzTrainers: for Windows and (now) Mac and iOS!

27/09/2019 -

The Ruy Lopez is a perennially popular opening and all World Champions have played it, with White or with Black or with both colours. Studying it will improve your chess understanding — and your results! On three new FritzTrainer DVDs Fabiano Caruana, World Championship Challenger 2018, now explains the intricacies and attractions of this opening, offering White a complete repertoire. These FritzTrainers also impress with a technical novelty: they run on Macs, iPad, Android, and Windows!

So near yet so far - Nikita Vitiugov at the World Cup 2019

27/09/2019 -

"This tournament is like life - eventually, it has a sad end. Lucky guys leave it quickly, stubborn ones, who fight on their limits - sometimes painfully. But what happened here also matters and I am proud of the level of chess I've showed in the tournament." In a couple of sentences Nikita Vitiugov's tweet at the end of the FIDE World Cup 2019 captured the essence of what had happened. The heartbreak of being losing from a completely winning position and the happiness of having played excellent chess to eliminate Sergey Karjakin and Wesley So without going into the tiebreaks! In this article IM Sagar Shah takes a look at two of Vitiugov's masterpieces and invites you to solve some very interesting positional decisions that were taken by the Russian GM.

Gujarat GM R07: Ivan Rozum elbows Saptarshi Roy out of the lead

27/09/2019 -

Ivan Rozum defeated Saptarshi Roy with the black pieces in the seventh round of Gujarat International Grandmaster Open to take sole lead with 6.5/7 points. Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder, Himanshu Sharma, and Manush Shah follow him closely just half a point behind with 6.0/7 points each. On the other hand, Grandmaster Saptarshi Roy has slipped down the rank-list to the fifth place after his latest loss and now shares 5.5/7 along with eleven other players. The two players who pulled off the biggest shocker in round seven were FM Manush Shah and IM Neelash Saha, both of whom defeated their higher rated Grandmaster opponents, namely Ziaur Rahman and Neelotpal Das.

Rahul Srivatshav aims to reach 2600 before he turns 18

27/09/2019 -

International Masters Rahul Srivatshav and Vardaan Nagpal did exceptionally well in the Chania International Open 2019 that took place from the 25th of August to 1st September in the beautiful Cretan city of Chania. Both players scored 6.5/9 points each, which was the highest in the event, and on the basis of tie-breaks were placed second and fifth respectively. This was particularly impressive in view of the fact that they finished ahead of several strong 2600+ rated Grandmasters. We got in touch with Rahul for a detailed interview as he shares with us his best game from the tournament and also his plans for the future which include preparing really hard for World Youth and World Juniors and reaching 2600 before he turns 18.

Gujarat GM R05+06: Ivan Rozum and Saptarshi Roy take lead

26/09/2019 -

Grandmasters Ivan Rozum and Saptarshi Roy lead the 2nd Gujarat International Grandmaster Open after the completion of rounds five and six yesterday here in Ahmedabad. GM Saptarshi defeated Rathnakaran K in the fifth round and drew Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder in the sixth, while Ivan Rozum beat Maxim Lugovskoy in the sixth round but was held to a draw by Sayantan Das in the fifth. Both Ivan and Saptarshi have 5.5/6 points each and they are being followed closely by nine players who are just half a point behind with 5.0/6. The category B tournament for players rated below 2000 also came to conclusion yesterday with 1818 rated Anurag Jaiswal of West Bengal finishing clear first with 9.0/10 points. In this illustrated report we bring you the latest games, analyses, and much more from the event.

Donate and play in the Rafiq Khan Memorial Online Blitz - A total prize fund of Rs.51,000

25/09/2019 -

On 6th of October, ChessBase India will hold a unique online blitz tournament in the memory of Rafiq Khan, India's first Olympiad medal winner, who passed away a couple of months ago on 18th of July 2019. Friends and admirers of the great champion have contributed a total sum of ₹51,000, which is the total prize fund of the tournament, the first prize being Rs.10,000. The entry fee of the event is Rs.500 but players are requested to donate as much as they can, as all the money collected will be donated to Rafiq Khan's wife. In spite of being such a great champion, all his life he lived in grave financial difficulties. It would be a nice gesture on the part of the Indian chess community to come forward, contribute towards this noble cause.

Fat Fritz and the KID

25/09/2019 -

While the title may sound like the name of the latest spaghetti western, it is actually a look at how Fat Fritz may change the way players view the King's Indian Defense, notably the Classical Main Line, long maligned by generations of engines. See how it compares to the latest Stockfish on it, and why its unique development gives it such a broad outlook on openings in general.

Gujarat GM R04: Rathnakaran K outwits Neelotpal Das in a double-edged Vienna

25/09/2019 -

Rathnakaran K got the better of Neelotpal Das in a topsy-turvy Vienna game to emerge as one of the six leaders after the fourth round of 2nd Gujarat International Grandmaster Open here in Ahmedabad. The five other leaders are Ivan Rozum, Sandipan Chanda, Saptarshi Roy, Sayantan Das, and Maxim Lugovskoy all of whom so far have perfect scores of 4.0/4 points each. The second seed of the event, Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy, was once again held to a draw in round four by 2157 rated Aradhya Garg from Delhi. IM Neelash Saha and Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri also drew their encounters against higher-rated Nguyen Van Huy and Karthikeyan Pandian respectively to stay just half a point behind the leaders with 3.5/4 points each.

Have the engines led us to lose our respect for the elite GMs?

24/09/2019 -

Alexander Grischuk and Ding Liren sat opposite each other in the fifth round of the World Cup 2019. In their first game after 13 moves, Grischuk made a move that led the engines to give an evaluation of nearly -3 points. It was almost as if he had blundered a piece. Ding Liren after thinking for a long time replied with a move that let his opponent off the hook without any problems. On social media as well as in live commentary one could see the viewers and the kibitzers saying things like these top players aren't as good as their ratings suggest, they always keep making blunders and so on. Is this really the case? Has the level of chess gone down, or are the viewers armed with engines being unjustifiably harsh? In this article IM Sagar Shah looks at the Grischuk vs Ding Liren position in depth and makes some observations.

How to train with ChessBase 15

24/09/2019 -

ChessBase 15 offers powerful tools to improve your training and your chess. One such tool is the "Tactical Analysis" that can work as a virtual coach to answer your chess questions. But to get the most of the answers you should know how to ask the right questions! In this tutorial, resident ChessBase expert MARTIN FISCHER demonstrates an effective method to work with a strong chess analysis engine within your ChessBase 15 program at your own convenience. Drawing: ChessBase

GM Saptarshi Roy explains a Nezhmetdinov immortal

24/09/2019 -

Welcome to the second part of the Tuesday King Hunts with GM Saptarshi Roy. Today's lecture delves into a classic masterpiece played by one of history's most imaginative attacking chess players ever. We are talking about the legendary encounter between Lev Polugaevsky and the evergreen Rashid Nezhmetdinov from the year of 1958. In this game Nezhmetdinov in his absolute best creates a fierce attack with the black pieces straight off the bat, and then chases down the opponent's king in a picturesque manner from one side of the board to the other. With Grandmaster Saptarshi's nuanced move by move explanation, you are sure to get fresh insights into Nezhmetdinov's strikingly instinctive attacking style that is cherished even to this day as stuff of chess folklore! 

Gujarat GM R02+03: Deepan Chakkravarthy slips down the rank list

24/09/2019 -

Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy squandered a sure win against 2088 rated Anadkat Kartavya to slip down the rank-list after the second day of Gujarat International Open 2019 here in Ahmedabad. At the end of three rounds of the tournament, as many as seventeen players are tied atop the leaderboard with perfect scores of 3.0/3 points each. Particularly notable among them has been the performance of Pranav Shetty (2124) who defeated Grandmaster Himanshu Sharma (2408) in round three to register his third consecutive victory, in the fourth round he is up against Maxim Lugovskoy and it remains to be seen if he can hold his own against the Russian Grandmaster as well. In this report we bring you the games, analyses, and much more from rounds two and three of the event.

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