IM Khusenkhojaev wins Courtalam Saaral FIDE Rated Open

18/09/2019 -

IM Muhammad Khusenkhojaev of Tajikistan surged ahead of six other players who tied with him, to clinch the title of the 1st Courtalam Saaral (a mixture of cool breeze and continuous slight drizzling) FIDE rated tournament organised by Tirunelveli Development Chess Association at Courtalam from 29th August to 2nd September. Total 306 players from four different federation Chile, Nepal, India and Tajikistan participated including a GM and four IMs. Photo: R Anantharam

Lakecity GM R06+07: Deepan, Mitrabha, and Sayantan in joint lead

18/09/2019 -

Deepan Chakkravarthy, Sayantan Das, and Mitrabha Guha lead the ongoing Lakecity Grandmaster Open along with three others after the completion of seven rounds here in Udaipur. The trio has remained unbeaten so far with an impressive score of 6.0/7 points each. Yesterday the event had double rounds, round six from 9:30 a.m in the morning and round seven from 3:30 p.m in the afternoon. The sixth round was particularly eventful as all encounters in the top boards reached decisive results. Deepan and Sayantan beat compatriots Neelotpal Das and Saptarshi Roy respectively, while Mitrabha Guha got the better of Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman. In round seven however the games in the top three boards ended in draws but Hesham Abdelrahman of Egypt defeated Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri to join the lead!

World Cup 2019 Rd.3.2: The end of India's journey at Khanty Mansiysk

18/09/2019 -

India's journey at the World Cup 2019 has come to an end after two classical games in the third round. Harikrishna in his bid to win against Alekseenko, overpressed and lost the game and the match 2-0. Vidit tried his best, but couldn't get anything substantial against Wesley So and lost the match 1.5-0.5. India began with 10 participants in Khanty Mansiysk. Five of them were eliminated in round one, three in round two and finally Harikrishna and Vidit in round three. Not the best result, but as Vidit wrote after the event, "I am down but not out. The spirit is still high." We have a look at the two critical games from round 3.2 and also try to understand whether Harikrishna's daring sacrifice actually worked or not.

Live Games of World Cup 2019

17/09/2019 -

The tenth edition of FIDE World Cup 2019 is being held at Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Ten Indian players will fight for their place in the finals out of 128 players around the world in a knockout format. The top two players qualify for the Candidates 2019. Vishy Anand has decided to give this event a miss. Indian players include P. Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Adhiban Baskaran, Sethuraman, S.L.Narayanan, Abhijeet Gupta, Aravindh Chithambaram, Nihal Sarin and Karthikeyan Murali. After the second round we have two Indians left in the fray (Harikrishna and Vidit). On this page you can follow all the action along with live comments by IM Sagar Shah. 

World Cup 2019 Round 3.1: Harikrishna and Vidit both lose their games

17/09/2019 -

At the end of round two only two Indians were left at the World Cup 2019 - Harikrishna Pentala and Vidit Gujrathi. Being two of the best players of Indian chess, a lot was expected from them at this World Cup. However, things spiraled out of control in the third round itself where Harikrishna facing the young Russian opponent Kirill Alekseenko was completely outsmarted right from the opening. Vidit, on the other hand, was facing a stiffer challenge in the form of Wesley So and the game seemed to be progressing towards a draw when the Nashik lad played passively in the rook endgame and had to resign. Both Hari and Vidit are now in a must win situation. If they win the match goes into the tiebreaks or else they will be eliminated. Detailed analysis of both games.

Tuesday King Hunts with GM Saptarshi Roy - Part I

17/09/2019 -

After the success of Attacking Monday Mornings series with FM Sohan Phadke, we have another very special guest to continue giving us instructive lessons in aggressive chess. This time it is GM Saptarshi Roy who will share with us his expertise in dynamic tactical style of play through a series of five videos. Starting from the 10th of September each video will be released at 7 p.m IST every Tuesday and will feature games where it would be Black, the defending side, who will carry out an elaborate attack ending with a picturesque chase of the white king. Well friends, it is not without reasons that we are calling this series the "Tuesday King Hunts", so stayed tuned for exciting new videos every tuesday with Grandmaster Saptarshi Roy!

Western Asia Double Gold and Silver winner Srijit Paul is the latest IM of India

17/09/2019 -

18-year-old Srijit Paul won double Gold in Western Asia Youth and Junior 2019 in both Standard and Blitz format. He also won Silver in the rapid format of the tournament, which set the tone for his performance in the entire event. He already had three IM-norms to his name. He only needed to touch ever alluring 2400 in the live rating, something he has been trying to achieve for a while. In this article you will get to know, Srijit's journey to winning double gold and silver also becoming IM at the same time as his friend Rajdeep Sarkar, who told him to play this tournament and much more in a candid interview. Photo: Shahid Ahmed and ChessBase Nepal

Lakecity GM R05: Swapnil Dhopade goes down against Denis Eraschenkov

17/09/2019 -

Grandmaster Swapnil Dhopade suffered a disappointing loss against Russian International Master Denis Eraschenkov in the fifth round of the ongoing Lakecity GM Open. What started off as a super-solid symmetrical English turned out into a staggering 90-move long battle with many ups and downs. Eraschenkov gave up an exchange on move 21 and the game liquidated into a roughly equal but complex ending where the Indian player made multiple slips and conceded his opponent strong passers on both sides of the board and this ultimately proved to be fatal. The encounters in the top three boards ended in draws, thus after five rounds as many as ten players, led by India's Deepan Chakkravarthy, are tied with 4.5/5 points each. 

Best chess solving books for professional players

16/09/2019 -

FM Nikhil Dixit is from Pune, Maharshtra. He is currently rated 2358, holds two IM-norms and looks forward to secure his final norm. This is his first blog post ever. where Nikhil helps you with the best chess solving book recommendations for professional players especially for above 2000 rated players. The book links are attached so you can see preview and buy them too. In this article, Nikhil explains which solving books he likes, his honest review about those books, the contents of the books and some selected positions from a few of the books to get an idea about it. Photo: various sources

Lakecity GM R04: Deepan Chakkravarthy's 21-move crush

16/09/2019 -

Deepan Chakkravarthy pulled off a 21-move miniature to demolish his Egyptian adversary Hesham Abdelrahman and registered his fourth consecutive win in the ongoing Lakecity Grandmaster Open Chess Tournament taking place in Udaipur, Rajasthan. After four rounds of the event six players have emerged as leaders with 4.0/4 points each including Deepan and two more Indians, namely Mitrabha Guha and IM Sayantan Das. Elsewhere, Swapnil Dhopade beat Kumar Gaurav and Neelotpal Das got the better of Pranav Shetty. While, in what were the most surprising results of the day, Saptarshi Roy (2480) was held to a draw by Odisha's Utkal Ranjan Sahoo (2329) and Himanshu Sharma (2408) by Thanki Hemal Karsanji (2098) of Gujarat. 

World Cup 2019 Rd.2 tiebreaks: Nihal Sarin's dream run comes to an end

15/09/2019 -

Nihal Sarin's elimination from the World Cup wasn't expected after the way he played the first game of his match against Eltaj Safarli. The Azeri GM, however proved that in order to win a match at this level, apart from chess strength you also need to be psychologically strong. Nihal was not his usual confident self in the tiebreaks as he lost the match with a score of 2.5-1.5. Adhiban also couldn't showcase his skills and slumped to a defeat against Yu Yangyi. Only two Indians are left in the fray now - Harikrishna Pentala and Vidit Gujrathi. Hari will now face GM Kiril Alekseenko and Vidit will be up against Wesley So. We bring you a detailed report on round two tiebreaks.

Humpy and Harika make a solid start at Skolkovo FIDE Women's Grand Prix

15/09/2019 -

Skolkovo FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the first Women's GP event of the 2019-20 GP series, part of the Women's World Championship cycle. Twelve women are participating in this single round robin event being held in Russia, including our very own, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli along with the reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun, the new Women's World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina, former Women's World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk and Antoaneta Stefanova among others. Top two finishers of FIDE Women's GP 2019-20 will advance to the next Women's Candidates. Photo: David Llada / FIDE

World Cup 2019 Rd. 2.2: Harikrishna and Vidit advance, Nihal's blackout

15/09/2019 -

How much chess action can you pack in one day! " A LOT" is the answer if you are following the World Cup 2019. Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi showcased clinical performances and progressed to round three. While Hari dominated the match against Fedoseev, Vidit took his chances when he was presented and beat Rakhmanov. The big news of the day of Nihal Sarin's blackout moment and a piece blunder against Eltaj Safarli in a better position. Nihal now has to fight it out in the tiebreaks against the Azeri GM. Adhiban has played a solid 1-1 draw against Yu Yangyi and the match goes into the tiebreaks. Aravindh Chithambaram couldn't continue his magic and was eliminated against Tomashevsky. A detailed round 2.2 report by IM Sagar Shah.

Lakecity GM R01 to 03: Bihar talent Kumar Gaurav stuns Grandmaster Laxman Rajaram

15/09/2019 -

The princely city of Udaipur in Rajasthan is witnessing the 1st Lakecity International Grandmaster Open which is taking place from 13th to the 20th of September 2019. A total of 223 players from 11 different countries have come to participate including 13 GMs and 9 IMs. The Russian Grandmaster Ivan Rozum is the top seed of the tournament with a rating of 2596; while the Indian contingent, consisting of 186 participants in all, is led by the country's 13th GM and the event's second seed Deepan Chakkravarthy. Three rounds have been completed so far, in this consolidated report we bring you the jist of the most important moments from the same.

Om Kadam and Shruti Kale win Maharashtra State selection under-11 2019

14/09/2019 -

CM Om Manish Kadam and Shruti Kale win Maharashtra State Selection FIDE Rated under-11 in open and girls category by scoring 7.5/8 and 7.0/8 respectively. Both champions remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Total 162 players including 100 in open and 62 in girls participated from various districts across Maharashtra to take part in this four-day eight-round rating tournament, organized by PR Chess Academy and Akola District Chess Association at Bhatru Mandal Hall in Akola, Maharashtra from 8th to 11th September 2019. Photo: PR Chess Academy