Books, Boards, Clocks & More

At ChessBase India Shop

Visit now!

new books banner

Shanghai Haiwan 2019: When you play well and still lose

09/09/2019 -

The Shanghai Haiwan New Star International 2019 is a fine initiative by China. They have invited four talents from India, Iran, Russia and Armenia to take on four Chinese youngsters. The eight of them fight for the title in a round robin event along with the first prize of 40,000 CYN (Rs.4,00,000). After five rounds GM Haik Martirosyan and GM Bai Jinshi are leading the event with 3.5/5. India's D. Gukesh has had a tough time at the tournament as he has slumped to three loses against Bai Jinshi, Dai Changren and Arash Tahbaz. It might seem that Gukesh isn't really playing well. But sometimes your result doesn't depict your level of play. What happened in those games and why did Gukesh lose three of his games? We analyze in this report.

NEW LAUNCH

CHESSBASE '26 + MEGA DATABASE '26

The industry standard new combo is here to help you uplift your Chess!

ChessBase '26 + MEGA DATABASE '26 Shop Now

Western Asian R05+06: Vantika Agrawal makes a strong comeback, wrests sole lead

09/09/2019 -

After losing to Sakshi Chitlange in round four, Vantika Agrawal made a strong comeback to win two games in a row and emerge as the sole leader in the under-20 girls category of the ongoing Western Asian Youth and Junior Championship 2019. In under-20 open group playing on board one the leaders - Abdisalimov Abdimalik and Rajdeep Sarkar - agreed to a quick draw to maintain their positions on the top. Divya Deshmukh also held Vardaan Nagpal to a draw, while Pranav Anand stunned Rahul Srivatshav P in a topsy-turvy encounter. In under-18 open, Sri Lankan talent Thilakarathne GMH registered his fourth consecutive victory to wrest sole lead, while in the girls section of the same age category Mrudul Dehankar furthered her unbeaten streak to stay half a point ahead of the field.

Vishy Anand versus Gujarat

08/09/2019 -

The state of Gujarat has always supported sports in a big way. In a new development, Sanskardham Sports Academy, a state of the art sporting complex will be launched on 8th of September 2019. Chess is one of the twelve sports that will be supported by the academy. GM Vishy Anand is invited as the guest of honour and on 7th of September he indulged in a very unique match-up. He played against twenty young talents of Gujarat chess where the youngsters could consult with each other before making their move. In this article we not only bring you the impressions from the event, but also show you the game which was quite intense and Anand had to use quite a bit of technique to bring home the full point!

Western Asian R03+04: Srijit Paul squanders a decisive advantage against Mohamed Anees M

08/09/2019 -

In round three of the ongoing Western Asian Youth and Junior Championship Srijit Paul missed multiple opportunities against compatriot Mohamed Anees M and ultimately lost from a completely winning position to be ousted from the lead. In the same category Arjun Gupta kept up his stellar form to cause yet another upset by beating Abdurakhmonov Mukhammadali of Uzbekistan. Elsewhere, 14-year-old Divya Deshmukh, who is boldly competing in the under-20 open section, got the better of Harshal Shahi. In under-20 girls Vantika Agrawal was defeated by Sakshi Chitlange, while in under-18 girls group Mrudul Dehankar took a full point lead over the rest of the field scoring a fabulous 4.0/4. In this report we bring you photos, games, analyses, and much more from the third day of the event.

Galvanizing the Chess in Schools project

07/09/2019 -

A major way to make chess popular in the country is to introduce it in schools. The Chess in Schools (CIS) project has been one of AICF's priority for many years. However, there has not been an appropriate strategy taken by the national chess federation to roll out the CIS program for the entire nation. With the International Chess in Education Conference (ICEC) held in Delhi on 7th and 8th of September, AICF would like to change this situation. Apart from some of the most well known trainers of the country and state secretaries being present, two Armenian maestros Smbat Lputian and Vahan Sargsyan were also invited. Armenia is an epitome when it comes to CIS project implementation. Indian chess stakeholders learnt from their experience on day one of the conference.  

Organizing databases in ChessBase 15

07/09/2019 -

Keeping your chess databases in order, e.g. by arranging databases according to topics, players, openings, etc., makes training and improving easier and more fun. Database administration in ChessBase 15 is not difficult. Here's a little tutorial to help you. Drawing: ChessBase

Western Asian R01+02: Arjun Gupta stuns Sri Lankan talent Thilakarathne

07/09/2019 -

The classical games have begun at the Western Asian Youth and Junior Championships 2019. The first round itself saw a couple of upsets as Tanishka Kotia (2164) and Savitha Shri B (2076) suffered defeats in the hands of Vishwa Shah (1760) and Rathi Dhanashree (1631) in the under-20 girls section. While in round two of the second half it was Sankalp Gupta (2376) who fell victim to Harshal Shahi (2114) of the host city. The most emphatic performance of the day however came from the under-18 open category, where playing on board one Arjun Gupta (2024) outwitted the Sri Lankan talent Thilakarathne GMH (2397). In this report we bring you photos, analyses, and much more from the second day of the event. 

Aditya Samant wins Young Masters Rapid with a 100% score

06/09/2019 -

13-year old Aditya Samant scored 8.0/8 by winning all his games and finished 1.5 points ahead of the runner-up to win Young Masters Open Rapid in Pune on 1st September organized parents of Pune chess players. IM-norm holder Aditya beat WIM Aakanksha Hagawane, the eventual runner-up, in the penultimate round to take a full point heading into the final round. Top seed Gaurav Bakliwal also scored 6.5/8 to finish third. Here is a pictorial report of the tournament. Photo: Ganga Pant

India dominates at the Western Asian Rapids 2019

06/09/2019 -

The Western Asian Youth and Junior Chess Championship 2019 kicked off yesterday at the Hotel Tivoli Grand Resort in New Delhi with an action-packed seven-round rapid tournament. As expected, India bagged 15 out of the 16 gold medals at stake to commence the event with a dominating statement. The only gold that eluded grasp was in the under-18 open event where it was Mukhammadali Abdurakhmonov of Uzbekistan who clinched the title finishing half a point ahead of the rest of the field. While the host claimed 43 out of the total 48 medals, Uzbekistan was second with a lone gold, followed by Bangladesh and Tajikistan with a silver each. Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka settled for a bronze each. The classical section begins at 9:30 am IST from today and will continue till the 10th of September. The event will wind up with Blitz games on the final day.

Karthikeyan's helpmate puzzle explained

05/09/2019 -

India's 38th Grandmaster Karthikeyan Murali is well-known in the chess fraternity to be someone with a unique knack for chess compositions and problems. He claims solving to be his primary area of interest and being a strong 2600+ GM of over-the-board chess he most certainly is a very capable solver, but it seems his competence as a composer too is quite something to be reckoned with. Earlier today he posted a curious chess position on twitter which he mentioned to have composed a few years back. In this article we unravel the intricacies of this unusual problem and try to understand what makes it so special. Before reading our analysis do make sure to understand the stipulation well and have a go at it on your own!

Komodo 13 is World Champion of computer chess

05/09/2019 -

In Macau (China) the "Chess Events" of the International Computer Games Association (ICGA) came to an end last week. In fact, behind this prosaic name are world championships in three disciplines: the World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC), the World Chess Software Championship (WCSC) and the Speed Championship. At the start were six teams with their programs, including Komodo 13, which won in each of the two main disciplines WCCC and WCSC. | Photos: Erdogan Günes

Gukesh begins as the youngest participant at the Shanghai Haiwan Cup

05/09/2019 -

The Shanghai Haiwan New Star International Chess Tournament 2019 is being held in China from the 3rd to the 10th September 2019. Four Chinese youngsters and four talents from all over the world - India, Iran, Russia and Armenia, will fight it out against against each other in a Round Robin event. While all the players are either born in 1999 or 2000, Gukesh is the youngest participant, born in 2006. Having recently been trained by 14th World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, Gukesh is on a high. It will be interesting to see whether he will win the event ahead of strong players like Haik Martirosyan, Bai Jinshi, Li Di and others. An introductory report with pictures from the tournament venue. 

Nihal Sarin - The second highest paid player in the history of Indian chess?!

04/09/2019 -

It is clear that Vishy Anand is the highest earning chess player in the country. But who is the second biggest? Well, it seems like it is Nihal Sarin, after the 15-year-old signed a major long term sponsorship agreement with Akshayakalpa, an organic milk and milk products based company in Bangalore. The amount of sponsorship is kept as a secret for now, but backed by our analysis we feel that it could be somewhere between Rs.75 lakh to Rs.1 crore (between US$ 100,000 to US$140,000) per year. Why did Akshayakalpa decide to sponsor Nihal, what do Nihal and his team members feel after this agreement and how will this money be utilized? All of this and much more.

Maharashtra State Schools witness over 600 participants

04/09/2019 -

Total 605 players from various districts of Maharashtra participated in this Maharashtra State Schools Selection FIDE Rating Tournament in four-day age group rating tournament held between 27th and 30th August at Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Total 24 players (top two from each group) qualified for the upcoming National Schools Championship 2019 which will also be held in the same city and organized by the same organizer Grandmaster Chess Foundation. Here is a pictorial report of the tournament which witnessed almost 1200 people from all across the state including parents and officials. Photo: Vijay Deshpande

India's 64th GM Prithu Gupta visits India's 1st GM Vishy Anand's home in Chennai

04/09/2019 -

It's said, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." For India's 64th GM Prithu Gupta, 3rd of September 2019 was one such day. He got the chance to meet his idol Viswanathan Anand at Vishy's residence in Chennai. Prithu flew down from Delhi to Chennai and spent a few hours with Anand and together they analyzed some interesting chess positions. In 1987, Vishy Anand became India's first GM and on 18th July 2019, the first chess board of Indian GMs was completed when Prithu Gupta became the 64th GM. It was wonderful to see the first and the 64th GMs together! In this article Prithu tells us what he learnt from this unique meet with the chess legend.

Contact Us