"Collecting those trophies made no real difference" - Harika

27/07/2018 -

Harika Dronavalli is one of the strongest woman players in the world of chess. After Humpy Koneru, she is only the second Indian female player who has achieved the GM title. A lot can be learnt from Harika's life and experiences. Sagar Shah met Harika at the pre-olympiad camp in Delhi and asked her questions ranging from her beginnings in chess to her ambitions and also covering the personal side of her life, her parents, coach and fiance Karteek Chandra. But two of the most important things that we would like our readers to get acquainted with are Harika's views on education and on why India has only two female players who are full-fledged GMs. These two sections have been transcribed in the article while the rest you can enjoy in the video interview.

Sri Lanka to host the 9th Kandy Open

26/07/2018 -

The Kandy International Chess Festival is slated to be held from 6th to 13th August 2018 in the historical Sri Lankan city of Kandy. In its 9th edition this year, the festival will feature a Grandmaster Open and a Blitz tournament. FM Rajeendra Kalugampitiya sends us a report with all the details about the event.

Gujarat and Goa to host their first Grandmaster Open!

26/07/2018 -

Indian chess is progressing with each passing year. A sign of this is the growing number of Grandmaster tournaments in India. Today, the country hosts at least six grandmaster events annually. This October, two more GM tournaments will be added to India's trove of International GM events: one in the heritage city of Ahmedabad and another in the party capital of India, Goa! The events will be held from 5th to 12th October in Ahmedabad and 13th to 20th October in Goa. Both the places are have their own specialities and being the first time, the organizers are extremely motivated to provide the best possible service to the players. Here's all you need to know about the forthcoming events! Make sure to mark the dates on your calendar.

Ajay Karthikeyan and Divya Deshmukh are National Sub-Junior 2018 Champions

26/07/2018 -

Ajay Karthikeyan of Tamil Nadu drew his final round game against defending champion Sankalp Gupta of Maharashtra, finished half point ahead at 9.0/11 and won his first national championship. Divya Deshmukh had already won the tournament at the conclusion of the penultimate round, so in spite of losing the last round, it did not affect the final outcome. Divya also finished half point ahead of everyone else in her group with a score of 9.0/11. In this report, we bring you games, positions, photos from the last round and prize distribution ceremony. Photo: Swati Biswas

Ajay maintains sole lead and Divya becomes champion with a round to spare in National Sub-Junior 2018

25/07/2018 -

Ajay Karthikeyan of Tamil Nadu continues his dream run and maintains half point lead heading into the final round. He will face the defending champion Sankalp Gupta in the last round of the tournament. In the girls section, Divya Deshmukh won the National Championship for second year in a row and this time with a round to spare. While the open category is still open for anyone to win, in the girls category there is a close fight for second position as eight girls are at 7.5 points each, followed by five girls at 7. We bring you games, positions and photographs from round 8 and 9 of the 44th National Sub-Junior Open and 35th National Sub Junior Girls 2018. Photos: Swati Biswas

Barbera Del Valles 2018: Iniyan finishes clear second, CBIP groups gains 1355 Elo points!

25/07/2018 -

Even though the A group of the Barberà del Vallès Open in Spain was won by the experienced Azerbaijani GM Gadir Guseinov, the Indian contingent in the tournament did not fail to impress with their performance. Erode's youngster IM P. Iniyan, with an unbeaten score of 7.0/9, not only finished clear second in the tournament but also completed his third and final Grandmaster norm. All that remains now is for him to touch the 2500 Elo mark. Among norm makers, there were also the names of Neelash Saha and Kumar Gaurav who scored IM norms. Saloni Sapale completed her final WIM norm to clinch the title! Anuj Shrivatri came very close to scoring an IM norm but a last round defeat dissipated his chances. Om Kadam had to miss out on his norm due to some technical difficulty. Meanwhile, Asia's first Grandmaster, Eugenio Torre inspired all with his presence. ChessBase India Power Group gained a whopping 1355 Elo points in the event. Report from Barcelona.

IBCA World Teams Round 3: India stuns Spain 3-1

24/07/2018 -

The third round at the World Team Championships 2018 was a very successful one for Team India. We were facing Spain which had a rating average of 300 points above our team. But the team of Kishan Gangolli, Soundarya Pradhan, Aryan Joshi and Ashvin Makwana played some sublime chess to win the match 3-1. Wins came for team India on boards one and two. Kishan beat his 2196 rated opponent in positional style, while Soundarya made sure that the tactical skirmishes ended in his favour. Aryan was better and Ashvin was worse, but both of them managed to hold on to a draw. India now face a stiff challenge in round four against the Polish team which consists of one GM and two IMs. Here's round three report with pictures, videos, games, analysis and more.

IBCA World Teams Round 2: Focussed Indian team beats Romania 3.5-0.5

23/07/2018 -

There were questions in the air whether Indian team would be able to fight back after their loss to Ukraine in the first round. The boys fought back in a big way and beat Romania with a score of 3.5-0.5. More than the scoreline, it was the quality of the games. Everyone gave it their all and the games were well played by the Indian players. In this report we not only bring you the results, pictures and analysis, but also detailed videos with all of the four Indian players explaining their games. In the third round India will face Spain and it will be a stiff challenge, but after the match with Romania, the Indian lads seemed to have warmed up pretty well. 

Sankalp, Ajay, Utsab, Soham and Divya lead after round 8 in 44th National Sub-Junior 2018

23/07/2018 -

Sankalp Gupta, Ajay Karthikeyan, Utsab Chatterjee, Soham Kamotra and Divya Deshmukh are in the lead after round 8 in 44th National Sub-Junior Chess Championship. 2018 in the open and girls category respectively. Second seed of the tournament, Sankalp Gupta defeated overnight leader Koustav Chatterjee to join a four-way lead. Ajay, Utsab and Soham defeated higher rated players to join the leaders fray. Top seed Divya Deshmukh extended her lead when she defeated Bhagyashree Patil with Black pieces. Saina Salonika and Bristy Mukherjee trail behind her by half a point. In this report we bring you games and photos from the round 8 of the tournament. Photos: Swati Biswas

CBIJ #08: Kriti and Prraneeth - two hungry youngsters of India!

22/07/2018 -

CBIJ #8 brings to you the news of the rising stars of India. We want to share with you the stories of two hungry young kids - Kriti Patel and Prraneeth Vuppala. These two youngsters gained over 300 Elo points in roughly around two months. Kriti moved from a rating of 1300 to 1600+, while Prraneeth's ascent began from 1943 and ended at 2281! From the title one could be mistaken for believing that the duo are hungry for just Elo points. Well, that's not the case. The Elo gain is just a logical consequence of their hunger for hard work and knowledge. In this article we know these two champions better. We also bring you the 'importance of reading' in our Editor's pick section. And last but not the least, there is Quality Chess Book to be won for the winner of this edition's Trivia.

IBCA World Teams Round 1: Aryan's lightning win not enough to overcome Ukraine

22/07/2018 -

The 8th IBCA World Team Championships 2018 kicked off on Saturday, 21st of July. The Indian team is one of the lower seeds at the event, but are filled with great aspirations. In the first round India faced the favourites of the tournament Ukraine. The lads gave a very tough fight including Aryan Joshi's scintillating 21-move win over his much fancied opponent. Kishan was also better in his game, but lost the thread in the early middlegame. Indians lost to Ukraine 3-1, but have already showed some promise. In this article we not only acquaint you with the ambience of the event, but also take you through the journey of travelling from Mumbai to Sofia. 

Gong Qianyun: "I had to clean toilets if I failed to memorize the classics correctly!"

21/07/2018 -

At the conclusion of the QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann Grandmasters Invitational 2018, Singapore got its latest Woman Grandmaster in Gong Qianyun. Despite being the lowest rated player in the field, Gong was able to hold ground against Grandmasters rated as much as 300 points above her! In this interview with Junior Tay, she talks about her performance in the invitational, her personal life and her early days of learning chess when she had to clean toilets if she wasn't able to memorise the classics correctly!  

Where do you see Indian chess in 10 years from now?

21/07/2018 -

20th of July every year is celebrated as the International Chess Day. This was the day when the world chess organization FIDE was established in 1924. In 1966, UNESCO suggested to observe 20th of July as the International Chess Day and since then all the 181 members of FIDE celebrate this special occasion. India is now progressing towards becoming the strongest chess country in the world. We asked lots of top Grandmasters and eminent personalities from India and the world one question, "Where do you see Indian chess in 10 years from now?" We have accumulated all the answers and compiled them in this article below. We have also selected few of the best answers by our readers from Facebook and Twitter and published it here.

A motivated Indian Blind team sets off to Bulgaria for the World Team Championship

20/07/2018 -

The Indian blind team is off to Bulgaria today for the world team championship. Over the next few days, they will be taking on some of the best blind teams in the world in their quest for a medal at the event. In this article, we discuss their preparation, assess their chances of a podium finish at the event and tell you about their meet with Viswanathan Anand.

8-year old kid shows never give up attitude in ACL 1st Super League 2018

20/07/2018 - 8-year old Aditya Saxena of Victorious Chess Academy kept fighting despite being down by a piece till the end for a win against Kushal Radia of Dynamic Chess Academy. Aditya shows us it's not about just winning games and matches for the team, it's all about fighting till the end and not giving up. Both players have made a lot of mistakes, but that is besides the point. Aditya managed to get a winning position but in the end he couldn't figure out how to win as it was not in his knowledge. Let's take a look at this roller coaster of a game and learn from the kids on keeping the fighting spirit alive even when you are down. Photo: Sameer Ghela and Manish Parmar.