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Contribution for National A Blind 2018 crosses Rs. 5,00,000!

08/02/2018 -

We have reached our goal! We started with the aim of collecting Rs. 5,12,000 for the event on 2nd of February 2018 and you will be pleased to know that on 8th of February we have collected Rs. 5,12,053! It's a victory for the blind chess community! A huge "thank you" to all of you who helped by contributing and spreading the word! The tournament has reached a key point with just five rounds to go. With five spots at stake for the World Team Championship in Bulgaria later this year, things are getting tense. Kishan Gangolli seems to be on course to get his fifth national title! Can someone stop him? 

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Kaustuv Kundu wins New Year Open 2018

07/02/2018 -

Reigning State Junior and State Amateur champion, Kaustuv Kundu won New Year Open 2018, organized by Alekhine Chess Club and Outram Club on 3rd, 4th and 5th January 2018. Kaustuv remained undefeated throughout the tournament and finished ahead of two IMs. In the interview with ChessBase India, he himself said that he did not think that he would become champion as he feels there are many better players who are stronger than him in rapid. Maybe Kaustuv's modest nature helped him to clinch the championship trophy and ₹25000 from three of the biggest Grandmasters of West Bengal, GM Neelotpal Das, GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and GM Sandipan Chanda. Photos, videos and interviews were done by Shahid Ahmed, who played the tournament as well as covered it.

Blind Premier 2018 R04: Kishan Gangolli gunning for his fifth straight title!

06/02/2018 -

These are the initial days of the National Premier Blind 2018. Just four rounds have been completed and we already have a sole leader - top seed Kishan Gangolli, who is on 4.0/4. You might think he is Bengali because of his surname, but the lad comes from Shimoga in Karnataka and is one of the most accomplished blind players that Indian chess has ever seen. We bring you some very interesting pictures and moments from the single round day. As the round ended in the morning, the players indulged in a blitz session as well! Blind players playing blitz is never easy, but we have found out that nothing is impossible for these 14 individuals! And yes, the total contribution for this event has reached Rs.429,053! Amazing indeed!

Gukesh beats Russian cold to score his 2nd IM norm

06/02/2018 -

Cold, Russians, 2450+ opponents, nothing came in between Gukesh and his will to make his second IM norm. Gukesh had a very tough tour in India playing the Bhopal, Mumbai and Delhi Opens. He lost nearly 40 Elo points. But what he gained in return was invaluable experience which he made use at the Moscow Open 2018 to score his 2nd IM norm. In fact, the 11-year-old from Chennai was very close to scoring a GM norm! He missed it when he lost his last round. We bring to you two of Gukesh's games annotated by the boy himself where he beats two 2500+ opponents.

Watch the National A Blind 2018 Live!

05/02/2018 -

This is for the first time in the history of Blind Chess in India that the games are being broadcasted live. They were done once at the Asian Championship, but that was using the Monroi technology. This time we are using the DGT boards where moves are being made by the volunteers to bring you all the games live! We hope that you can follow the games, and get a feel for the level of play of these 14 best visually challenged players of India. These are the games of the National Premier Blind 2018 which is a 14 player Round Robin event. 

Blind National A 2018 R02+03: The atmosphere of a blind tournament

05/02/2018 -

You have to be there to feel it! The atmosphere at the blind national premier seems just like any other tournament, but on closer inspection you see things which you would never do at a normal event.We show you these intricate stuff in this article. The tournament is also picking up well. The players motivated by the support they have received from people all over the world and are giving their best. After three rounds we have two leaders Kishan Gangolli and Aryan Joshi. Both of them are on 3.0/3. In this report you will not only see the games, but also some excellent pictures by Amruta Mokal.

First Friday February R01+02: Tenacious Pranav doesn't care for his rooks!

04/02/2018 -

The February edition of the First Friday 2018 IM norm tournament is underway and we have two Indians participating. Both of them had quite opposing fortunes as Pranav Venkatesh scored 2.0/2, while Moksh Doshi started off poorly with 0.0/2. Until now only one player has been able to achieve his IM norm at the First Friday events - D. Gukesh. Will Pranav be able to do it this time? If the 11-year-old does it, it will be his first IM norm. And he requires 7.0/9. Very much possible! We bring you the analysis of his first two rounds victories.

Blind National A 2018 R01: Tournament takes off thanks to public support!

04/02/2018 -

2,93,153! Yes, that's the amount the chess community has contributed towards the National Premier Blind 2018. A total of 74 donors have come forward in just two days! When you have such a tremendous backing for the event, the morale of the players is bound to be on a high. As one of the participants said, "I feel more motivated this year because I know a lot of people will be seeing my games!" Thank you, dear contributors, for making this tournament possible. The first round began on 3rd of February 2018 and we saw some very interesting chess being played. Detailed report with analysis by IM Sagar Shah. 

Carl Portman makes use of chess in prisons to make a difference

03/02/2018 -

Carl Portman is an English chess player who wrote a unique book on chess. This is not another theoretical book, this is a legacy book as he likes to call it titled 'Chess Behind Bars' by Quality Chess. In his interview with ChessBase India, Carl talks about why he decided to start Chess in Prison voluntarily in England, what motivates him to continue working on this project, how successful he was in this unique project, how he tries to push this in governors' prison agenda, different situations he had to face and how he dealt with it. Here is an interview with Carl Portman by Amruta Mokal.

Over Rs.2,00,000 collected for the Blind National A in 24 hours!

03/02/2018 -

The National Premier Blind 2018 had no sponsors. No one came forward. A sport where the blind compete on equal terms with the visioned players was left neglected. There was something that had to be done. We finally decided to approach the chess community and gather the money via crowd-funding. And believe it or not, within just 24 hours chess players all over India raised nearly Rs. 2,15,000. This is a story of how the chess community cares for each other, this is a story of how we care for our blind players! ChessBase India thanks each and every person who contributed. The tournament begins today. Here's how things look at the venue:

Levon Aronian wins Gibraltar Masters 2018

03/02/2018 -

He is one of the most loved characters in the chess world. As Garry Kasparov said, "The world is a better place when Levon Aronian is playing good chess!" It was his first attempt at the Gibraltar Chess Festival and Levon Aronian did it! He won the event in style beating Richard Rapport and MVL in the tiebreaks! For Indians, Abhijeet Gupta showed a solid performance scoring 7.0/10 and finishing ninth. GM norm was scored by Prithu Gupta and IM norm by Raunak Sadhwani. Players like Debashis Das, M.R. Venkatesh, Hemant Sharma performed admirably, much above their rating. We have the detailed final report from Gibraltar.

Debashis Das wins SMCA Online Blitz

03/02/2018 -

This article comes with a slight delay, but the timing is quite apt. GM Debashis Das performed amazingly at the Gibraltar Masters 2018. He performed at an Elo of 2700+. But we must remind our readers that two months ago, he won the SMCA Online Blitz chess tournament convincingly. This was the first time that the grandmaster from Odisha had won a ChessBase Online Blitz tournament. He finished ahead of Indian stalwarts like Adhiban, Sethuraman, Gopal, Aravindh Chithambaram and many more. This tournament's average rating of top 14 player was higher than National Premier, thus it made the tournament the strongest ChessBase Online Blitz tournament of the year 2017. We bring you some of the most interesting games of these players and the entire prize list. 

Please Help! Blind National Premier in trouble

01/02/2018 -

The Blind National Premier is about to begin in a day (on 3rd of February 2018) in Mumbai and all the sponsors who were going to support the event have not come forward. The All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) is bravely going ahead with the organization of the event. They are in need of Rs.5,00,000 for the lodging, boarding, and prizes for the tournament. This article is a request for the chess community to come forward and donate to a cause. The visually challenged chess players of our country need our support and motivation and we must not let them down. If you aren't able to contribute money, you can always help by sharing this article and spreading the word.

GM Shyam Sundar analyzes Chanda vs Ivanchuk

01/02/2018 -

One of the most unusual games of the Gibraltar Chess Festival was the one between Sandipan Chanda with the white pieces against Vassily Ivanchuk. We all know that Sandipan is a deep thinker and always put a great amount of thought behind his moves. So it was very surprising that he 'blundered' on the 12th move. Of course, it was not a blunder, it was a well-calculated risk by Sandipan. But the computers don't seem to agree with the Indian GM. GM Shyam Sundar got intrigued by this game and sent us his analysis from a human point of view. We are sure that this will help you to better understand how grandmasters think over the board. 

Gibraltar 2018: Prithu Gupta becomes an IM and scores his maiden GM norm

01/02/2018 -

It was a dream come true for the 13-year-old Delhi youngster Prithu Gupta as he not only scored his maiden GM norm at the Gibraltar Masters 2018, but also completed his IM title! The other good news for the day was Raunak Sadhwani making his 2nd IM norm. Debashis Das is showing some super-solid chess with a 2700+ performance, Abhijeet Gupta beat Vassily Ivanchuk with a scintillating game of chess. And last but not the least, Nihal Sarin played an amazing positional game to outwit experienced GM Kiril Georgiev. This report is filled with great insights, analysis, photos and much more!

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