Atanu Lahiri's critical report on the organization of World Juniors 2017

24/11/2017 -

The World Juniors 2017 is in the news for all the right reasons: Norwegian Aryan Tari is in the lead and little  Pragg is right on his heels trying to win the title and become the youngest GM in the world. However, there are certain logistic issues at the venue and the town of Tarvisio. IM Atanu Lahiri is the head coach of the Indian delegate of 23 people and he sends us a report as to how the organization of the event is clearly below the standards of what is expected at the World Championship level.

Amardeep Bartakke wins SBI Life Chess Festival in Mumbai

24/11/2017 -

SBI Life Chess Festival in Mumbai was a unique tournament organized by Praful Zaveri with one round every day in the evening. Children didn't have to miss their school and could still enjoy the tournament. Grown ups could enjoy chess after a hard day at work. FM Sajandas Joshi made a comeback to chess after many years and was leading the tournament, but in the fateful final round he lost to Atul Dahale, while Amardeep Bartakke managed beat Gopal Rathod. Thus Atul and Amardeep were tied at the top with 7.5/9, but the latter was adjudged as the champion due to a better tiebreak.

Mallorca GP 06: Another draw for Hari

23/11/2017 -

After a day of rest, play resumed in Mallorca on Wednesday. Levon Aronian, after his draw against Peter Svidler, retained his half-point lead over the rest of the field while Rapport and Tomashevsky joined the pack of players tied for second. The Indian star, Pentala Harikrishna, got a good position out of the opening against MVL but eventually settled for a draw. A report with games and pictures.

World Junior 09: Two blunders and a missed opportunity

23/11/2017 - Round nine saw two Indians play on the top two boards of the World Junior Championship. R Praggnanandhaa played on board one against tournament leader, Aryan Tari and GM Murali Karthikeyan was playing Kirill Alekseenko on board two. While Praggnanandhaa was only able to draw after getting a better position out of the opening, Karthikeyan blundered in an equal position and had to resign soon after. Arvind Chithambaram, on the other hand, benefitted from his opponent's blunder and won the game immediately. Round 9 report. 

Aryan Tari vs Pragg live updates and full coverage

22/11/2017 -

Round 9 of the World Juniors 2017 was an extremely important one for Indian fans. Pragg was facing the leader Norwegian Aryan Tari. The game was extremely hard fought and in the end the players settled for a draw. ChessBase India had live updates for the game every half an hour with IM Sagar Shah providing Facebook live videos in English and Niklesh Jain providing audio commentary in Hindi. We have all the video and audio files here for you to enjoy. 

4.9/5! 100+ Facebook users review ChessBase India

22/11/2017 -

We at ChessBase India believe in working hard. But every once in a while we feel like sharing our successes with you. The ChessBase India Facebook page has now reached well over 48000 likes, but what is also very precious for us are the reader reviews. We have 107 reviews, out of which 100 of our readers have give us 5.0/5 stars. We share some of the reviews with you in this article and urge you to send us your feedback. Good or bad, whatever it is, it will help us improve and this is very precious for us.

Truly "a wonder!" Praggnanandhaa scores his first GM norm

22/11/2017 -

The world was waiting with a bated breath. Praggnanandhaa moved his knight to c6. The little American GM Awonder Liang saw no way to stave off mate and stretched his hand out in resignation! Little Praggu had done it! The boy has scored his maiden GM norm! But there is no time to relax. With 6.5/8 Pragg is in a great position to win the World Juniors title. All that he has to do is beat Norwegian Aryan Tari, who is in the lead, in the ninth round! It's going to be a fascinating finish. We bring you all the action from the eighth round with video analysis by IM Sagar Shah.

World Juniors Rd 6+7: Just past the halfway mark, Praggnanandhaa remains joint second

21/11/2017 - Post the seventh round, IM R Praggnanandhaa is heading strongly towards the finish line. While he gave a hint of an Anand-esque element in his play in round 6, in round 7 he left everyone surprised by his decision to repeat moves and go for a draw against GM Alekseenko in a better position. But with four more rounds to go, little Praggna has all chances of making it big at the event. Right behind Praggnanandhaa are three more Indian GMs, namely: Aravindh Chithambaram, Murali Karthikeyan and Shardul Gagare at 5.0/7. A report on round six and seven.

Mallorca GP Round 4+5: War and Peace

21/11/2017 -

The fourth and the fifth round in Mallorca were like two juxtaposing elements. While round four was a bloody affair which featured seven decisive games, peace abound round five as all games ended in a draw. Many of the participants who had not scored wins in the first three rounds scored on Sunday. And the best news for Indian fans was that Harikrishna, the only Indian at the event won his game against Francisco Vallejo Pons. A report on round 5 and 6. 

When the rook is as powerful as the queen!

20/11/2017 -

" Fortresses in endgame always appeals to the spectator when a side with a material disadvantage holds his own in a seemingly lost battle. Like the attractiveness of sacrifice in chess, fortresses too capture the imagination of players and annotators alike," writes GM Sundararajan Kidambi. He saw the game between Lupulescu and Navara live from the European Club Cup 2017 and was drawn towards the beauty of the Czech grandmaster's tenacious play. In this article we discuss the fortress of rook versus queen, which is not only possible with one pawn per side, but also when the side with the queen is a pawn up! | Kidambi's image in thumbnail: Alina l'Ami.

Remembering Jose Raul Capablanca

19/11/2017 -

Often described as "the chess machine", Jose Raul Capablanca, one of the greatest chess players the world has seen, was born today. Known for the simplicity of his games and an immaculate endgame technique, Capablanca has influenced several world champions like Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov. As a tribute to the genius of the third world champion, Aniket Sawant, a chess enthusiast from Mumbai has sent us this article.

Mallorca GP Round 2+3: Consecutive draws for Harikrishna

19/11/2017 -

After three rounds at the Mallorca Grand Prix, five players -- Aronian, Svidler, MVL, Giri and Radjabov -- are leading with 2.0/3. The only Indian in the fray, Pentala Harikrishna, after drawing all of his first three games is half-a-point behind the leaders at 1.5/2 along with eight other players. Of course, Hari is already out of the race for the two spots in the Candidates tournament. But if he is to finish things on a high note at the Grand Prix series, he will have to start scoring full points real soon.

Video analysis of S.L. Narayanan against Praggnanandhaa

19/11/2017 -

There's a video of Vidit Gujrathi on his Facebook page which has become quite popular. In it he gives an important advice towards the end - Analyze live games without an engine. Our author Sagar Shah did that after the fifth round of the World Junior 2017 and found that Praggnanandhaa's win over S.L. Narayanan was filled some amazing bit of variations and analysis. Not everything can be covered in a ten minute video, but we have made an attempt. Due credit to S.L. Narayanan's imaginative play, and all words of praise fall short in the way Pragg defended that position after being outprepared in the opening. 

World Junior 05: Chennai champs win the day!

18/11/2017 -

Nearing halfway stage, the World Junior Championship finally has found a sole leader in GM Kirill Alekseenko with a perfect 5.0/5 score. However, the little Indian star, R Praggnanandhaa is right under his nose with 4.5/5. In the fifth round, Praggna survived a hurricane of an attack by SL Narayanan to emerge victorious. Another Chennai lad in the fray, Aravindh Chithambaram also scored an impressive win over IM Pier Luigi Basso. Round 5 report.

South Mumbai Chess Academy celebrates 21 years of nurturing talents

18/11/2017 -

21 years! That's how long SMCA has been spreading chess in the city of Mumbai, state of Maharashtra and India! In order to celebrate this momentous occasion, the fourth prize money online blitz tournament - SMCA online blitz will be held on the 3rd of December 2017. This time we have a record breaking prize fund of Rs.62,500 with first prize of Rs.15,000 and special age category prizes, as well as best female player prize! One of India's finest players B. Adhiban has already confirmed his entry. In this article we tell you all about the tournament and also about SMCA and its contribution to the world of chess.