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World Rapid 2024 Day 2: Arjun Erigaisi, Harika and Humpy in the lead

28/12/2024 -

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) played three games on the second of World Rapid 2024 before he withdrew. He was on the verge of a loss against GM Daniel Dardha (BEL) in the seventh round. However, the Belgium missed his chance and allowed the World no.1 to salvage a draw for the third time in a lost position at this event. Volodar Murzin, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL), Arjun Erigaisi and Alexander Grischuk are the four players in the lead 7/9 each. Arjun defeated Ray Robson (USA) and Shant Sargsyan (ARM), drew with Murzin and Duda. Arjun will face the three-time World Blitz champion, Grischuk in Round 10. Wenjun Ju (CHN), Harika Dronavalli and Koneru Humpy are in a three-way lead 6.5/8. Humpy will start the final day of the event with a clash against Wenjun. Round 10 Open and Round 9 Women starts today at 2 p.m. local time, next day 12:30 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Michal Walusza

ChessBase 18 and Mega 2025 are here

ChessBase 18 is an all-new program that helps you manage all your databases as an ambitious player. Mega Database 2025 has 11 million games with over 113,000 games annotated by masters. The cost of ChessBase 18 is Rs.4499/- and the cost of Mega Database 2025 is Rs.6499/- However, if you go for the combo the total amount comes to Rs.8999 (instead of 10,998/-) helping you save Rs. 1999/-.

ChessBase 18 + Mega 2025 Combo

Breaking News: Magnus Carlsen withdraws from World Rapid 2024

28/12/2024 -

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) has withdrawn from World Rapid 2024. What caused it? He was asked to change his jeans to a trouser which abides by the dress code policy of this event. It was a matter of principle for him. He refused to do that and withdrawn from the tournament. The World no.1 will also not defend his title at World Blitz 2024. It means two new world champions are guaranteed to be crowned. Carlsen also mentioned to Norwegian media that he will not play any more FIDE events. He is done with them. Check out interviews with Magnus Carlsen with IM Levy Rozman for Take Take Take, FIDE CEO - Emil Sutovsky, Vishy Anand as the FIDE Deputy President and with the Norwegian journalist. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

How to Compose an Endgame Study: A Step-by-step Guide

27/12/2024 -

The chess world is awash with resources for players looking to up their game, from countless articles and books to videos. Although relatively scarcer, a wealth of instructional material also exists for those interested in chess solving. But few have ventured to teach how to compose a chess study or a problem—no definitive course or authoritative guide for this aspect of chess. Yet, like playing and solving, composing, too, is a teachable skill—or at least that is what Gady Costeff, the writer of the present article, believes. To put his notion to the test, he demonstrates how to craft an endgame study by starting with an attractive mate position and then working backwards, guided by a series of straightforward questions and answers.

Yug Desai wins Odisha Open 2024 Category C Below 1600 Rating Tournament

27/12/2024 -

Yug Desai, Surya Mitra Sen and Muna Sabar scored 8/9 each at Odisha Open 2024 Category C (<1600). Yug won the tournament due to better tie-breaks, Surya and Muna secured second and third place respectively. Both Yug and Surya remained undefeated. Muna's sole conceded point occurred when he skipped the second round. The total prize fund of the festival was ₹4000000, ₹750000 for Category C. The top three prizes were ₹75000, ₹50000 and ₹40000 along with a trophy each. The four-day nine-round Swiss league Below 1600 rating tournament was organized by All Odisha Chess Association in association with SOA University at SOA University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from 19th to 22nd December. Photo: All Odisha Chess Association

World Rapid 2024 Day 1: Raunak stuns Firouzja, Carlsen makes a terrible start

27/12/2024 -

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) had a disastrous start at FIDE World Rapid 2024. He barely escaped with a draw from jaws of defeat in Round 3 and 4 against GM Gleb Dudin (HUN) and GM Aleksandr Shimanov respectively. However, in Round 5, 18-year-old GM Denis Lazavik did not allow the defending champion to walk away unscathed. The World no.1 scored only 50% on Day 2.5/5. Raunak Sadhwani and Arjun Erigaisi had the best start among Indian players 4/5. Raunak is undefeated so far. He scored a fine victory over GM Alireza Firouzja (FRA) after the latter missed his opportunity to sacrifice his knight and gain the upper hand. Among the Women, GM Harika Dronavalli is the only Indian at 3.5/4. Round 6 Open and Round 5 Women starts today at 2 p.m. local time, next day 12:30 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Ashirwad Swain dominates 1st Samrat Tansen Rapid Rating Open 2024

26/12/2024 -

Ashirwad Swain scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 1st Samrat Tansen Rapid Rating Open 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. FM Ram Prakash scored 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. CM Aishwin Daniel and Vijay Singh Maurya scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed third and fourth according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund was ₹250000. The top three prizes were ₹30000, ₹20000 and ₹15000 along with a trophy each. The two-day nine-round Swiss league rapid rating tournament was organized by All Gwalior Chess Association at Miss Hill Higher Secondary School in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh on 30th November and 1st December. This is Ashirwad's third tournament triumph of the year. Photo: All Gwalior Chess Association

Arjun and Praggnanandhaa set to battle Carlsen and co. at World Rapid and Blitz 2024

26/12/2024 -

The World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024 will take place from 26th to 28th, 30th and 31st December 2024. The reigning and defending champions - Magnus Carlsen (NOR), IM Anastasia Bodnaruk and GM Valentina Gunina return to defend their World Rapid and Blitz titles. Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja will be seen in action after skipping last year. Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, Sandipan Chanda, Aravindh Chithambaram, Harsha Bharathakoti, Pranav V, Diptayan Ghosh, Karthik Venkataraman, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali R, Vantika Agrawal, Sahithi Varshini M, Padmini Rout and Priyanka Nutakki are the 17 Indians in the fray. Five rounds of Rapid in the Open and four in the Women will be played on 26th December 2024. Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 27th December 12:30 a.m. IST. Photo: FIDE

15-Year-Old GM Savva Wins 11th Sunway Sitges International

25/12/2024 -

Savva Vetokhin, a 15-year-old grandmaster, has won the Sunway Sitges International Chess Championship held in Sitges, Barcelona, Spain. With this victory, Savva becomes the youngest ever winner of this tournament. Savva secured the top spot by defeating Israel's Ido Gorshtein 2-0 in the final blitz tiebreak, marking the biggest title win of his career. Throughout the 10 rounds, Savva remained undefeated with 6 wins and four draws, scoring 8 points. Israel's Ido finished in second place, while tiebreaks were played for positions 3 to 8, which included India's llamanparthi. However, China's Li Di managed to secure the third position by defeating Tin Jingyao of Singapore. This year's Sunway Sitges Festival featured three blitz, one rapid, one 960 and one bullet tournament in addition to the classical format, with Iran's Mehdi Ghulami emerging as the overall best player. Read this article. Photo & Article by Niklesh Jain 

Quoc Hy Nguyen wins Odisha Open 2024, Pa Iniyan third

25/12/2024 -

FM Quoc Hy Nguyen (VIE) and GM Alexei Fedorov scored an unbeaten 8/10 each at Odisha Open 2024 Category A. Quoc won the tournament due to better tie-breaks, Alexei was placed second. Their seventh round battle against each other ended in a draw. Five players - GM Pa Iniyan, GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, IM Shahil Dey, IM Ameya Audi and IM Srihari L scored 7.5/10 each. They secured third to seventh place respectively according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the festival was ₹4000000, ₹2500000 for Category A. The top three prizes were ₹550000, ₹350000 and ₹200000 along with a trophy each. The eight-day ten-round Swiss league rating tournament was organized by All Odisha Chess Association in association with SOA University at SOA University in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from 15th to 22nd December. Photo: All Odisha Chess Association

New: The Endgame Academy Vol.1: Checkmate & pawn endgames by Dr. Karsten Mueller

25/12/2024 -

Endgame theory forms the basis of chess. You understand this all too well when you reach a theoretically won endgame but must settle for a draw, as you lack the necessary know-how to win. Misfortunes of this kind can only be counteracted by developing a solid endgame technique, and this course by German grandmaster and endgame expert Dr. Karsten Müller lays those foundations. In this new Fritztrainer, improve your knowledge in the endgame by the expert. Grab this new Fritztrainer if you have not got it yet. Now you can study chess on any device either via streaming or on ChessBase Book. Photo: ChessBase

Nitish Belurkar clear first at 20th Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial Rapid Rating Open 2024

24/12/2024 -

IM Nitish Belurkar scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 20th Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial Rapid Rating Open 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the field. FM Aakash Sharadchandra Dalvi, FM Suyog Wagh and Nameet Chavan scored 8/9 each. They secured second, third and fourth place according to tie-breaks. Nitish drew with the eventual runner-up, Aakash in Round 7. The total prize fund was ₹300000. The top three prizes were ₹75000 + trophy, ₹50000 + trophy and ₹25000 along with a trophy each. The one-day nine-round Swiss league rapid rating tournament was organized by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust at Ashwamedh hall and Shree Ganesh Sabhagruh, in Pune, Maharashtra on 1st December. This is Nitish's fourth tournament triumph of the year. Photo: Prakash Kunte

Remote Engine in ChessBase 18: Power Everywhere

24/12/2024 -

A remote engine does not run on your computer but in a data center. Here you’ll learn why the new remote engine is a smart addition to our proven cloud engines. How to run a remote engine without spending ducats? Why did our Helsinki machines give us quite a scare before the autumn discount day? And how did Fritz wreck a server rack? Check out the details and decide whether you can afford not to have the program. ChessBase 18 and Mega Database 2025 are available now on our shop. Upgrade from previous version is also available. Buy now if you haven't yet. Photo: ChessBase

Coach Gajewski shares insights on Gukesh's World Championship victory

23/12/2024 -

Gukesh made history by becoming the World Chess Champion at the age of 18 years. Grzegorz Gajewski is the man behind India's youngest chess champion who has been training Gukesh for the past two years. In this in-depth interview with Sagar Shah, Gajewski reveals the story behind forming Team Gukesh - how every member was carefully chosen, the strategies they employed, and their collaborative effort that led to this historic win. He also sheds light on Gukesh's mental resilience, crucial role played by his parents and an insightful analysis of the games. Read the article to know what Gukesh's coach had to say about their World Championship journey. Photo: Anastasiya Balakhontseva

Vishy Anand does a Q&A in a Reddit Ask Me Anything

23/12/2024 -

When it comes to the world chess champions whose non-chess side one wants to see and learn more - Vishy Anand's name is the first that comes to mind. So naturally, a Reddit AMA (Ask me Anything) is something one cannot afford to miss. Almost anything the maestro says is indubitably worth a read. Anand shares everything from how his favorite food after he won a tough match to how he felt after losing the world championship to Magnus Carlsen. The one who inspired the nation and beyond, answers questions by people from all over the world, North East India and Slovenia are some of the places he would love to visit sometime. Do checkout this interesting Q&A session with the one and only. Photo: r/ChessIndia

Adhiban convincingly clinches Tashkent International Chess Festival 2024 Masters

23/12/2024 -

GM B Adhiban scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 to win Tashkent International Chess Festival 2024 Masters (≥2100). He finished a half point ahead of the rest. GM Timur Gareyev secured second place scoring 7/9. Azamat Utagaliyev (KAZ) edged past three more players on tie-breaks to finish third 6/9. The total prize fund was UZS 300000000 (approx. ₹1977000). The top three prizes were UZS 1000000000 (approx. ₹659000), UZS 50000000 (approx. ₹329500) and UZS 25000000 (approx. ₹164750) along with a trophy each. The seven-day nine-round Swiss league rating tournament was organized by Sky Chess and Uzbekistan Chess Federation in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 16th to 22nd December. This is Adhiban's first tournament triumph of the year. Photo: Saji Mathew

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