Manipal 09: Soundarya wins the Nat-B title; Stany takes the Open

01/01/2016 -

The All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB), in association with the Manipal University, hosted the National B Chess Championship for the Blind at T.M.A. Pai Hall in Manipal, a picturesque educational hub in Udupi, Karnataka. The Manipal University organized this tournament along with an Open rating tournament, with a simple idea of building an audience for this sport, where the visually challenged player can truly play at a relatively higher level, compared to other games. A pictorial report.

New Year 2016 Puzzle

31/12/2015 -

As the year 2015 comes to an end ChessBase India leaves you with a hard nut to crack. The study which we ask you to solve in this article took IM Sagar Shah 24 days to work out the entire solution. We hope that you will not only enjoy the process of solving the problem but also fare much better than what he did!

Manipal 05-08: Kishan, Soundarya lead Nat-B; Stany on 8.0/8

29/12/2015 -

The All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB), in association with the Manipal University, is hosting the National B Chess Championship for the Blind at T.M.A. Pai Hall in Manipal, a picturesque educational hub in Udupi, Karnataka. At the end of the penultimate round, Kishan Gangolli of Karnataka leads the National B for the Blind along with Soundarya Pradhan, while IM G.A. Stany has all but sealed his victory with a perfect 8.0/8. A pictorial report.

Manipal 03+04: Top seeds have smooth sailing

28/12/2015 -

The second day of the National-B for the Blind was good for the top-two seeds, who won their games without much difficulties. The third seed Krishna Udupa, though, tasted defeat in the third round. In the FIDE Open, a handful of experienced players were held to draws by their young lower-rated opponents. We bring you a pictorial report from Manipal.

Manipal 01+02: National-B for the Blind gets underway

27/12/2015 -

Manipal is a modern day seat of learning in India, with its stature as the country's leading educational hub growing exponentially day by day. The All India Chess Federation for the Blind, in association with the Manipal University, is hosting the National B Championship for the Blind, which got underway on 26 December 2015. To make this celebration of chess complete, the University is also organizing an Open FIDE tournament alongside the National B, with a simple idea of promoting the game. ChessBase India brings you an illustrated report.

Qatar 05: India vs. India?!

25/12/2015 -

Quite a few games today were between Indians themselves. There were no friendly draws as the players chose to fight to the bitter end. Surya Shekhar Ganguly defeated Englishman David Howell to lead the Indian contingent with 4.0/5. A detailed report with some beautiful pictures, games, tactics and more!

Qatar 04: Youngsters have a field day

23/12/2015 -

The youngsters of the Indian contingent had a lucky day as many of them escaped from bad positions to earn draws, or as in the case of Vignesh NR, even win, against Wei Yi! Vaishali R. finally opened her account, however, her senior state-mate GM Venkatesh's woeful run continued. A complete report with loads of pictures, games, analysis, and a video report.

Qatar 03: bad day for the top half

22/12/2015 -

The Indians in the top half of the tournament standings had an uneventful day. Sethu and Harika crumbled in the face of their higher rated opponents. Many settled for draws with those rated lower than them, except Adhiban, who even lost. Nevertheless, Sasikiran held Karjakin, and Shardul settled for a draw with Hou Yifan. IM Vignesh NR beat GM Bartel, who is rated 200 points above him. The star attraction of the day was the legendary Spanish playmaker Xavi Hernandez, who visited the tournament. A complete report with pictures, games and video interviews.

Qatar 02: Aravindh misses his chance

21/12/2015 -

A very solid day for the Indians as a number of players settled for draws in the second round of the Qatar Masters Open, 2015. Magnus Carlsen escaped Aravindh, who botched up his position in time-trouble. Don't feel pity -- can you guess how much time he spent on his fourth move? Among the women, Harika held the world's strongest female Hou Yifan to a draw. A complete report with pictures, annotations and video interviews.

Qatar 01: Shardul Gagare beats Wei Yi

20/12/2015 -

The first round of the 2015 Qatar Masters Open came to a close. While the news will certainly be dominated by Carlsen's draw, the biggest upset of the day has to be IM Shardul Gagare's spirited victory over his much higher-rated peer Chinese GM Wei Yi! Indians, who made up 21% of the players competing at Qatar, displayed some entertaining chess on most of the boards. A complete report with pictures, supplemented by games and interesting positions.

Harikrishna is World No. 14!

20/12/2015 -

India No. 2 Pentala Harikrishna joined the SG Solingen club as their second board for the 2015-16 season of the Bundesliga. He played the December leg of the current season for his team and scored 2.5/3, before heading to Qatar to play the 2015 Qatar Masters Open. His performance at the German League has earned him 13 points that take his live rating to 2756, and rank 14 in the live rating list!

Bhubaneshwar Girls Open, 2015

18/12/2015 -

The Khordha District Chess Association, under the leadership of Subhasis Patnaik, organized the 5^th Bhubaneswar All India FIDE Rating Open Championship for Girls Only between 10-15 December 2015 at the Infocity Campus in Bhubaneshwar. The event, despite being organized in the best possible manner, did not quite receive the kind of reception a tournament of such ilk richly deserves. The local star WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty won the tournament ahead of WGM Bhakti Kulkarni, WGM Mary Ann Gomes and IM Nisha Mohota, who sent us a beautifully illustrated report.

Harika in the 2015 Chinese League

17/12/2015 -

One of the main reasons why countries like China are a step ahead of us is their national league system where teams consisting of an optimum mixture of players rated above 2700, talented players in the 2500-2700 range and women players compete together. Indian GM Dronavalli Harika played seven games across two legs of the 2015 Chinese League that began in April and ended this month. A report comparing the Indian chess scene with the Chinese league system and Harika's contribution in Team Beijing's victory!

Anand scores 3.5/9 in London

16/12/2015 -

Vishy Anand had a pretty disappointing seventh edition of the London Chess Classic. He scored 3.5/9 finishing ninth amongst ten players. In this report we analyze his eighth and ninth round games against Fabiano Caruana and Anish Giri respectively. But Anand fans don't you despair - there's some good news: Vishy has qualified to be a part of the Grand Chess Tour 2016!

Asian Junior & Girls Under-20 Championships, 2015

15/12/2015 -

The city of Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Republic hosted the 2015 Asian Juniors & Girls Under-20 Championship. Although the tournament has not been too famous among the Asian countries – most players just give it a miss – it has always been attractive to some due the customary GM norm awarded to the winner of the tournament. Although India dominated this competition in 2014, this year we could only see a silver performance.

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