Men's Premier 05: Praneeth stuns Sethu

20/11/2015 -

The biggest news of the fifth round was Praneeth's victory over the defending champion Sethu. Vidit defeated his former coach and mentor Kunte in a positionally elegant manner while an unfit Shyam Sundar put it across P. Karthikeyan with hardly any problems. Deep Sengupta's woes continued as he lost yet again, this time to M. Karthikeyan who seems hell-bent on winning every game after a forgettable start. After the kind of starts they had to this tournament, both Venkatesh and Rathnakaran can't complain much about their results, as they drew with Neelotpal and Arghyadip respectively. Swapnil, meanwhile, won an instructive endgame.

Women's Premier R04-06: Soumya in sole lead

19/11/2015 -

Soumya Swaminathan leads the National Women Premier after six rounds with a score of 5.0/6. She is followed closely by Swati Ghate and Padmini Rout who are on 4.5/6 and Pratyusha Bodda on four points. Especially worrying is the form of Tania Sachdev who is only on 2.0/6. The participants recieved a fine boost as the Governor of Bengal visited the venue. With five rounds to go this is shaping up to be an exciting contest. We have some nice pictures as well as analysis from the event.

Men’s Premier 04: four Blacks wave the white flag

18/11/2015 -

The fourth round saw four decisive games, and White won all of them. Rathnakaran fell to the same line that had destroyed him in the second round. Praneeth’s Najdorf could not suppress Arghyadip’s queenside onslaught. Sethu played a fine game and converted easily after Shyam Sundar missed his chance to equalize. Kunte and Shyaamnikhil settled for a quick draw, while P. Karthikeyan won a pawn, but could not break through Deep’s defenses. Venkatesh finally had reasons to smile, after he held an unfit Vidit to a draw. The game of the day was played by India's bright hope Murali Karthikeyan.

Men's Premier 03: Captain Evans' gambit!

17/11/2015 -

Four decisive games meant that it was a fighting Tuesday here at Thiruvarur. Kunte and M. Karthikeyan managed to open their accounts, the latter at the expense of an extremely consistent Venkatesh who remains at a sorry 0/3. To both Vidit and P. Karthikeyan's dismay, they were held to draws. Deep and Rathnakaran lost their second consecutive games, the former tragically from a won position. Praneeth caused yet another upset when he took down Dhopade while Shyam Sundar and Arghyadip played out an entertaining draw. The tournament was also graced by a hero of yesteryears: the Evans Gambit!

Women's Premier R01-03: Swati and Soumya lead

16/11/2015 -

After three rounds at the National Women's Premier 2015, two girls from Pune, Swati Ghate and Soumya Swaminathan are in the lead with a score of 2.5/3. Behind them is Pratyusha Bodda who just beat the top seeded Padmini Rout. A lot of interesting games were played in the event - not to be missed is Padmini's Tal like play against Bhakti Kulkarni.

Men’s Premier 02: Favourites sent packing

16/11/2015 -

Blood spilled left and right as Caissa paid no heed to reputations. Many a higher rated seeds were left doing double takes at their own positions. The upset of the day was Neelotpal’s victory over the defending champion Sethu. P. Karthikeyan meanwhile accounted for M. Karthikeyan, and he leads the tournament with Vidit Gujrathi, who displayed yet another gem of a preparation. Three GMs remain stuck in the island of 0/2.

Men’s Premier 01: Five decisive games

15/11/2015 -

What a scintillating start to the 2015 National Men’s Premier! We saw it all: an example of near perfect preparation, missed chances and even a loss on time! Sethu beat Murali Karthikeyan after the latter missed his chance to equalize; Vidit destroyed Praneeth in a well-prepared line. Venkatesh shot himself on the foot, Kunte defended well but strangely donated a pawn to Shyam Sundar, while Shyaamnikhil committed suicide against Rathnakaran, losing on time in a better position.

S.L. Narayanan becomes India’s 41st grandmaster

14/11/2015 -

Former National Junior Champion S.L. Narayanan has shown steady progress throughout his chess career. On Saturday, at the Philippine International Open, he crowned his forward march by taking his rating across the 2500 mark and earning a GM norm in the process – his third norm – which makes him India’s 41^st grandmaster. A report on the tournament with a special focus on India's latest grandmaster.

Welcome to ChessBase India!

13/11/2015 -

13th of November 2015 is an important day in Indian chess. The ChessBase India website has been launched. This article provides you with a brief summary of the things that ChessBase India would be indulging in, in order to promote chess in the country. Top class coverage of Indian events along with special prices of ChessBase products for Indian residents. Read the article for more details.

National Premier 2015: Royal Rumble

12/11/2015 -

Nine grandmasters, four International Masters and one FIDE Master in a round robin with a rating average of 2500 – India’s strongest tournament for the year 2015 is here. The National Premier Championship will witness its 53^rd edition when the Thiruvarur District Chess Association hosts the grand event at the Kasi’s Inn in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu. The 13-round bonanza begins on 14 November 2015. ChessBase India brings you a detailed preview, with pre-tournament comments from the gladiators.

Looking Back: 9th November 1985

09/11/2015 -

30 years ago on this very day Anatoly Karpov held out his hand in resignation, and thus was crowned the youngest World Champion ever in the history of the game - Garry Kasparov. We have for you the Facebook post made by Garry as well as the interesting points from this 24 game match. Fans of Garry will surely remember his brilliant move 8...d5?!!? which gave him one of the most beautiful victories of his career. Here's your chance to get acquainted with the drama of the 1985 match!

Curtain raiser for the Women Premier 2015

07/11/2015 -

The National Women Premier 2015, will be held in Kolkata from the 12th to the 24th of November. In this article we get acquainted with the 12 different participants. The author also tries to find out who has the maximum chances to win the title. Will it be Padmini, Tania, Soumya, Vaishali or someone else?

S. Nitin wins Rotolawyer's Cup 2015

30/10/2015 -

Rotolawyer's Cup 2015 was a strong event held in Belthangady taluka in Karnataka. The tournament attracted two grandmasters and five International Masters. S.Nitin won the tournament with a score of 8.0/9. Our reporter Priyadarshan Banjan was at the venue and has sent us a illustrated report with pictures. We also have a game annotated by the winner.

Rajdeep and Varshini win National U-17 Championships 2015

27/10/2015 -

Rajdeep Sarkar and Varshini emerged as the National under 17 champions held in Bangalore, Karnataka. While the open section was hard fought with all the top three places scoring 8.0/11, in the girls section V.Varishini won the tournament with great ease with a score of 10.0/11. One of the highlights of the tournament was R.Vaishali playing in the open section and finishing third. We have pictures and game annotations from the event.

Isle of Man winner: Harikrishna in interview

20/10/2015 -

As the Isle of Man tournament came to an end the tournament winner, Pentala Harikrishna, packed his bags to travel to the World Blitz Championships in Berlin. In between his travel and intense schedule he found time to give us a small interview. Apart from this we have a beautifully annotated game by one of the GM norm scorers from this tournament.

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