Intellectual Fireworks—A Glimpse into Mumbai's Diwali Chess-Solving Spectacle!
29/10/2024 - ChessBase India's week-long, free-for-all Big Diwali Chess Camp concluded on a high note on October 27, 2024, after catering to nearly 500 enthusiastic attendees. On October 26, the penultimate day, an intense chess-solving contest took centre stage. The challenge was to solve six complex chess compositions in just two hours. Carefully curated by Satanick Mukhuty, the Chess Composition Editor of ChessBase India, the tasks included four problems and two studies designed to push the participants' strategic and tactical prowess to the limit. Ultimately, among the 35 contestants, the 22-year-old Pushkar Dere secured a decisive victory with a remarkable score of 29/30, outpacing the competition by a commanding 16.5-point margin. FM Vedant Panesar took second place with 12.5/30, closely followed by a four-way tie for third between Mitali Naik, Pratyush Bhatt, Arjun Iyer, and Neemay Bhanushali, each scoring 10/30. In this article, Satanick shares his insights into the contest and walks you through the solutions to all six challenging puzzles.
