Blitz Challenge with India's latest GM Leon Mendonca

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/01/2021

Do you want to play against a GM? But you are not sure how to approach them? This is your chance to play against India's latest GM Leon Luke Mendonca. Leon will be playing against the Premium members of ChessBase Account in a 3 minute + 2 second increment encounter. The games will be commented by IM Sagar Shah and after it ends he will be discussing with Leon with regards to why he made certain decisions and together they will analyze the game in depth. You not only get to play against a future world class opponent, but also get your games analyzed in the process! Join in on the 10th of January 2021 at 8 p.m. IST for the Blitz Challenge with Leon. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Your chance to play India's latest GM

The latest Grandmaster of India - Leon Mendonca

Leon Mendonca is just 14 years old, but already has a strong Elo rating of 2538. Leon scored three GM-norms in a little over three months and crossed the 2500 rating barrier to become India's 67th GM. From being locked out in Europe during the pandemic, Leon converted every adversity into opportunity. He gained close to 100 Elo points and three GM norms playing in 16 tournaments. He was clearly the player of the year for India in 2020. He is now going to come to the ChessBase India YouTube channel to play against the Premium members of ChessBase Account.

Leon is not just a great chess player, but also a wonderful musician!

Like Smyslov and Taimanov, Leon is also a chess musician! | Video: Sagar Shah

The talented chess musician IM Leon Mendonca | Ave Maria | Video: Sagar Shah

He is cute, he is 12, he is 2200+ and he is improving at great speed - Leon Mendonca | Video: Sagar Shah

It is going to be very exciting to see the young lad in action as he takes on the premium members of ChessBase Account in blitz games that will have the time control of 3 min + 2 sec increment. While Leon plays the games, IM Sagar Shah will commentate on them and once they are completed he will discuss it with Leon.

Leon scored three GM-norms and crossed 2500 barrier during the Covid-19 pandemic | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Sunway Chess Open

How to play against Leon?

First of all you need to be a ChessBase Account Premium Member. You can become either a 3-month premium member or a 1-year member.

Check out the above video to understand the features of ChessBase Premium Account

Leon will accept challenges from anyone who is a Premium Member in the Blitz Challenge Room

Where can you watch it LIVE?

IM Sagar Shah and Leon Mendonca will be live on the ChessBase India channel. You can either watch the show from the embed given below, or if you would like to interact with them, then you can open the video from here, which takes you to YouTube and you can interact with them.