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Spend 15 minutes with GM Swapnil Dhopade!

by Sagar Shah - 20/04/2019

We spend a lot of time of our chess preparation in trying to work on positions where there are specific tactical elements. However, when you sit at the board, no one is going to tell you - "Wait! Now is the time to think!" This is exactly the reason why one must try hard and develop an ability to calculate candidate moves and go deep in just about any position. In this article we have brought to you the 15-minute challenge with GM Swapnil Dhopade. Swapnil shares one of the positions that he has in his training database. He tells us "No one until now has been able to solve this correctly!" So there you have it. The challenge is to setup a board, cut yourself off from all distractions, think on this position for 15 minutes and then write you answer in the comments section below. The best answer wins a special prize.

Are you ready for some hard work?

Instructions by GM Swapnil Dhopade: Take 15 minutes on the clock, setup the position and find the best continuation for White in the below position.

 

Swapnil Dhopade vs Manish Anto Cristiano, Bangkok 2018

Black has just played g6 to kick the knight out from f5. It's White to move.

We usually have the habit to look at one move that seems good and feel that we have solved the problem. But here you have to delve deep. You have to use your 15 minutes well. White has a couple of options in this position. He could take on h6 with his knight on he can come back Nd4 attacking the rook. How would you continue? Mind you, this combination is nearly 10 moves deep and Swapnil managed to play it perfectly in his game. Can you do the same?

 

Once you have solved it, let us know the answer in the comments section below. The best answer will win a one-month ChessBase Premium Account. The answer will be revealed in another article that will be published in a couple of days.

Swapnil Dhopade, the trainer

Swapnil Dhopade became India's 40th GM in 2015. Ever since that he has had some remarkable achievements, most notable one being a 2768 performance at the Isle of Man International 2018. Swapnil was the National Challengers Champion in 2015 and has won a number of rating events in the last few years. As a chess player, he has been quite successful, but off late he has developed quite some interest in working as a coach. His student's achievements have started to mean a lot more for him than his own victories and hence he has started to devote a sizable amount of time towards training other players.

Swapnil was the coach of the Indian women's team at the Asian Nations Cup 2018 where the team won a gold in blitz, silver in rapid and bronze in classical event

Swapnil also was the trainer of the team at the World Team Championships 2019

Apart from this he has been working with a lot of young talents in Indian chess, the most prominent one being 13-year-old Raunak Sadhwani from Nagpur, who recently became an IM and scored his maiden GM norm.

The coach and student with organizer Praful Zaveri. Swapnil won the IIFLW 2015-16 open event, while Raunak won the juniors section | Photo: Priyadarshan Banjan

In April, Swapnil will be holding a trianing camp in Nagpur from the 26th to 28th of April 2019.

The camp will be held at Dr. Ambedkar Institute of Management Studeis in Nagpur

The schedule of the camp

Players already registered for the camp:

1. Ansh Dhanvij (1737)

2. Manthan Vijay Kale (1446)

3. Sanskar Gaigore (1347)

4. Jay Sawalakhe (1256)

5. Ojas Goswami (1190)

6. Astha Turankar (1127)

7. AdityaSing Bhange (1066)

8. Prissha Rathod

9. Akshal Kamdar

10. Vivaan Roy

11. Sparsh Kumbhalkar

If you are keen to be a part of this camp, you can contact Bhushan Shriwas: 9890860484

The answer to the above position will be published in a few days!

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