Harikrishna clinches Prague Chess Masters 2022 convincingly

18/06/2022 -

Pentala Harikrishna defeated Spain no.2 David Anton Guijarro emphatically in the final round to win Prague Chess Masters 2022. Harikrishna accepted Anton's knight sacrifice in the middlegame and once again for the second time in this event, he showed his endgame prowess. He scored the sole win of the round and Liem could not manage to win the game. Thus, he finished a half point behind to finish second. Local talent, Nguyen Thai Dai Van scored 5/9 to secure third place. Vidit drew his final round game to be placed seventh 4/9. Sasikiran finished the event on a winning note to finish fourth 5/9 in the Challengers section. Photo: Prague International Chess Festival

Candidates 2022 R1: Caruana and Nepomniachtchi start with a win

18/06/2022 -

Fabiano Caruana and Ian Nepomniachtchi are the two victors in the first round of FIDE Candidates 2022. Hikaru Nakamura imploded against his compatriot Caruana. The former abandoned his king safety and stayed true to his style. He had to pay a heavy price for it. Nepomniachtchi won against the super-solid Ding Liren comfortably when his opponent decided against taking a central pawn, which eventually played a key role in his defeat. Duda got an early advantage against Rapport and Radjabov gave a scare to Firouzja. However, both Rapport and Firouzja survived them. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Niki Riga/FIDE

Harikrishna or Liem - Who will win Prague Chess Masters 2022?

17/06/2022 -

Pentala Harikrishna scored an important victory in the penultimate round against the UAE no.1 Salem Saleh. This win put him in the championship contention with Liem Quang Le. Both of them are now at 5.5/8. It all comes down to the final round and how each of them fare. Harikrishna will face Spain no.2 David Anton Guijarro and Liem will go against Spain no.1 Francisco Vallejo Pons. Harikrishna also moved to India no.2 and World no.27 once again in the live ratings. Final Round 9 starts today at 11 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. IST). It will be either Harikrishna or Liem who will win the Prague Chess Festival 2022 Masters. Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

The highly anticipated FIDE Candidates 2022 starts today

17/06/2022 -

The FIDE Candidates 2022 tournament is the ultimate qualifier for the FIDE World Championship. The winner of the tournament becomes the Challenger for the world championship and earns the right to face the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a Match. It will be held from 16th June to 5th July at the Palacio de Santona in Madrid, Spain. Eight grandmasters have qualfied to this event in various ways to play in this double Round-Robin event. They are - Ding Liren (CHN), Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport (HUN), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Teimour Radjabov (AZE) and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL). Round 1 starts today at 6:30 p.m. IST. Who is your pick to win the FIDE Candidates 2022? Photo: Official site

The star from Assam, Shahil Dey scores his first GM norm

16/06/2022 -

IM Shahil Dey is an inspiration for sportspersons all over North-East India. In a place with not-so-good chess exposure and facilities, he became the first International Master from Assam. Shahil recently achieved his first GM norm at the Cattolica Open 2022. Celebrating the occasion, we had an interview with Shahil and the director of Jalan Industries, Mrityunjay Jalan. Mrityunjay has supported Shahil's career with an amount of Rs.5,00,000 through the Murleidhor Jalan Foundation. In this interview, we discuss Shahil's performance, his best game from the event, get to know the vision of Mrityunjay for North East chess and much more.

Saina Salonika becomes the latest Woman International Master of India

16/06/2022 -

Saina Salonika scored her final WIM-norm at IM Mix Third Saturday 277 at Novi Sad, Serbia. She scored 4.5/9, performed at 2269 to become India's latest Woman International Master. After Padmini Rout and Kiran Manisha Mohanty, Saina became the third WIM of Odisha at the age of 18 years. Her rating is now 2205, one point less than her peak rating. Covid-19 pandemic delayed her an opportunity to score her final WIM-norm, as she scored two WIM-norms and crossed 2200 in the live ratings by December 2019. However, she kept working on her game and bagged two Silver medals in Western Asia and Asian Youth Under-18 Girls  2021. Her journey continues towards the WGM title. Photo: Balkanchess

Vaibhav Jayant Raut clinches Prague International Chess Festival 2022 Blitz

16/06/2022 -

Vaibhav Jayant Raut made a fantastic start of scoring an unbeaten 8.5/10. He had a half point lead heading into the final round of Prague International Chess Festival 2022 - G Blitz. A last round loss against the top seed of the tournament, Simon Knudsen (GER) did not deter his championship hopes. Four players scored 8.5/11 each. Vaibhav clinched the first place due to better tie-breaks. He gained 100.2 Elo rating points and won CZK 1000 (approx. ₹3294) as his prize. Simon Knudsen and FM Mladen Gajic were adjudged second and third respectively according to tie-breaks. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

3rd Vizag GM Open R5-7: Ameya and Himal in a three-way lead

15/06/2022 -

IM Himal Gusain ended IM P Konguvel's fantastic run by handing him his first loss in the seventh round. IM Ameya Audi beat GM Mitrabha Guha and drew with the top seed of the event GM Farrukh Amonatov in the sixth and seventh round respectively. Ameya, Himal and Amonatov are in a three-way lead 6/7 at GITAM University 3rd Vizag GM Open 2022. 12-year-old Ilamparthi A R is in pursuit 5.5/7. He scored two impressive wins against GM Nguyen Duc Hoa (VIE) and IM Shota Azaladze (GEO). The boy swindled the Georgian from a completely lost endgame into a win. Round 8 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Prague Chess Festival 2022 Masters R5-6: Liem leads, Harikrishna trails

15/06/2022 -

Pentala Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi drew both of their respective games in Round 5 and 6. Liem Quang Le (VIE) emerged as the sole leader 4.5/6 at Prague International Chess Festival 2022 Masters. He is closely followed by Harikrishna at 4/6. They will face each other today in the seventh round. Vidit is still struggling at 2.5/6. In the Challengers section, Sasikiran lost his fifth round game against the in-form Hans Niemann (USA). He bounced back well by winning against Peter Michalik in the following round. Round 7 starts today at 3 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. IST). Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

The Praggnanandhaa interview on winning the Norway Chess Open

14/06/2022 -

Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won the Norway Chess Open with 7.5/9, gaining 6 elo points in the process. His performance rating was of 2676, and his current live rating is 2648.6. A short interview was conducted with Pragg after his victory. Check out his thoughts on the tournament triumph, and the complete analysis of his most favorite game of the tournament - his round 8 win against GM Victor Mikhalevski. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Norway Chess

FIDE WSCC 2022 Round of 16: Vaishali eliminates World Blitz Women champion Bibisara Assaubayeva

14/06/2022 -

IM Vaishali R defeated the reigning World Blitz Women 2021 champion, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ). The Guiness World Record holder was trailing in both 5+1 and 3+1 segments. However, she almost managed to force tie-breaks until Vaishali won the crucial 1+1 game to win the Round of 16 match. The India no.3 has advanced to the Quarterfinals of FIDE Women's Speed Chess Championship 2022. She will face the winner of Nana Dzagnidze and Koneru Humpy in the next stage. The second Round of 16 match is between GM Harika Dronavalli and WGM Deysi Cori (PER) starts today at 7 p.m. IST. Photo: chess.com

New: Herman Grooten: Key Concepts of Chess - Pawn Structures Vol. 1+2

14/06/2022 -

IM Herman Grooten will offer rules-of-thumb and concepts to give club chess players the necessary guidance to try and find the right paths in their own games. In this two-part course the emphasis will be on typical pawn-structures, ones that appear quite often in games and that will be very recognisable to club level chess players. The Vol.1 of the DVD contains the topics of Open, Half-Open and The Pawn Chain. Vol.2 of the DVD discuss the quintessential Isolated Queen's Pawn and The Passed Pawn. Check out these two important DVDs and increase your knowledge of pawn structures from IM FT Herman Grooten. Photo: ChessBase

Harikrishnan wins 9 Sportz All India Rapid Rating Chess Tournament 2022

13/06/2022 -

IM Harikrishnan A Ra scored an unbeaten 8/9. IM Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad also scored the same, however Harikrishnan edged past Bala on tie-breaks to win 9 Sportz All India Rapid Rating Open Chess Tournament 2022. Five players scored 7.5/9 each. Among them, IM P Shyam Nikhil was adjudged third. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹240000, ₹200000 for Rapid  Rating and ₹40000 for Blitz Open. Top three prizes in the Rapid Rating were ₹30000, ₹20000 and ₹15000 along with a trophy each. A total of 285 players in the Rapid Rating and 160 in the Blitz Open including a GM and 6 IMs took part in this two-day Rapid Rating and Blitz Open tournament held at Mysore, Karnataka.

3rd Vizag GM Open R1-4: Konguvel makes a perfect start

13/06/2022 -

IM P Konguvel is a revered chess player and gentleman of the game. He is in a three-way lead 4/4 along with the top seed GM Farrukh Amonatov and GM Stupak Kirill at GITAM University 3rd Vizag GM International Open 2022. He scored sublime victories over GM Boris Savchenko and IM Nigmatov Ortik in the third and fourth round respectively. The perfect start by Konguvel does not surprise us. He is former National 'A' champion (1995) and has GM strength. He has all the norms, only the rating requirement is left to be fulfilled. The current rating system might make things difficult to increase by a lot for an adult. However, Konguvel is certainly going to strive for it. Round 5 starts today at 10 a.m. IST. Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Anand's fantastic performance in Norway Chess!

12/06/2022 - Vishy Anand played some fantastic chess in the Norway Chess. He finished 3rd in a very strong field, and defeated Magnus twice- once in Blitz, once in Armageddon! In this article, we talk with Vishy about his overall performance, his games in the event, his resignation against Shakh, and a lot more.