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Candidates 2020! It's really happening!

16/03/2020 -

It is risky, and it's true that Coronavirus threat has cancelled just about every major event in the world in the month of March. Yet, for a chess fan, who is at home and is unable to travel to tournaments, there could not have been a better news. Candidates 2020 taking place as planned means you get 20 days of high quality chess filled with drama, action and more. In this article let you know about the journey of all the participants in reaching Yekaterinburg, the venue of the event. We also bring to you the details of the coverage planned by ChessBase India during the duration of the Candidates 2020. It includes daily live updates, live show, detailed reports, best game of the day analysis videos and much more! Game 1 begins on 17th of March, 4.30 p.m. IST.

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The Anand Files Part I - Jorden van Foreest

15/03/2020 -

FM Michiel Abeln recently wrote a very interesting book named "The Anand Files" that has been published by Quality Chess. It deals with Anand's three World Championship matches from 2008 to 2012 against Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand. The book not only deals with the analysis of the games, but also with inputs by Vishy's seconds and you get a complete insight into how top level chess preparation looks like. At the beginning of the year, Abeln was present at the Tata Steel Masters tournament in Wijk Aan Zee. He managed to speak to some of the top players in the world, who had already read his book. In this article we begin with the review of GM Jorden van Foreest, rated 2671 and member of Team Anish Giri for the Candidates 2020. 

ChessBase India presents five Saturday online Blitz events starting from 21st of March

15/03/2020 -

Since all tournaments in India are cancelled until the 15th of April as per AICF and Government of India instructions due to the Coronavirus Outbreak, we decided to hold five weekly blitz tournaments starting from the 21st of March 2020. Each weekend on Saturday until 18th of April there will be a blitz tournament having a total prize fund of ₹10000. The first one takes place on 21st March 2020 at 8 p.m. IST and the subsequent one on the next Saturdays. If you have a valid ChessBase Premium Account, these tournaments are completely free for you. We have special points for everyone who finish in top 10. The scores at the end of these five tournaments are totalled and the winner gets a mega special prize.

Meet Pranesh M, the 13-year-old who has become the country's latest IM

14/03/2020 -

We at ChessBase India always try to cover the up-and-coming chess talents of the country on a regular basis. The country's future in the sport after all rests on the shoulders of these young players who are growing stronger by the day and are proving their mettle in tournaments all over world. This new crop of talented youngsters is also the reason that is making legends like Vladimir Kramnik see unprecedented potential for chess growth and excellence in this part of the world. So dear readers, today in this article we talk about one more youngster whose performances have shown huge promise lately. We talk about Pranesh M, the 13-year-old lad from Tamil Nadu, who recently made his final IM norm at the prestigious Aeroflot Open in Moscow and became the latest International Master of the country.

Interview with the youngest ever Aeroflot Open winner - Aydin Suleymanli

14/03/2020 -

The Aeroflot Open has a great history. All of the current top players including Carlsen, Karjakin, Mamedyarov etc. have played at this prestigious event at some point of their chess career. Every youngster usually takes it as an opportunity to get exposure and improve his game. The same was the case with 14-year-old Aydin Suleymanli, who came to Moscow as the 71st seed and with the ambition of scoring his second GM norm. What happened next was quite unbelievable! The new beast from Baku, as everyone likes to call him, performed at an incredible 2791 Elo and won the tournament ahead of 63 grandmasters. IM Sagar Shah contacted Suleymanli after the event ended and brings to you an interview with the next big thing in Azerbaijan chess. 

Nana Dzagnidze wins FIDE Lausanne GP 2020

14/03/2020 -

FIDE Lausanne GP final round was a short one as all games ended in draws in less than 33 moves. Nana Dzagnidze drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina in the final round to win the Lausanne GP 2020. Both players finished at 7.0/11. However, Dzagnidze won the championship due to a better tie-break score. Their GP points were split because of the same score finish. Last minute replacement, GP debutante IM Zhansaya Abdumalik scored an impressive 6.5/11 to finish at third place. Goryachkina currently leads the GP 2019-20 points table, Humpy is trailing behind her at the second position. Since Goryachkina has played all three events, Humpy still has one event to go, she can catch up and finish at the top of the table. Photo: FIDE

Lausanne GP R10: Goryachkina beats Ju Wenjun

13/03/2020 -

Goryachkina faced Ju Wenjun in the penultimate round of Lausanne GP 2020 for the first time since their Women's World Championship Match in January. This time Goryachkina got the better of Ju as the latter blundered in an equal position. Dzagnidze made a comfortable draw with Kashlinskaya. She will face Goryachkina in the final round for the championship. IM Zhansaya Abdumalik continued her impressive run at the event by beating Pia Cramling. She is almost guaranteed a podium finish, a win in the last round means she will finish at second, while in that scenario a draw between Goryachkina and Dzagnidze will mean Abdumalik finishing shared first. Harika made a short draw with Anna Muzychuk. Photo: FIDE

Women's Day Special: LBHM One Day Rapid witnesses over 330 players participation

12/03/2020 -

On International Women's Day 8th March 2020, Aryan's Enterprises organized a one day state level rapid chess tournament in memory of Late Bharatbai Halkude. Over 330 players from all over Maharashtra participated in eight different categories, starting from Under-7 to Veteran (Above 55 years). Fourth seed of the tournament FM Aniruddha Deshpande scored an unbeaten 7.0/8 to win the Above 1600 category. FM Ramkrishna Kashelkar also finished with the same score 7.0/8. He was placed second according to the tie-breaks. FM Nikhil Dixit secured third position with a score of 6.0/8. Total Prize fund ₹100000 was distributed among the prize winners. Photo: Aryan's Enterprise

Lausanne GP R9: Nana Dzagnidze takes sole lead

12/03/2020 -

Nana Dzagnidze pulled out all the stops, rejected a threefold repetition draw offer and defeated the reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun to claim sole lead in Lausanne GP with a score of 6.0/9. Goryachkina surprised everyone by making a quick draw by repeating her exact same moves which she did in Round 3 against Abdumalik. Thus Goryachkina lost her lead. Kosteniuk showed her grit by squeezing water out of stone against Pia Cramling and forcing her to make a mistake in another 5.5 hour long grueling battle. Mariya Muzychuk was unable to maintain her advantage against Abdumalik and drew her game. Harika-Kashlinskaya and Anna-Stefanova ended up in draws in exactly 31 moves. Photo: FIDE

The Queens of Problem Chess

11/03/2020 -

While over the years there has been a remarkable surge in the number of females participating in chess tournaments, the field of chess composition has remained woefully alien to the feminine touch. Nevertheless amidst the dearth there have always been inspiring exceptions. On the 8th of this month when the world observed the International Women's Day celebrating women achievements across diverse socio, economic, political, and cultural disciplines; our author, Satanick Mukhuty, took the opportunity to research some of the most influential female figures in chess composing.

NEW: Erwin l’Ami: The Benko Gambit Explained

11/03/2020 -

Erwin l’Ami explains the Benko Gambit! Through model games l’Ami explains all topical lines of the Benko Gambit, occasionally asking the viewer interactive questions that help the viewer to grasp the ideas behind this opening. Pal Benko described in his autobiography that his gambit was initially regarded as a joke by his peers, but practice has shown it to be a dangerous weapon which is easy to learn. Now you can learn all about Benko Gambit from super strong Dutch GM Erwin l'Ami who is also one of Anish Giri's seconds. Photo: ChessBase

Soham Datar wins 4th Young Masters Rapid Open 2020

11/03/2020 -

Third seeded Soham Datar scored 6.0/7 to win 4th Young Masters Rapid Open 2020. Top seed of the tournament Chinmay Kulkarni also finished with the same score 6.0/7. However, since he suffered a loss against Soham in the fourth round, Soham was declared the champion and Chinmay had to settle with the runner-up position. Winner of the third edition, Sriram Sarja was placed third with a score of 5.5/7. The tournament was organized by chess mothers of Pune city to celebrate International Women's day on 8th March 2020. Here is a pictorial report of the tournament. Photo: Ganga Pant

Lausanne GP R8: Dzagnidze gets back in the lead

11/03/2020 -

Reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun scored her first win of the tournament when she defeated IM Alina Kashlinskaya after the latter made a thematic tactical error in QGD Ragozin Defence. Nana Dzagnidze got back in the lead along with Goryachkina as the Georgian defeated Marie Sebag easily. Mariya Muzychuk made sure Kosteniuk's woes continued as she lost her fifth game of the event after making a strategical mistake in the endgame. Harika suffered her second loss of the event as she reached into an inferior endgame against Stefanova. Zhansaya continued her impressive run as she made a short draw with Anna Muzychuk. Goryachkina had the longest game of the day with Pia Cramling as they played for over six hours and 129 moves before making a draw. Photo: FIDE

How to improve your online chess strength

10/03/2020 -

A lot of chess players spend quite a bit of their time every day playing online chess. The aim of playing online differs from person to person but it is clear that everyone wants to improve their rating and also their chess strength. Besides, with the Coronavirus spreading across the world, and tournaments getting cancelled, it seems wiser to spend more time playing online tournaments than offline ones! In this article GM Avetik Grigoryan from ChessMood talks to you about certain tricks that can help you boost your online chess Elo. His play nine game method, 15-minute breaks and the golden tip is sure to give you a new perspective next time you sit down to play online chess!

Fat Fritz 1.1 update and a small gift

10/03/2020 -

As promised in the announcement of the release of Fat Fritz, the first update to the neural network has been released, stronger and more mature, and with it comes the brand new smaller and faster Fat Fritz for CPU neural network which will produce quality play even on a pure CPU setup. If you leave it analyzing the start position, it will say it likes the Sicilian Najdorf, which says a lot about its natural style. Fat Fritz* is included with Fritz 17. Read on to find out more about this update, what's new and included in this.

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