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So near yet so far - Nikita Vitiugov at the World Cup 2019

27/09/2019 -

"This tournament is like life - eventually, it has a sad end. Lucky guys leave it quickly, stubborn ones, who fight on their limits - sometimes painfully. But what happened here also matters and I am proud of the level of chess I've showed in the tournament." In a couple of sentences Nikita Vitiugov's tweet at the end of the FIDE World Cup 2019 captured the essence of what had happened. The heartbreak of being losing from a completely winning position and the happiness of having played excellent chess to eliminate Sergey Karjakin and Wesley So without going into the tiebreaks! In this article IM Sagar Shah takes a look at two of Vitiugov's masterpieces and invites you to solve some very interesting positional decisions that were taken by the Russian GM.

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Gujarat GM R07: Ivan Rozum elbows Saptarshi Roy out of the lead

27/09/2019 -

Ivan Rozum defeated Saptarshi Roy with the black pieces in the seventh round of Gujarat International Grandmaster Open to take sole lead with 6.5/7 points. Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder, Himanshu Sharma, and Manush Shah follow him closely just half a point behind with 6.0/7 points each. On the other hand, Grandmaster Saptarshi Roy has slipped down the rank-list to the fifth place after his latest loss and now shares 5.5/7 along with eleven other players. The two players who pulled off the biggest shocker in round seven were FM Manush Shah and IM Neelash Saha, both of whom defeated their higher rated Grandmaster opponents, namely Ziaur Rahman and Neelotpal Das.

Rahul Srivatshav aims to reach 2600 before he turns 18

27/09/2019 -

International Masters Rahul Srivatshav and Vardaan Nagpal did exceptionally well in the Chania International Open 2019 that took place from the 25th of August to 1st September in the beautiful Cretan city of Chania. Both players scored 6.5/9 points each, which was the highest in the event, and on the basis of tie-breaks were placed second and fifth respectively. This was particularly impressive in view of the fact that they finished ahead of several strong 2600+ rated Grandmasters. We got in touch with Rahul for a detailed interview as he shares with us his best game from the tournament and also his plans for the future which include preparing really hard for World Youth and World Juniors and reaching 2600 before he turns 18.

Gujarat GM R05+06: Ivan Rozum and Saptarshi Roy take lead

26/09/2019 -

Grandmasters Ivan Rozum and Saptarshi Roy lead the 2nd Gujarat International Grandmaster Open after the completion of rounds five and six yesterday here in Ahmedabad. GM Saptarshi defeated Rathnakaran K in the fifth round and drew Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder in the sixth, while Ivan Rozum beat Maxim Lugovskoy in the sixth round but was held to a draw by Sayantan Das in the fifth. Both Ivan and Saptarshi have 5.5/6 points each and they are being followed closely by nine players who are just half a point behind with 5.0/6. The category B tournament for players rated below 2000 also came to conclusion yesterday with 1818 rated Anurag Jaiswal of West Bengal finishing clear first with 9.0/10 points. In this illustrated report we bring you the latest games, analyses, and much more from the event.

Donate and play in the Rafiq Khan Memorial Online Blitz - A total prize fund of Rs.51,000

25/09/2019 -

On 6th of October, ChessBase India will hold a unique online blitz tournament in the memory of Rafiq Khan, India's first Olympiad medal winner, who passed away a couple of months ago on 18th of July 2019. Friends and admirers of the great champion have contributed a total sum of ₹51,000, which is the total prize fund of the tournament, the first prize being Rs.10,000. The entry fee of the event is Rs.500 but players are requested to donate as much as they can, as all the money collected will be donated to Rafiq Khan's wife. In spite of being such a great champion, all his life he lived in grave financial difficulties. It would be a nice gesture on the part of the Indian chess community to come forward, contribute towards this noble cause.

Fat Fritz and the KID

25/09/2019 -

While the title may sound like the name of the latest spaghetti western, it is actually a look at how Fat Fritz may change the way players view the King's Indian Defense, notably the Classical Main Line, long maligned by generations of engines. See how it compares to the latest Stockfish on it, and why its unique development gives it such a broad outlook on openings in general.

Gujarat GM R04: Rathnakaran K outwits Neelotpal Das in a double-edged Vienna

25/09/2019 -

Rathnakaran K got the better of Neelotpal Das in a topsy-turvy Vienna game to emerge as one of the six leaders after the fourth round of 2nd Gujarat International Grandmaster Open here in Ahmedabad. The five other leaders are Ivan Rozum, Sandipan Chanda, Saptarshi Roy, Sayantan Das, and Maxim Lugovskoy all of whom so far have perfect scores of 4.0/4 points each. The second seed of the event, Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy, was once again held to a draw in round four by 2157 rated Aradhya Garg from Delhi. IM Neelash Saha and Bharat Kumar Reddy Poluri also drew their encounters against higher-rated Nguyen Van Huy and Karthikeyan Pandian respectively to stay just half a point behind the leaders with 3.5/4 points each.

Have the engines led us to lose our respect for the elite GMs?

24/09/2019 -

Alexander Grischuk and Ding Liren sat opposite each other in the fifth round of the World Cup 2019. In their first game after 13 moves, Grischuk made a move that led the engines to give an evaluation of nearly -3 points. It was almost as if he had blundered a piece. Ding Liren after thinking for a long time replied with a move that let his opponent off the hook without any problems. On social media as well as in live commentary one could see the viewers and the kibitzers saying things like these top players aren't as good as their ratings suggest, they always keep making blunders and so on. Is this really the case? Has the level of chess gone down, or are the viewers armed with engines being unjustifiably harsh? In this article IM Sagar Shah looks at the Grischuk vs Ding Liren position in depth and makes some observations.

How to train with ChessBase 15

24/09/2019 -

ChessBase 15 offers powerful tools to improve your training and your chess. One such tool is the "Tactical Analysis" that can work as a virtual coach to answer your chess questions. But to get the most of the answers you should know how to ask the right questions! In this tutorial, resident ChessBase expert MARTIN FISCHER demonstrates an effective method to work with a strong chess analysis engine within your ChessBase 15 program at your own convenience. Drawing: ChessBase

GM Saptarshi Roy explains a Nezhmetdinov immortal

24/09/2019 -

Welcome to the second part of the Tuesday King Hunts with GM Saptarshi Roy. Today's lecture delves into a classic masterpiece played by one of history's most imaginative attacking chess players ever. We are talking about the legendary encounter between Lev Polugaevsky and the evergreen Rashid Nezhmetdinov from the year of 1958. In this game Nezhmetdinov in his absolute best creates a fierce attack with the black pieces straight off the bat, and then chases down the opponent's king in a picturesque manner from one side of the board to the other. With Grandmaster Saptarshi's nuanced move by move explanation, you are sure to get fresh insights into Nezhmetdinov's strikingly instinctive attacking style that is cherished even to this day as stuff of chess folklore! 

Gujarat GM R02+03: Deepan Chakkravarthy slips down the rank list

24/09/2019 -

Grandmaster Deepan Chakkravarthy squandered a sure win against 2088 rated Anadkat Kartavya to slip down the rank-list after the second day of Gujarat International Open 2019 here in Ahmedabad. At the end of three rounds of the tournament, as many as seventeen players are tied atop the leaderboard with perfect scores of 3.0/3 points each. Particularly notable among them has been the performance of Pranav Shetty (2124) who defeated Grandmaster Himanshu Sharma (2408) in round three to register his third consecutive victory, in the fourth round he is up against Maxim Lugovskoy and it remains to be seen if he can hold his own against the Russian Grandmaster as well. In this report we bring you the games, analyses, and much more from rounds two and three of the event.

World Cup 2019 Rd.4.3: The epic clash between two future greats - Xiong and Duda

23/09/2019 -

The fourth round of the World Cup 2019 saw most of the favourites progress to the fifth round. Radjabov beating Mamedyarov was a small upset, but apart from that Ding Liren, Aronian, Grischuk all advanced to the quarter finals. The most exciting duel was between 18-year-old Jeffery Xiong and 21-year-old Polish GM Jan Krzsyztof Duda. It lasted for eight games and could have been just anybody's match. In the end it was Duda who had to go back home. Xiong held his nerves and won the most important match of his chess career. This entire match has been analyzed in this article In the quarter finals Xiong meets Radjabov, MVL vs Aronian, Ding Liren vs Grischuk and Yu Yangyi takes on Vitiuigov. Round 4.3 report. 

Humpy wins Skolkovo FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2019

23/09/2019 -

Humpy won the Skolkovo FIDE Women's Grand Prix by making a draw in the final round against reigning Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun. The Indian ace won her first major championship after returning to competitive chess since Batumi Olympiad 2018. Humpy finished at 8.0/11, gained 160 Grand Prix points and received 15000 Euro (approx. ₹11.73 lacs) for winning the tournament. Humpy, who is currently world no.3 behind Hou Yifan and Ju Wenjun has just about every accomplishment in her bag except the world title. With the FIDE Grand Prix she aims to make it to the Candidates and eventually the highest title. She will be back in the next Grand Prix in Monaco from 2nd - 15th December 2019. Photo: David Llada / FIDE

The 2nd Gujarat International Open begins in Ahmedabad

23/09/2019 -

The 2nd Gujarat International Open Chess Tournament has begun in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and will continue till the 29th of September 2019. The category A of the event has attracted a total of 206 participants this year from 13 different nations across world out of which 166 are from India. There are as many as 46 titled players competing which include 15 Grandmasters and 13 International Masters. With a rating of 2596, Ivan Rozum of Russia is the top seed of the event, while Deepan Chakkravarthy and Sandipan Chanda of the host country follow him closely on the second and third spots respectively. The tournament is disbursing an impressive cash fund of Rs.13,00,000/- in the category A event and Rs. 25,00,000/- in all. In this illustrated article we bring you the glimpses of the first day's action. 

Meet the 16-year-old Hari Madhavan who beat two Grandmasters in a row!

22/09/2019 -

Last month a 16-year-old boy from Tamil Nadu created sensation by beating two Grandmasters back-to-back in the Tetrasoft Hyderabad GM Open. NB Hari Madhavan is currently studying in the 11th standard and has a rating of 2280. Born in 2003, he has been training in chess since six years of age at the well-known T Nagar Chess Academy run by A.L.Kasi and Srinivasa Rangan in Chennai. In this article we specifically look into the games where this talented youngster managed to outwit the two highly experienced and seasoned Grandmasters, namely Pavel Smirnov and Rodrigo Vásquez Schroder. We have analyses sent to us by Hari Madhavan himself, a lot to learn and be inspired from for any aspiring chess player.  

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