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Chettinadu Public School - A chess ambient institution in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu

25/07/2019 -

The ongoing 46th edition of National Women's Championship 2019 is being hosted and sponsored by the Chettinad Public School of Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. While we are bringing you round by round in depth coverage of this highly important National level event, it would be remiss if we didn't mention about the very institution which has been key in its organization. In this article we exclusively take you to the venue of National Women's 2019, the Chettinadu Public School (CPS) - a CBSE affiliated senior secondary school that has made a name these days in the Indian chess scene. All the photos in this report have been provided by IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran.

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Sandipan Chanda dominates Leiden Open 2019

25/07/2019 -

Sandipan Chanda's highest career Elo was 2656. To see him at a rating of 2516 almost seems like a publishing error. The man has deep understanding of chess, he calculates well, loves to play chess and yet he has systematically shed rating points in the past few months. What was going wrong? Well, whatever it was, seems to have been halted at the Leiden Open 2019, where Sandipan scored 7.5/9 with a rating performance of 2630 and finished a full point ahead of his nearest rivals. Sandipan won his first six rounds and then drew his remaining three to comfortably win the event. The Crown Group was won by Predrag Nikolic who made a strong finish by scoring four out of the last five rounds to edge ahead of Lalith Babu and Deep Sengupta.

Vidit beats Leko in English for sole lead while Abdusattorov outsmarts Shankland

25/07/2019 -

Cometh the hour, cometh Superman! Vidit Gujarathi didn't play perfect chess, but his slow and steady buildup was too much for Peter Leko to take, and the former now takes over sole lead in the tournament. Nodirbek Abdusattorov handed Sam Shankland a defeat in the 4.d3 Anti Berlin after the former US Champion lost his objectivity and overextended his queenside. Parham Maghsoodloo's loss of form turned worrying, as an overestimation cost him a sure draw, with Jorge Cori being the lucky beneficiary. The All Swiss duel ended square, as two good friends and teammates didn't test each other, and rested for tougher battles. An exhaustive report from Biel by Tanmay Srinath.

National Women's 2019 R08: Bhakti's...Kxd7?! Wow! What sort of a move is that?

25/07/2019 -

Bhakti Kulkarni continues to steal the show at the 46th National Women's Championship 2019. In round 8, victory came once again, this time against Nandhidhaa P V and that too playing the black side of the super weird Scandinavian opening. With the current state of things one might as well say that the Bhakti effect is taking over the tournament. However, possibilities still abound as just half a point behind breathing down Bhakti's neck is Vantika Agrawal. Meenakshi Subbaraman too has climbed up the leaderboard with formidable performances in the last two rounds and has every chance at putting a stop to Bhakti's dream run. With only three rounds remaining, the contest is still excitingly open to many!

Share games with ChessBase 15

24/07/2019 -

Sharing can be fun — and sharing chess games can be fun but also helpful and instructive, e.g. if you teach chess or work with a trainer. In any case, sharing games with ChessBase 15 is easy. Here's a short tutorial covering your options. | Drawing: ChessBase

Biel 2019 R02: Bogner's redemption and Leko's metamorphosis spruce up Biel!

24/07/2019 -

Well, one doesn't lose forever. Sebastian Bogner, the current Swiss Champion taught us all how to overcome a rut by clinically destroying Parham Maghsoodloo's weak opening play to get back in contention. Sam Shankland had the chance of the round against Vidit, but the American failed to assess properly the best continuation available to him. Peter Leko continued his remarkable fable by turning a new leaf yet again - his game against Georgiadis lasted an epic 101 moves. Peter Leko, Sam Shankland and Vidit Gujrathi lead the classical section with four points. Peter Leko leads the overall standings with 14 points. Tanmay Srinath in an exhaustive report from Biel dissects today's play.

National Women's 2019 Round 7: A day of mistakes and missed chances

24/07/2019 -

The seventh round of the 46th National Women's Championship 2019 was a day of mistakes and missed chances. On board-1 it was the highly anticipated Bhakti Kulkarni versus Soumya Swaminathan matchup but the encounter simply failed to live up to the expectation as the top-seed of the event couldn't quite find her form against the defending champion. Vantika Agrawal and Nandhidhaa P V drew their respective games against Pratyusha Bodda and Michelle Catherina; while Swati Ghate, who had made an impressive recovery after losing her first round game, faltered and lost to Meenakshi Subbaraman in a winning position. However, the biggest shocker came from Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman versus Potluri Saye Srreezza, where the former made a crude mistake on move 71 to lose in a dead drawn queen-pawn ending.

Nihal reveals one of his favorite books

23/07/2019 -

Yesterday reigning Asian Continental Blitz Champion, 14-year-old GM Nihal Sarin made a post on his facebook page mentioning about one of his favorite books - Quick Chess Knockouts by Julian Hodgson. We all wonder what did the champions study in their formative years, what made them achieve greatness by becoming so strong. Nihal shares a small spec of it in his latest facebook post. Photo: Nihal Sarin's facebook page.

Biel 2019 R01: Sicilian Counterattacks and Queen's Pawn Boa Constrictors spawn a bloodbath!

23/07/2019 -

With the prestigious title of Biel Champion on the line, the players produced one of the most energetic rounds of classical chess in recent times, and produced a decisive result on all 4 boards in round one of the Biel GM 2019! Peter Leko and Vidit Gujarathi channeled their inner Karpovs and slowly squeezed the life out of Bogner and Cori respectively, while Shankland and Maghsoodloo beat back their opponents Georgiadis and Abdusattorov in contrasting Sicilian victories to maintain their spot in the standings. Tanmay Srinath in an extensive report from Biel analyses all the games and discerns shrewd improvements for both winner and loser.

National Women's 2019 R05+06: Lady luck smiles on Vantika, Bhakti beats Divya

23/07/2019 -

It was a double rounds day at the 46th National Women's Championship 2019. In the fifth round the top board saw a surprising escape when Bhakti Kulkarni blundered in a winning position and Vantika Agrawal salvaged a draw through perpetual. Divya Deshmukh won a nice tactical game in the same round playing the black pieces of a Sicilian against Varshini. The final round of the day saw more fire works as both Bhakti and Vantika crashed through winning against Divya and IM Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman respectively. After six rounds of the event Bhakti and Vantika share the lead with 5.5/6 points; while Soumya Swaminathan, Nandhidhaa P V, Michelle Catherina P, Pratyusha Bodda and Swati Ghate follow close behind with 5.0/6. Watch out for Swati, after the first round loss, she has scored 5.0/5!

Biel 2019 Rapid: Leko's exemplary endgame play takes Biel by Storm!

22/07/2019 -

The 2019 edition of the Biel Chess Festival began with the rapid tournament. With all three formats being used to determine the overall winner, the players are egged on to show their versatile bests. Peter Leko turned back the clock with a commanding performance to take the tournament by storm - sole first with 10.0/14! His subtle endgame play granted him 3 wins, which was enough to finish ahead of the top seed Sam Shankland and his nearest competitors Vidit Gujrathi and Parham Maghsoodloo. Jorge Cori sparkled and drowned in equal measure with the prodigious Abdusattorov to finish on 50% while home favourites Georgiadis and Bogner failed to impress. A detailed report from Biel by Tanmay Srinath.

National Women's 2019 Round 4: A bedazzling Bhakti performance!

22/07/2019 -

The round 4 of the 46th National Women's Championship 2019 was steeped in action. To begin with, upsets were caused by WCM Mrudul Dehankar and Srishti Pandey who beat WIM Mahalakshmi M and WGM Mary Ann Gomes respectively. Take note, Srishti Pandey from Maharashtra is more than 400 points lower rated than Mary! Next, on the top boards WIM Vantika Agrawal won her fourth consecutive game by beating WIM Nandhidhaa P V; IM Soumya Swaminathan also registered an impressive victory over WFM Nityata Jain, but it was Bhakti's performance against WIM Bhagyashree Thipsay on board 1 that stole the show. In this report we bring you photos, analyses, and much more.

Attacking Monday Mornings with Sohan Phadke Part I - The Window Slide

21/07/2019 -

Fide Master Sohan Phadke is well-known in the Indian Chess circle for his aggressive style of play. Over the course of more than two decades, he has invented unique attacking principles and techniques of his own. In the series "Attacking Monday Mornings with Sohan Phadke" he brings to you some of these "secret" recipes. This is a weekly series of five videos that will be published on every Monday at 8 a.m. from 15th July onwards. Sohan would like you to appreciate the art of attack better and become a stronger player through these videos. Here are the positions for you to solve.

India's biggest open in Delhi sets the trend, begins the fight against sandbaggers

21/07/2019 -

The below category events in Indian chess have seen a rising issue - Sandbagging. Strong players whose level is much higher than the rating threshold of 1600 deliberately keep their rating below this rating limit so that they can play in the below 1600 tournaments and win good prize money. While this is within the rules, it is quite detrimental to the integrity of the game because players often deliberately lose games to lower their rating. It is with this in mind that India's biggest chess tournament, the Delhi GM Chess Open 2020 has introduced a new rule in the below C category tournament to avoid sandbagging. What is the rule, and why has it been implemented? Get to know more about it in this article. 

National Women's 2019 R02+03: A juxtaposition of gala and tussle

21/07/2019 -

The second day of the 46th National Women Chess Championship 2019 saw celebration amidst struggle. It was a hectic double rounds day with the second round starting at 9 a.m and the third at 4 p.m but the players and organizers still managed to find time for International Chess Day celebration. Speaking of the games, round-2 gave quite a few surprising results, the most notable among them being  WCM Jyothsna L's victory with black pieces over WIM Srija Seshadri. In the same round Nandhini Saripalli also pulled off an upset by beating WIM Pratyusha Bodda. Going into the third round, top-seed IM Soumya Swaminathan was held to a draw by WIM Harshita Guddanti, while the defending Champion Bhakti Kulkarni registered yet another victory by defeating WFM Saranya J. In this report we bring you photos, analyses, and more.

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