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Raunak Sadhwani scores his maiden GM norm at the Aeroflot Open 2019

27/02/2019 -

Raunak Sadhwani scored his maiden GM norm at the Aeroflot Open 2019. The youngster from Nagpur scored 5.0/8 against all opponents rated above 2570. Raunak is just 13 years old and he shot into international prominence when he very nearly beat Vishy Anand in round one of the Isle of Man event 2018. Since then Raunak has moved from strength to strength. He missed his GM norms at the Sunway Chess Festival and Gibraltar Masters, but he finally achieved it at the Aeroflot Open 2019 with one round to spare. In this article we acquaint you with further with this young talent and show you two of his impressive games - the first one was the loss against Anand which the boy has annotated himself and the second one is his win against Srinath Narayanan annotated by IM Sagar Shah. 

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The solution to the mate in three problem given by Kramnik to Anand

27/02/2019 -

A few days ago we posed you with a mate in three problem which was given by Kramnik to Anand and by Anand to the players present in Pune. It was quite a tough problem and a group of three GMs and seven IMs standing there couldn't solve the problem for nearly seven minutes! We subsequently realized that this problem had been composed by Marin y Llovet Valentin in 1904. In this article we reveal the solution to you - not the answer directly but we first tell you why the normal tries fail and then why the beautiful solution works. You will also get to see the video of Anand giving the position to the players and the entire atmosphere of the place. Thumbnail image: Lennart Ootes.

World Teams 2019: Team Composition revealed

26/02/2019 -

FIDE published the Team compositions for 2019 World Team Championships which will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan from 4th - 15th March 2019. India got wild cards in both Open and Women section. The Indian contingent for the Open section is comprised of GM Adhiban Baskaran, GM Krishnan Sasikiran, GM Sethuraman S P, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly. In the women's section, the Indian team consists of WGM Soumya Swaminathan, IM Tania Sachdev, IM Eesha Karavade, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni and IM Padmini Rout. GM Srinath Narayanan and GM Swapnil Dhopade are the non-playing captains for the Open and Women's team. In this article we also reveal the winner of the Fritz 16 signed copy contest which we had launched during the Batumi Olympiad. Photo: ChessBase India archives 

Aeroflot 2019 R07: Sasikiran loses, Nihal beats Pragg

26/02/2019 -

Sasikiran tasted his first defeat at the Aeroflot Open 2019. It came at the hands of the talented Armenian Haik Martirosyan. In spite of the defeat Sasikiran continues to lead the tournament with 5.5/7. But now he has two more people on the same score - Martirosyan and the Estonian GM Kaido Kulaots. Sasikiran still has excellent chances of winning the event if he can get the better of Kulaots in round 8. Another important game of the round was Nihal Sarin against Praggnanandhaa. The battle between these two talents was a hard fought one and Nihal came out on top playing an excellent endgame. We have the report of round 7 with some excellent pictures sent to us by David Llada, who is present in Moscow.

92 Indian Chess players raise Rs.1,01,973 for Pulwama terror attack Martyrs

25/02/2019 -

The Indian chess community came together and raised Rs.1,01,973 to be contributed towards the Bharat Ke Veer Corpus fund towards the family of Pulwama Attack Martyrs who were killed due to terrorist attack. This was the first time that India no.3 Vidit Gujrathi participated in a ChessBase India online blitz. His sole intention was to raise awareness and funds thanks to his presence. Apart from Vidit many other top Indian players contributed who included Adhiban, Soumya Swaminathan, GN Gopal, Eesha Karavade, Bhakti Kulkarni, Laxman RR among others. The highest contribution was made by GM Arjun Erigaisi of Rs.15,000 and he also won the Pulwama online blitz and a signed copy of Carlsen's DVD. A report by the tournament director and coordinator Shahid Ahmed.

Gahan MG wins first of its kind Akshayakalpa BNCF Grand Prix finale

25/02/2019 -

It was a fantastic organizational effort by Bangalore North Chess Forum (BNCF) backed by Akshayakalpa, who sponsored the entire Grand Prix series. Seven events were held in Bengaluru which attracted players all across Karnataka. From each tournament 5-6 players qualified for the Grand Finale, which was held on the 17th of February at the BEL Officer's Club. The field consisted of the cream of Karnataka chess - Thejkumar, Girish Koushik and Antonio Viani (Stany was missing). The tournament was won by Gahan MG who played some fantastic chess scoring 6.5/7 and finishing half a point ahead of the field. Second place went to experienced IM Ravi Hegde, while GM Thejkumar was third. Hinduja Reddy, who was present at the venue, sends us a detailed report with pictures, game analysis and videos.

Aeroflot 2019 Round 5: Can anyone stop Sasikiran?

24/02/2019 -

Sasikiran is in a fiery mood at the Aeroflot Open 2019. He has played against five grandmasters and scored five wins, three of them being above 2600 Elo! His victims include Klementy Sychev (2545), Rasmus Svane (2599), Aravindh Chithambaram (2601), Maksim Chigaev (2613) and Anton Korobov (2687). With 5.0/5 Sasikiran has a rating performance of 3409 and is already gaining 20 Elo points which takes his rating to 2698 on the live Elo list! He may well break into 2700 once again today, a feat that he had achieved seven years ago in January 2012. His sixth round opponent is the young Iranian talent Amin Tabatabaei. In this report we analyze Sasikiran's win over Korobov from round five of the Aeroflot Open 2019.

Aeroflot 2019 R 03 + 04: Finish off your opponents like Sasikiran

23/02/2019 -

Sasikiran scored a fine win against Aravindh Chithambaram in round three of the Aeroflot Open 2019. With this win he led the tournament along with Maksim Chigaev on 3.0/3. 23rd February is a double round (thanks to the bomb scare) and Sasi kept up his pace with another win against Chigaev. This gives the Chennai GM a score of 4.0/4 and a full points lead over the field. In round five that is currently in progress, Sasikiran is up against Anton Korobov. It will be interesting to see the game between these two ambitious players. We have some in-depth analysis from the game Sasikiran versus Aravindh that will help you to improve your art of calculation.

Top Indian players make their pledge for the martyrs of Pulwama terror attack

22/02/2019 -

GM Adhiban Baskaran is the first top player to make his pledge. India no.3 GM Vidit Gujrathi is the first titled player to announce his participation for this sunday's Pulwama Martyrs ChessBase Online Blitz Tournament at 8 p.m. IST. The tournament has no entry fee. All players can make a donation of any amount they want, minimum donation amount is ₹100. Among top women players of the country, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni and WGM Soumya Swaminathan have made their pledge. The entire proceedings will go to the family of the martyrs through 'Bharat Ke Veer' corpus fund. We request the chess community to join in and play this strong online blitz event. Photo: ChessBase India archives

Aeroflot 2019 Round 2: Aravindh tricks his 2681 rated opponent in a pawn endgame

22/02/2019 -

The Aeroflot Open 2019 is in its second round and things are already heating up. In the A-group out of 101 players, we only have 6 who are on 100% score with 2.0/2, out of which four are Indians! Sasikiran, Aravindh Chithambaram, S.L. Narayanan and Nihal Sarin are leading the event with 2.0/2, along with Maksim Chigaev and Zhou Jianchao. Indians had an excellent day at the office as Aravindh managed to trick Eltaj Safarli in a pawn endgame, Nihal Sarin beat Indjic, S.L. Narayanan played a crazy game to outplay Alekseenko. Some other upsets were Debashis Das getting the better of David Paravyan and Raunak Sadhwani scoring a win against Srinath Narayanan. We will have a look at all of these games in this report.

Seven Maharashtra players honoured with the Shiv Chhatrapati award

21/02/2019 -

The state of Maharashtra continued with its excellent tradition of feting all the players who have achieved their GM/IM/WGM/WIM titles in the past year, with the Shiv Chhatrapati award. There were 19 players who received the Shiv Chhatrapati award in 2018. This year seven players were felicitated. They were: IM Rakesh Kulkarni, IM Harshit Raja, WIM Saloni Sapale, WIM Divya Deshmukh, IM Raunak Sadhwani as players, and GM Swapnil Dhopade and WIM Mrunalini Kunte as trainers. Each of the winners receive Rs.1,00,000 from the Maharashtra Government. We bring you some exclusive pictures on the felicitation ceremony which took place at the Gateway of India, Mumbai on 17th of February. 

Aeroflot 2019 Round 1: Ganguly's play too hot for Pragg

21/02/2019 -

The super strong Aeroflot has kicked off in Moscow! 25 Indian players are fighting it out in the A section against some of the best grandmasters in the world. We have the experience of Sasikiran, Sethuraman, Ganguly and the talent of Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, Gukesh. We also have our youngsters near the age of 20 years - Karthikeyan, Aravindh, S.L. Narayanan, Vaibhav Suri who can beat any opponent on a given day. In round one we narrowed down on two exciting games that we present before you - Surya Sekhar Ganguly getting the better of Praggnanandhaa in the late middlegame and Harika beating Gordievsky with a cute little tactic. 

Let's remember the Martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack

21/02/2019 -

There have been many iterations of ChessBase Online Blitz tournament, but on 24th February 2019, there will be a special edition for the Martyrs of Pulwama Attack. The entire money received through donation will be given to the family of the martyrs through 'Bharat ke veer' corpus fund. Thus the tournament has no entry fee. Each player is requested to donate a minimum of Rs 100, however there is no maximum limit. The tournament will take place at 8 p.m. so even if you are playing some tournament or have some other work, you can still take part in it. It is our request to the players that once you make a donation, then give your 100% for the Online Blitz tournament. Play with aggression, play with passion and most of all play with the fearlessness that was shown by the jawans as they gave up their lives for the country.

Harikrishna is the only Indian in the FIDE Grand Prix series 2019

21/02/2019 -

Good news for Indian chess fans! Pentala Harikrishna has qualified for the FIDE World Grand Prix series 2019. The Grand Prix 2019 is a series of four events held in four different cities - Moscow (May 16-30), Riga (11-25 July), Hamburg (4-18 November), Tel Aviv (10-24 December). Players have to select three out of these four events and the two highest points scorers will qualify for the next Candidates tournament. The biggest change in the FIDE Grand Prix is that it is now a knock-out event with each leg having 16 participants and four knock-out rounds which will decide a winner. The points system will be announced soon when we will know how the top two players in the entire series will be decided.

The mate in 3 study which was given to Anand by Kramnik

20/02/2019 -

On 15th of February Vishy Anand visited the city of Pune and inaugurated a chess training centre at PYC Gymkhana. When a guest of honour cuts the ribbon and inaugurates a space, his work is done after a few pictures are taken. But being a true chess lover, Anand went through his phone, and found a very interesting mate in three problem to pose to the young kids out there. Soon enough, a crowd gathered around the chess board which had three grandmasters, over seven International Masters and India no.3 Vidit Gujrathi who were racking their brains to solve the position. Finally IM Prathamesh Mokal managed to crack the solution with the correct sequence. This was a problem sent to Anand by none other than Vladimir Kramnik and we now pose it before you to solve! 

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