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My brother is a hero: A true story of overcoming adversities and never giving up

20/09/2018 -

Have you every asked yourself "What I am made of?" When push comes to shove, when the rubber meets the road, when the chips are down, what lies at the very core of your character? It is only when things don't go our way and we are hit by adversities and setbacks which makes us tumble is when we learn about ourselves. You can choose the prism you want to look at life through, and sometimes even the most helpless of situations appear cheerful if you happen to look at it that way. Read this true inspiring story of Soundarya Kumar Pradhan, who despite his disability of being 100% blind has overcome all the difficult situations and proved that the only disability in life is a bad attitude. It's a story of a boy who comes from the most impoverished area in Odisha and went on to become the silver medalist at World Juniors Blind 2018. The article has been penned by none other than Prachurya Kumar Pradhan, Soundarya's best friend and beloved brother.

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How to hold Anish Giri to a draw?

19/09/2018 -

As on 29th of July 2018 Anish Giri had a rating of 2780! He was ranked number five in the world. It goes without saying that he is one of the best players in the world. While the Dutch Open 2018 was in progress in Dieren, Netherlands, the organizers had prepared a special treat for the participants. 32 players would get a chance to play against the maestro in a simul. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and three Indians got the chance to play against Anish - Anand Nadar, Kushager Krishnater and Amardeep Bartakke. At the end of the simul, Anish managed to beat 31 opponents, but one of them slipped out of his hands! It was none other than the Mumbai youngster Kushager Krishnater, who played a fine game to hold the Dutch no.1 to a draw. Check out the game along with some very nice pictures by Harry Gielen. 

My experience of spending 50 days in Barcelona

19/09/2018 -

A few months ago ChessBase India came up with the innovative and at the same time enterprising idea of the ChessBase India Power Tour to the Catalan circuit in Barcelona. Young kids always need their parents to travel to tournaments. Many of the times the parents lose a lot of their time and money in accompanying their kids to the tournaments. In order to make it more efficient, we started with the ChessBase India Power Tour, where the parents could send their kids with a capable tour manager. The thought was that people would save money and also could continue with their daily work, while their children pursued their passion. While all of this happened, the benefits for the kids were much more! Travelling alone made them confident and self-sufficient. Kavisha Shah, one of the participants in this trip, sends us her account. 

Are you looking for a strong rating tournament in India next week?

18/09/2018 -

Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati All India Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament is slated to be held in Pune, Maharashtra from the 25th to the 30th of September 2018. The tournament will witness its 15th successful edition this year, which will be held after a one year gap. The event will be headlined by the country's latest grandmaster, GM Karthik Venkataraman and includes a long list of strong participants in the fray. Here's all you need to know about the event. Along with it we also tell you about the Buddhibal Kreeda Trust (BKT), an organization in Pune that has worked tirelessly since years to ensure the growth and development of chess in the city and the state of Maharashtra.

ACL Challengers League is open for all academies

17/09/2018 -

After the successful completion of ACL 1st Super League 2018, ChessBase India brings you ACL 1st Challengers League 2018. The Challengers League is for all the teams to qualify for the 2nd edition of Super League. Top 8 teams from the Challengers League will qualify for the 2nd Super League. This time there is no restriction for the number of teams that can take part in each of the four rating categories (Unrated, 1000-1400, 1400-1800, 1800-2200). The format will be Swiss-League, so all teams get to play equal number of matches. All games will be available for download, so that everyone can prepare for their opponent and analyse their games to rectify their mistakes and improve. The time control will be 45 minutes + 10 seconds increment, so that everyone can play strong chess and prepare better for their upcoming tournaments.

Abhimanyu Puranik wins silver medal at World Juniors 2018

17/09/2018 -

It is one of the most powerful performances that you would see by an Indian player at the World Junior Championships in recent times. Abhimanyu Puranik scored 8.5/11 with a performance of 2683 and won the silver medal at the World Juniors 2018. En route to winning the medal he beat GM Jorden van Foreest, GM Alreiza Firouzja and GM Aram Hakobyan. The last round was extremely critical as Abhimanyu had to score a win with the black pieces against a 2554 GM. He did so in fantastic style. This entire final game has been explained in the report. Isha Sharma from Karnataka performed admirably gaining not just 140 Elo points but also her second WIM norm. Full report from Gebze in Turkey by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

Historical moment: Super tournament to be held in India for the first time ever!

15/09/2018 -

It's a historical moment for Indian chess. For the first time we will be hosting a super tournament in India - the Tata Steel Chess India 2018. It will be held in Kolkata from the 9th to the 14th of November 2018. India's best players Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit and Ganguly will fight it out against world stars like Aronian, Karjakin, Nakamura, Mamedyarov and Wesley So. We also have two of our best young talents playing in this tournament Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin. India has had a five-time World Champion, we have 55 grandmasters, we have over 70,000 players registered with FIDE, the big thing that was missing until now was a super tournament of this stature! This will be an excellent exposure for all our young talents to play against these world stars.

World Juniors 2018 Round 10: Can Abhimanyu win a medal?

15/09/2018 -

The World Junior Championship 2018 is poised excitingly for the silver and bronze medals in the open section and all the three medals in the women's section. The gold has already been decided in the open section with Parham Maghsoodloo scoring another fine win in the 10th round against Maxim Vavulin. For Indians our best hope is GM Abhimanyu Puranik who is currently in the fourth position and plays GM Aram Hakobyan with the black pieces in the final round. If Abhimanyu can win this game, he will be assured of the medal. The final round begins at 12.30 p.m. IST. We have embedded the live game player as well as the live commentary and an opening video in this article. Don't miss it.

World Juniors 2018 Round 9: Varshini's immortal

14/09/2018 -

We are entering the final leg of the World Junior Championships 2018. With the completion of ninth round two Indians have a realistic chance for finishing with a medal. In the open section Abhimanyu Puranik continued with his excellent form as he downed GM Alireza Firouzja in a complex game coming out of the Accelerated Dragon Opening. The hero of the day, however, was V. Varshini who not only beat FM Gabriela Antova, but played one of the best games of her life, sacrificing one piece after another on four different moves. We bring you both the games of Abhimanyu and Varshini along with the performance of other Indian players. 

"In Alireza Firouzja I see a young Anand" - GM Ivan Sokolov

13/09/2018 -

Ivan Sokolov is a well known Dutch Grandmaster and coach. In the last two years, he has been working with the Iranian team and has helped develop young Iranian talents. In this interview with IM Sagar Shah, GM Sokolov talks about the country's chess potential, the rise of young talents -- especially, those of Alireza Firouzja, Amin Tabatabaei and Parham Maghsoodloo -- and the reasons for their success. He also tells about their struggles due to economic difficulties and the sanctions against Iran and compares them to other strong players from the west, India and China.

World Juniors 2018 Round 8: Abhimanyu Puranik stuns Jorden van Foreest

13/09/2018 -

Karthik Venkatraman on the top board suffered a loss to Parham Maghsoodloo. Indians chances for someone winning a medal at the World Juniors are still alive as both Karthik and Abhimanyu Puranik are on 6.0/8 and in top ten spots. Abhimanyu played a highly entertaining game to beat Jorden van Foreest with the white pieces. In this report we have both the critical games - Karthik-Maghsoodloo and Abhimanyu-Jorden analyzed as well as video interviews of Parham and Abhimanyu. In the girls section Isha Sharma and Meenal Gupta have been performing admirably, but Saskhi Chitlange and V. Varshini have a realistic chance of winning a medal if they win their games in the ninth round.

World Juniors 2018 Round 6+7: Can Karthik Venkatraman stop Parham Maghsoodloo?

12/09/2018 -

The Indian team at the World Juniors has had a mixed bag of performance. Our star players Aravindh Chithambaram, Karthikeyan Murali and S.L. Narayanan have not been able to reach the top. But there is one guy who is simply in cruise mode at this event - that's GM Karthik Venkatraman - India's latest GM. Karthik has beaten three extremely strong juniors in the last three rounds - Haik Martirosyan of Armenia, Aravindh Chithambaram of India and Amin Tabatabaei of Iran. With three wins in last three rounds he is now on 6.0/7, just half a point behind the leader Parham Maghsoodloo. On 12th of September 2018 at 5.30 p.m. IST he takes on Parham Maghsoodloo on the first board. Will Karthik manage to stop the Iranian super talent?

World Juniors 2018 Round 5: Karthik Venkatraman beats the top Armenian junior Martirosyan Haik

10/09/2018 -

In 2017 a match was held in USA between the stars of USA and the World. The world team consisted of some of the best players from the world, who got excellent coverage and became well known personalities in chess circles. A few of them were Haik Martirosyan from Armenia, Andrey Esipenko and Aleksey Sarana from Russia, Anton Smirnov from Australia, Pragg and Aryan Chopra from India, and a few more. Of course these are extremely talented players, there is no doubt about it. But there are many in the world who are equally good, but haven't received the same amount of exposure or coverage. One such boy is Karthik Venkatraman, the latest GM of India and based on his sheer playing skills managed to outplay Haik Martirosyan, who was rated 2597.

Chess coaching - tips for parents by IM Nisha Mohota

10/09/2018 -

IM Nisha Mohota is one of the strongest female chess players of India. Even after 30 years of actively playing chess, her love for the game is very much intact. To become a stronger player she has worked with many coaches. On the other hand, she herself has worked as a serious coach helping many young players improve their game. She has seen both the sides of the coin - as a student and as a coach. She is in an ideal position to give you the right guidance on what chess coaching really means. There are some do's and dont's when it comes to finding the most appropriate trainer for your child. After this article, as a chess parent, you will be better placed to wade through the muddy waters of finding the best chess trainer for your kid. 

Catch Them Young: An initiative to empower children through Chess!

09/09/2018 -

"Catch them young" is a very unique initiative started by the Chess Parents Association, a non-profit organisation in Rajasthan, with the goal of training kids between the age 4-6 years and prepare them for under 7 chess tournament next year. The project kick-started in the Aug of 2018 and already has 400 students enrolled. Rishi Kaushik has sent us a detailed report about the project and its progress.

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