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Now Indian school kids know more than what a "Russian school boy" ever knew!

20/06/2018 -

"Even a Russian School Boy would know this" had been a very famous quote in the past years. This statement was a testimonial to the tremendous chess culture that existed in Russia, formerly known as the Soviet Union. But things are changing now. Indian youngsters are becoming much stronger than their Russian counterparts. The perfect example of this was the White Rook inter-school chess tournament held in Sochi, Russia where 79 Russian school teams and 21 International teams participated. Indian team of Gukesh, Leon, Rakshitta and Savitha from Velammal Vidyalaya went to Sochi and simply crushed the competition by scoring 33.5 points out of a possible 36! Full report and game analysis.

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Schaakweek Apeldoorn: Pragnanandhaa finishes with all decisive games

20/06/2018 -

Praggnanandhaa might have missed a shot at his final GM norm at the Schaakweek Apeldoorn closed round robin but his will to win was undeterred. Out of his nine games in the tournament, Praggnanandhaa did not sign peace in even one. He either won with pride or lost with dignity. In the end, he finished with a meagre score of 3.0/9 but his vehement desire to win his games is a clear indication that the boy is not too far from his final GM norm. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Batkhuyag Munguntuul wins the SBI Life AICF Woman Grandmasters Round Robin in a thrilling finish

20/06/2018 -

It was for the first time that a closed Round Robin Women's International Tournament was held in India. Although no Indian player was able to make a WGM norm, the amount of learnings that our girls took home was mammoth. The winner of the event was Mongolian IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul. In the last round she edged out Guliskhan Nakhbayeva, who lost her game to third placed Srija Seshadri. Srija, Aakanksha and Vantika gained Elo points from the event, while Monnisha, Divya and Rakshitta gained experience! Rakshitta scored just 0.5/11, but we tell you why it can be a blessing in disguise. Photos and interviews by the mother-son duo of Supriya and Avathanshu Bhat. 

Harikrishna finishes strong to beat Navara in Prague

19/06/2018 -

Pentala Harikrishna won the CEZ Chess Trophy this Saturday after defeating David Navara in a 12-game rapid match. The Indian scored three wins in the final games to overcome the one-point advantage Navara had amassed before the last day of play. It was a great result for the hastily invited Harikrishna, who replaced Ding Liren at the last minute. | Photo: Prague Chess Society

Using chess to make a difference - The "Invest in Chess" initiative

19/06/2018 -

The Invest in Chess is a very unique mission started by a student at the University of Chicago, Sharan Subramanian. The idea of this initiative is not only to spread, teach, and promote chess, but also to raise awareness of its numerous practical and educational benefits. They try to make it easier for more people to have access to chess because it is, truly, more than a game. Invest in Chess focuses especially more in underprivileged communities. Their goals are to use chess as a tool that can help increase the high school graduation rate and decrease the crime and violence among youth. Below is a report and photos by Sharan where he shares his journey so far and makes an appeal to all the chess loving family to be a part of this initiative.

Nakhbayeva and Munguntuul set up a mouth watering clash!

18/06/2018 -

Things are shaping up like a Bollywood thriller at the SBI Life AICF Women Grandmaster's Round Robin tournament in Mumbai. After nine rounds we have a sole leader - Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan, who had a great day on the 17th of June as she scored 2.0/2 and took her tally to 7.0/9. But she cannot yet breathe easy as Mongolian top seed Batkhuyag Munguntuul is right on her heels with 6.5/9 and the duo meet each other in the tenth round. It is going to be a mouth watering clash!

GCT Leuven: Anand finishes fifth in Blitz; So takes title despite final round loss!

17/06/2018 -

The final day of the Grand Chess Tour in Leuven was a complete barnburner. Wesley So's 1.5 point lead almost evaporated as lost in the very first round and was even caught in the lead by Sergey Karjakin, eventually. In the final round, So was being chased by Karjakin and Maxime Vachier Lagrave who were both only half a point behind. The crunch moment came when So lost his final round game and gave his chasers a chance to overtake. But then, MVL and Karjakin also lost, letting so take away the title! Meanwhile, Vishy Anand amassed 4.5 points on the final day to finished fifth in the blitz and eighth overall.

Batkhuyag Munguntuul crushes the Sicilian like a boss!

17/06/2018 -

The SBI Life AICF Women's Grandmaster Invitation tournament is very interestingly poised after seven rounds. Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova joined Guliskhan Nakhbayeva at the top after she defeated the woman in form Srija Seshadri. Although the game played by Gulrukhbegim was very nice, the honours for the best game of the day surely went to top seed Batkhuyag Munguntuul who defeated overnight leader Vo Thi Kim Phung in an excellent game from the white side of the Sicilian Defence. We set you test positions and ask you to solve them and see if you can play like the Mongolian!

Singh is King!

17/06/2018 -

With a rating of 2084, Arvinder Preet Singh started as the 26th seed at the World Amateur Chess Championships below 2300 that were held in Cagliari, Italy from the 22nd to the 29th of April 2018. He lost his second and sixth round and with a score of 4.0/6 it seemed as if it would be just another normal event. But the Punjab lad pumped himself up for the final stretch and scored three wins in the last three rounds. More importantly he defeated the existing leaders in their personal encounters and when the last round was over, Arvinder Preet Singh had become the World Amateur Champion!

GCT Leuven: Anand makes a nice comeback; So's lead narrowed to half

16/06/2018 -

Blitz is one of those time formats that unmasks the mortality of even the greatest wizards of the game of chess. In Leuven at the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the first day of blitz began with some ingenious attacks, mindboggling blunders and incredible saves. More than once, bigwigs like Anand, Aronian, So etc were seen leaving pieces en prise, hanging checkmate in one and missing elementary knight forks! We have an illustrated report on all the action. 

"Forced to wear a headscarf is violative of my human rights" - Interview with Soumya Swaminathan

16/06/2018 -

“Ideally Official Tournaments should be held in places where player's basic human rights are ensured”, says WGM Soumya Swaminathan after withdrawing from the Asian Nations Cup 2018 due to compulsory rule of wearing a hijab during the tournament. The Asian Nations Cup will be held from the 27th of July to 4th of August 2018 in Hamadan, Iran. Soumya has refused to travel to the tournament as she thinks that being forced to wear the hijab violates her human rights. This stand by Soumya which started as a small Facebook post has snowballed into all the leading newspapers and websites covering it. ChessBase India spoke with Soumya and lets you know all that is on her mind.

Nakhbayeva halted by Tokhirjonova, Srija plays like Mikhail Tal!

16/06/2018 -

This was the last double round day at the SBI Life AICF Women Grandmaster Invitation Round Robin that is currently in progress in Mumbai. And we saw a lot of action! Overnight leader Guliskhan Nakhbayeva looked untouchable at this event and was racing ahead with 4.0/4. She was stopped in her tracks by Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova. After six rounds we now have two leaders: Nakhbayeva and Vo Thi Kim Phung, both of 4.5/6. But the performer of the day was surely Srija Seshadri who first took advantage of Hagawane's plain oversight and in the evening played a beautiful Tal-like rook sacrifice to beat Divya Deshmukh. 

GCT Leuven Day 3: Anand finishes at the bottom; So wins the rapid

15/06/2018 -

On the final day of the rapid leg of the Grand Chess Tour in Leuven, Indian ace Viswanathan Anand failed yet again at making a comeback. Just like on day 1, he lost both of his first two games and made a draw in the final game of the day to finish on the bottom-most spot. His final round opponent, Wesley So, welcomed this draw, however, as it left him on the pole position, three points ahead of his nearest rival. Going into the blitz segment, Anand is going to have a tough time improving his tournament standing. An illustrated report.

A great initiative by AICF for women's chess in India!

15/06/2018 -

Spending on prize money of tournaments is not something that AICF would like to indulge in. But the current team in AICF led by Bharat Singh Chauhan have felt that the growth of woman chess in India is of paramount importance and hence have decided to sponsor the prize fund of SBI Life AICF Women's Grandmaster Round Robin event to the tune of 7.5 lakh. This is an investment in the future of Indian women's chess as six of our most talented youngsters get a chance to face six well-established international opponents and fight for their WGM norms. Four rounds have been completed and Nakhbayeva from Uzbekistan leads with a perfect 4.0/4. We have a detailed report with a video of the unique opening ceremony!

GCT Leuven Day 2: Anand continues to struggle with form

14/06/2018 -

On the second day of the Leuven Grand Chess Tour Rapids, Wesley So continued his dominance over the field scoring two wins and a draw yet again. The American number two is now up to 10/12, two points ahead of his nearest rival, Levon Aronian. Viswanathan Anand finally won his first game of the event on day two beating Fabiano Caruana in the sixth round. However, in his very next game, Anand blundered inexplicably in a drawn endgame against Maxime Vachier Lagrave. An illustrated report with games.

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