Books, Boards, Clocks & More

At ChessBase India Shop

Visit now!

new books banner

Reykjavik Open Rd 1: Adhiban suffers an early upset

07/03/2018 -

The Reykjavik Open kicked off at the Icelandic capital city last night. At the end of round one, nearly every rating favourite on the top board came out unscathed. However, the day wasn't as merry for Adhiban Baskaran who had to sweat it out for 78 long moves against the 2275 rated Soham Das and still settle for a draw. Slightly lower down the pairing chart, wunderkinds, R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin both won their games while Erwin L'ami demolished Nisha Mohota with a monstrous kingside attack on board 6. Round 1 report. 

NEW LAUNCH

CHESSBASE '26 + MEGA DATABASE '26

The industry standard new combo is here to help you uplift your Chess!

ChessBase '26 + MEGA DATABASE '26 Shop Now

Psychological tips for chess players

07/03/2018 -

Chess is a mind game. When you sit at the board, it is just you, your thoughts and your emotions. In such a scenario having the right psychology is of utmost importance to serious tournament players. You may polish your opening knowledge, endgame skills, combinational abilities endlessly, but if you are not able to get in the right frame of mind then improving at the game is very difficult. With this in mind, Dr. Shrirang Joshi, a well-known psychiatrist and counsellor gives us three tips which can help us before, during and after the game. These are simple directives which are easy to understand, but quite difficult to implement.

Tal Memorial Blitz: Karjakin dominates the field

06/03/2018 -

After his emphatic win in the Rapid leg of the Tal Memorial, Vishy Anand had a relatively disappointing finish in the Blitz. With a score of 6.0/13, Anand finished ninth on the leaderboard after losing in the final round to Vladimir Kramnik. The eventual winner of the tournament, Sergey Karjakin had also lost to Kramnik in the second round but after that, he took the tournament by storm. Raking 10.0/13, he was 1.5 points ahead of his nearest rival, Hikaru Nakamura who had scored 8.5 points. Besides, Karjakin was the only player in the fray to make a podium finish in both the Rapid and the Blitz event.

Vishy repeats his Riyadh magic in Moscow!

05/03/2018 -

At the start of the rapid leg of the Tal Memorial, we discussed how Viswanathan Anand, with his ongoing form in the rapid time control, would be able to bring back the Riyadh magic in Moscow. Well, guess what? The Tiger from Madras has done it again! Going into the final day, the race was mainly between Mamedyarov and Anand who were both co-leading the tournament. After quick draws in round 7, it was the penultimate round which decided the fate of the event. While Anand defeated Grischuk, Mamedyarov was defeated by Dubov, leaving him virtually no chance at the title. An illustrated report.

Tal Memorial Day 2: Anand beats Nakamura to join Mamedyarov in tournament lead

04/03/2018 -

Day two of the Tal Memorial brought some great news for Indian fans. Viswanathan Anand, who was half-a-point behind the tournament leader, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, was able to catch up for the first place after beating Hikaru Nakamura in the sixth round. In his first two games of the day, Anand was only able to draw. In fact, Anand had to walk on tightropes against Svidler in the fourth round to split the point while in round 5, while the sixth round draw against Kramnik was a mere 16 move affair. Mamedyarov, on the other hand, was held to a draw in all the three games he played yesterday. Six rounds down, the two players share the tournament lead with 4.0/6

Tal Memorial: Vishy Anand shares second at the end of day 1

03/03/2018 -

The Tal Memorial has begun witnessing some fascinating chess on its very first day. On day one, Vishy Anand was the first one to rise to the top. Winning both of his first two games, he was the sole leader. But the 3rd round had a sad shocker awaiting him as he went down making almost unbelievable mistakes against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Daniil Dubov who had lost to Anand in round 1, made a strong comeback outpreparing and eventually outplaying Hikaru Nakamura. Another curious game of the round was the one between Kramnik and Grischuk wherein the former went on a sacrificial spree on the grounds of a miscalculation. It didn't take too long for the game to end after the end of the tactical sequence. We have an illustrated report with annotated games by IM Sagar Shah

Can Vishy Anand repeat his Riyadh magic in Moscow?

02/03/2018 -

If there is a time when Vishy Anand would be a favourite to win a rapid tournament, it is now! The Indian champion performed unbelievably at the Rapid World Championship a couple of months ago to become the World Rapid Champion 2017. From 2nd of March 2018, he will take part in the Tal Memorial 2018 where he will take on nine other super grandmasters in nine rounds of rapid chess followed by thirteen rounds of blitz. Candidates 2018 is just a week away but four players are taking part - Kramnik, Karjakin, Grischuk and Mamedyarov. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top. 

Srijit Paul wins 26th The Telegraph Schools' Chess 2018

01/03/2018 -

Srijit Paul of DPS North won the 26th edition of The Telegraph Schools' Chess 2018 held at Gorky Sadan from 27th January to 1st February 2018. Double IM norm holder, 17-year old Srijit remained undefeated, scored 8.5/9 and became champion in a convincing manner. The tournament witnessed 278 players participating across various districts of West Bengal and our neighboring country, Bangladesh. We bring you photos, annotated games of the tournament by champion himself and interview from the tournament by Shahid Ahmed who was present at the venue.

Aeroflot Open Rd 09: Sethuraman finishes joint second!

01/03/2018 -

In the final round of the Aeroflot Open, Indian GM SP Sethuraman managed to defeat GM Victor Bologan from Moldova to clinch second place in the tournament with a score of 6.5/9. This was quite a welcome result for Indian fans especially after Sasikiran and Aravindh's final round losses and draws by Vidit Gujrathi and Murali Karthikeyan. On the top board, tournament leader, Vladislav Kovalev secured a comfortable draw against Gabriel Sargissian and bagged the champion's trophy with a score of 7.0/9. Russian GM Dmitry Gordievsky also scored 6.5/9 and finished third on the tiebreak. Among other Indian players, Sasikiran and Aravindh Chithambaram took the 25th and the 26th spots respectively while Karthikeyan and Vidit Gujrathi finished 29th and 35th on the leaderboard.

Vidit Gujrathi scores first win; Sethu, Sasi and Aravindh retain good chances of a top 10 finish

28/02/2018 -

Right before the final round, wins by Sasikiran, Sethuraman and Aravindh Chithambaram brought some good news for the Indian fans. Besides, there was one more important result: Vidit Gujrathi, who had drawn all his games so far, was finally able to win a game. With his win today, Sethuraman has made it back into the top boards of the event. If he wins his final round game against Bologan, he will make it into the top three! Another game that piqued the attention of chess fans from around the globe was the encounter between the two Indian child prodigies, R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin. Round 8 report.

Adhiban Baskaran: 'I believe beating top players is a part of my destiny'

28/02/2018 -

Positivity, ambition, a never say die attitude and an enterprising style of play make Adhiban Baskaran one of the best and most loved chess players in India today. Recently, at the Indian National Team Championship, he proved his mettle yet again. After a rather dismal performance at the Tata Steel Masters which concluded a few weeks ago, Adhiban made a strong comeback scoring an unbeaten 8.0/9. In this interview, he talks about how he keeps himself motivated, his first ever head to head encounter with his idol Vishy Anand, his recent gold medal-winning performance at the National teams and a lot more!

Aeroflot Open R7: Sasi loses to Tabatabaei, Vidit's draw streak continues

27/02/2018 -

In the seventh round of the Aeroflot Open, one of the top Indian GMs, Krishnan Sasikiran suffered a crucial loss on board three against the Iranian IM Amin Tabatabaei. With this win, Tabatabaei has joined Kovalev as the tournament leader. Among the other Indians in the fray, GM SP Sethuraman held former FIDE World Champion, Alexander Khalifman to a draw while Murali Karthikeyan signed peace with Dmitry Gordievsky. Young guns, Aravindh Chithambaram and Aryan Chopra pulled out wins against Arman Mikaelyan and Svane Rasmus respectively while Vidit Gujrathi was held to his seventh consecutive draw in the event. Round seven also saw the star of the first four rounds, Eesha Karavade, lose her third game in a row.  

Aeroflot Open R 5+6: Tournament lead changes hands

26/02/2018 -

After each of the last two rounds of the Aeroflot Open, a new player took over the tournament lead. Four rounds into the event, tournament lead was shared between three players: Bologan, Petrosian and Artemiev. Beating Bologan in the fifth round, Artemiev took sole lead. But this was very short-lived; just one round later, Artemiev was overtaken by his namesake, Vladislav Kovalev. Among the Indians, Sasikiran, Karthikeyan and Sethuraman share the third spot with eight other players while the star of the first four rounds, Eesha Karavade lost back to back games in rounds 5 & 6 and dropped to the 41st place. 

Flawless Deepan Chakkravathy wins 2nd Shaastra Rapid 2018 at IIT-M

26/02/2018 -

The Shaastra Rapid 2018 was held on the 24th and the 25th of February 2018 inside the IIT-M campus. The ten-round event had a time control of 20 minutes + 5 seconds increment. The top seed was GM Vishnu Prasanna, but he had ample competition coming from GM Deepan Chakkravarthy, GM R.R. Laxman, GM Sriram Jha and GM Tejas Bakre and seven International Masters. In the end, it was GM Deepan Chakkravarthy who won the tournament by displaying some phenomenal chess. He scored 9.5/10 and took home Rs.35,000. IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal who were present at the venue bring you a detailed report. Sagar also took part as a player in the event and shares his experience with you.

Mitrabha wins 2nd Queen's Gambit Rapid 2018

25/02/2018 -

Former National Sub-Junior and Commonwealth under 14 Gold medalist, FM Mitrabha Guha remained undefeated and won the 2nd edition of Queen's Gambit Rapid Chess Tournament 2018, organized by chesspert.com in association with SLOBA, held in St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata on 20th and 21st January 2018. Mitrabha finished ahead of two IMs and a WGM. He finished at 3rd position last year in the inaugural edition of the tournament. Top seed of the event IM Sayantan Das finished at 6th position. The tournament was inaugurated by India's elite GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and the Chief Guest of the Closing Ceremony was West Bengal's first and India's second GM Dibyendu Barua. The report contains photos, videos and interviews taken by Shahid Ahmed who was present at the venue and also one of the organizers.

Contact Us