1st Eco Camp in the lap of Himalayas

02/05/2017 -

When a chess camp is held the students are taught different strategies related to the game of chess. It could be how to handle an IQP position, or how Najdorf is played, or the secrets of rook endgames! However, former Commonwealth Champion IM Atanu Lahiri thinks that it is important to have a more holistic approach. Chess players are a part of the society, and so along with chess they should be taught a few more things. What exactly are those things? Read on to know more!

Hari in Shamkir: So near yet so far

01/05/2017 -

With 3.5/9 - seven draws and two losses, one might feel that Harikrishna had a dismal event at the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir. Yes, it's true that he finished at the bottom of the table. But have a look at this games. He drew all his games from round five to nine against world class opposition. And in some of the games Hari was very close to breaking through. And that's why the title of this article - in some other tournament and on some other day with the same level of play Hari would have finished much higher, but in Shamkir it was a share of the last spot.

Who do you think will win the 2nd ChessBase India online blitz?

30/04/2017 -

Six hours left for the blitz bonanza! The huge favourite is definitely B. Adhiban. We have 14 grandmasters, 11 International Masters and 134 participants until now. It's last hour left to enroll for the tournament. It's your chance to play against the best players of our country. And when you participate in the event, you also have a chance to submit your interesting chess story and win exciting prizes including GM Abhijit Kunte analyzing your game.

Sethuraman finishes second at the BRICS Masters Rapid

30/04/2017 -

You are a piece up and completely win. You not only throw away the win, but also lose the game! Such instances are common, but what is rare is the ability to fight back after such a disastrous first round. Sethuraman did exactly that. After a painful loss to Yu Yangyi at the start of the tournament, he steadied his ship and finished second at this strong BRICS Masters rapid event held in China. Yu Yangyi was the champion. Ganguly was the other Indian participant and in the combined standings India took the bronze.

Indians at the Reykjavik Open 2017

29/04/2017 -

Abhijeet Gupta played some inspired chess in the last round to beat Baadur Jobava and finish joint second at the super strong Reykjavik Open 2017. Anish Giri managed to win the event with a score on 8.5/10. In this report we not only cover the performances of almost all the Indian players, but also show you things you can learn from the champion Anish. You can also download the ChessBase India show with Abhijeet Gupta and we have the results of the caption contest which got an overwhelming response.

Become a theoretical expert with Opening Encyclopaedia 2017

29/04/2017 -

Preparing openings is an art. It is true that having a strong middlegame and endgame is extremely important, however without a strong base of a good opening position you would not be able to go far! ChessBase solves your problem with the Opening Encyclopaedia 2017, which has 1004 specialized theory articles from A00 to E99. In this article you get to know how to make use of this extremely useful resource in order to improve your tournament results.

2 days to go for India's strongest blitz event ever!

28/04/2017 -

When you decide to play a tournament, you have leave a few hours, if not days in order to travel to an event, book a flight or a train ticket and hotel room! There are so many things to be. Come 30th April, 6 p.m. and all that you have to do is switch on your computer and login to the Playchess server in order to play the strongest online blitz tournament ever in India! Adhiban, Aravindh, Gopal, Lalith and so many strong players.

The Golden era of Indian chess: Players born in 1981-83

28/04/2017 -

Himanshu Sharma, born in 1983, achieved his GM title just a few days ago. IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni got nostalgic at this point and tried to recollect all the top players with whom he had fought from his younger days and how they have fared in their chess careers. In this article you get to know about the players born in 1981-83. In some way these three years can be said to be the golden era of Indian chess because the talents that were produced in this period still keep the Indian flag flying high in the world of chess!

It's not so easy to stop the evergreen Anup Deshmukh!

27/04/2017 -

IM Anup Deshmukh is 50 years old, but is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact his aim is to become a GM after the age of 50. He took some right steps in that direction as he won the 1st Sardar Prakash Singh Memorial tournament held in Sonipat, Haryana ahead of two GMs and seven other IMs. Gopakumar Sudhakaran, the chief arbiter of the event, sends us a beautiful report rich with vibrant pictures and descriptions. You just won't believe what happened in Anup Deshmukh's final round!

The girl who excels at everything she does – WCM Suhaani Lohia

26/04/2017 -

Suhaani Lohia is just 7 years old and one of the youngest Woman Candidate Masters in the world. The thing that makes Suhaani unique is that she is not just a great chess player, but she excels at just about everything she does! She has thrice in a row bagged the star athlete award in her school, plays soccer, is about to have her first piano recital very soon and attends speech and drama classes. Get a peek into the life of this young talent and also gauge her chess skills by means of one of her best games.

Praggnanandhaa in Reyk - the boy is turning into a man!

26/04/2017 -

With 2.5/4, Praggnanandhaa decided to take things more seriously. He scored two wins against players rated 2200 and then was up against four times USSR champion GM Alexander Beliavsky. Pragga dominated throughout the game but had to settle for a draw towards the end. The big breakthrough occurred in the eighth round when the 11-year-old put up a brilliant defensive effort to down Gawain Jones. Abhijeet Gupta and Vidit Gujrathi were up against each other and drew their game. They are still the leaders with 6.5/8. We have a caption contest for you to win Vidit's latest released Caro Kann DVD!

A lecture that changed my chess understanding!

25/04/2017 -

The ChessBase India online blitz event is going to be held on 30th of April. In order to celebrate the occasion of 10 years of Kunte's Chess Academy's existence we have a Facebook contest. You have to submit your best chess story, and the winner will get one of his games analyzed by GM Abhijit Kunte in the form of a chess video. In this article we explain to you the procedure of how to take part in the contest. Also, IM Sagar Shah shares with you the experience of how a lecture by GM Jesse Kraai changed his understanding in chess.

Kramnik's mysterious rook sacrifice stuns Harikrishna

25/04/2017 -

Kramnik's back was against the wall against Harikrishna after 24 moves in the 6.d3 Ruy Lopez. Call it desperation or a creative solution, the ex-World Champion sacrificed his rook for three pawns. Clearly the compensation didn't seem enough. However, what transpired next was a master class on how to maintain tension and slowly outplay the opponent. The computers might shout that Black was winning all along, but Harikrishna sitting opposite the Big Vlad knows that practical chess is an all together different ball game. Detailed analysis and breakdown of the game.

Vivacious Vaishali crushes GMs in Reykjavik

24/04/2017 -

After four rounds we had two Indian players on 4.0/4. They were Vidit Gujrathi and Abhijeet Gupta. In the next two rounds, both of them slowed down with two draws. On the other hand there were two Indians who raced upto 5.0/6 with two consecutive wins. One of them is Magesh Chandran who is playing a tournament after quite some time and the other is R. Vaishali, who is crushing experienced grandmasters with some really tenacious chess! Analysis of Vaishali's victories of Torre and Perelshteyn.

Harikrishna draws with Karjakin, loses to Eljanov at Shamkir 2017

23/04/2017 -

Harikrishna has made a slow start at the Shamkir Masters 2017. He drew his first game against Sergey Karjakin and lost in the second against Pavel Eljanov. This is a wonderful opportunity for Harikrishna as he fights with the best players in the world including Wesley So, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and many others. Wesley So lost his first game against Mamedyarov after a 67 game unbeaten streak. Pavel Eljanov leads with 2.0/2.

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