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Baku 11: Sethu loses and Vidit wins; India held by Norway

13/09/2016 -

Sethu pondered over his position with intense concentration. He was eyeing his opponent's weakness on e3, and fantasies of a sacrifice on that square filled his mind. Throughout the Olympiad, Team India's fortunes had revolved around his games, and Sethu knew that. In the previous rounds, his defeat meant that the team lost or won the matches.  It is a strange kind of pressure to carry that weight in your mind. Do you think the sacrifice may have worked? Meanwhile, Hari negotiated a draw with Magnus Carlsen, while Adhiban drew with the black pieces on the second board. To make matters more complicated, Vidit, who had a big advantage, 'blundered'! Find out what transpired in our eleventh round report.

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Baku 10: Harikrishna beats Karjakin!

12/09/2016 -

India faced the top-seeded Russia in an all-important penultimate round clash. Russia's top board Sergey Karjakin is slated to take on the World Champion Magnus Carlsen for the title clash in New York in a few weeks from now. And Hari was tasked with taking on Karjakin with the white pieces. Fairly straightforward, one would assume, except that Adhiban was losing against Kramnik and other boards were heading towards draws. Hari increased the pressure on Karjakin who began to go wrong and finally cracked. We bring you a quick illustrated report on the performance in the men's section.

Live games of India from the Olympiad

12/09/2016 -

At the 42nd Chess Olympiad Indian open team consisting of Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, B.Adhiban, S.P. Sethuraman and Murali Karthikeyan start as the 11th seeds. In the women's section the Indian team of Harika, Padmini Rout, Soumya Swaminathan, Tania Sachdev and Pratyusha Bodda are the fifth seeds. On this page you can follow the games of these players live along with powerful features like livebook, engine analysis, PGN download, sharing games to social media etc. The games begin everyday at 4.30 p.m. IST.

Baku 09: Is the Team over dependent on Sethu?

12/09/2016 -

In the ninth round, the story repeated just as in the round before against England. The top three boards drew/were drawing their games leaving Sethu to battle it out in the middle. He gained an upper hand late into the middlegame, and it looked like Sethuraman would lead us to another memorable victory. Only that he did not. He did everything to gain a better position, but once he had it in his sights, he went wrong again. Sethuraman lost, and with him, the team lost 2.5-1.5, too. Is the team over dependent on Sethuraman? Check out our illustrated report to find out what happened.

Baku 07+08: Heartbreak, tears, and a comeback!

10/09/2016 -

Do you know how it feels to be beaten down to the ground? Do you know how to not lose hope, but stand up to fight another day, and make a comeback? The Indian team had not lost a single game, on all the boards, in the entire Olympiad until the sixth round. The hopes of the entire country reached an all-time high following India's unexpected win over the Dutchmen. And then, we faced the United States of America, who crushed us 3.5-0.5. It was merciless. To make matters worse for the team, Sethu, who was winning against Shankland on the fourth board, blundered tragically and lost. It was brutal, and dark. India took on England in the eighth round. The first three boards ended in a draw. But then Sethu did something so amazing that his previous round opponent could not help but give him a standing ovation! Team India was back in the lead! Find out what happened in our illustrated report.

Baku 06: A surprising turnaround!

08/09/2016 -

Things looked bleak for Team India deep into the middlegame. Hari was simply minus, and Sethu was battling tooth and nail for equality. Adhiban's position looked unbalanced but equal. The chips were down, and a defeat looked imminent. But then, fate showed us a surprising turnaround. Hari fought back to a draw. Sethu held as well. Adhiban, who was keeping things tricky for his opponent, found a breakthrough when his opponent blundered. India has created history already!

Team India on the free day in Baku!

07/09/2016 -

After five gruelling rounds at the Olympiad 2016 comes the rest day. And the Indian team got their much needed rest by being together and having a nice time. AICF President Venketrama Raja took the teams out for a lunch. We have some very candid and interesting pictures and also videos showcasing the physical strength of the Indian players! And there is also a chance for you to win the latest Master Class Vol.07: Kasparov DVD as a prize! All you have to do is give a witty caption to the thumbnail picture of Harikrishna! More details in the article.

Baku 05: India beats Azerbaijan!

06/09/2016 -

In the fifth round, the team was pitted against the spirited Azerbaijanis, led by the aggressive Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the first board. This was the first time in the tournament that India was facing a higher rated team. Almost unexpectedly, however, India beat Azerbaijan by a handsome margin of 3.0-1.0. It could actually have been even sweeter, but Sethu let off Safarli to a repetition. In the women's section, the teams woes continued as it was held to a draw yet again by a lower-ranked team -- this time by the Vietnamese, who are in good form. India may have lost the game had it not been for Padmini's well fished win. It is still a long road ahead for both the teams, and tomorrow is a rest day. We bring you an illustrated report 

Released Today! Master Class Vol.07: Garry Kasparov

06/09/2016 -

The Master Class series by ChessBase is an excellent way to acquaint yourself with the World Champions. On 6th of September Master Class Vol.07 dealing with the life and games of Garry Kasparov was released. With runtime of over nine hours and experienced grandmasters like Rogozenco, Marin and Mueller explaining you the details, this is the ideal way to learn what made Garry Kasparov absolutely invincible! A must-have for every ambitious player.

Baku 04: The team's on a roll!

06/09/2016 -

As Vidit sealed his victory and moved to 4.0/4, he ended up helping Team India record its fourth straight victory at the Baku 2016 Olympiad. The thing about this Olympiad for India is that all the players in the team are simply playing at their best. An individual player will flow when the team flows, and the team will flow when the individual players flow. Vidit's 4.0/4, coupled with the remaining players extracting the most out of their positions on the board, means that the team is among the six leaders going into the fifth round. We have an illustrated report with analysis by GM Daniel King, video interview with IM Tania Sachdev, and more.

Baku 03: My points are my favourite thing so far!

05/09/2016 -

The Indian team in the Open was able to make it 3.0-1.0 against the second team of Azerbaijan, thus moving to 3.0/3. The route was not that simple as after two draws, a blunder by Bajarani against Vidit Gujrathi meant that the floodgates were opened. Both Vidit and Adhiban cashed in and India took the match. The women's team did not find it particularly difficult to beat the Philippines. An onerous task lies ahead for both the Indian teams, as you can clearly see by looking at coach Vishal Sareen's eyes in our thumbnail picture! We bring you an illustrated report with games, analysis, and a video interview with Vidit Gujrathi.

Tomashevsky takes a leaf out of Karpov's book!

05/09/2016 -

In the third round of the Baku Olympiad 2016, Evgeny Tomashevsky had a dominating knight on d4. His opponent Iordachescu had a passive and a sick looking bishop on e6. Yet, the Russian player captured the bishop with his knight. This move would seem like positional concession even to an experienced eye. So why did Tomashevsky go for this exchange? The answer lies in a classical game played exactly 31 years ago by Anatoly Karpov!  

Baku 02: Harika loses on time

04/09/2016 -

The biggest news of the day from the Indian camp was the loss of GM Dronavalli Harika in a winning position, in India's match against Brazil. Nevertheless, the Indian team had already taken an unassailable lead and won the match. The team in the open section was perfect in execution as a 4.0-0.0 sweep was achieved without any issues. Of note was Vidit's beautiful win with the black pieces. Check out our illustrated report to know more.

Baku 2016: And it begins, amidst slight hiccups

03/09/2016 -

The Baku Olympiad 2016 took off yesterday at the Baku Crystal Hall. India begins the event as the ninth seed in the open section, and as the fifth seed in the women's section. It would be safe to say that all the Indian breezed to victories. We bring you an illustrated report with games, analysis by GM Daniel King, and more.

Aryan Chopra scores his final GM norm; Nubair & Viani become IMs

02/09/2016 -

In the recently concluded Abu Dhabi, 56 of the 137 players competing were Indians -- that is, close to 41% . From the country's point of view, the tournament was middle and bottom heavy, full of young talents searching for norms, titles, and rating points. And there were more than one reasons to cheer. Aryan Chopra completed his final GM norm and is not just four points away from the coveted title. Md. Nubairshah Shaikh and Antonio Viani D'cunha completed their IM title requirements. Read our brief report here.

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