Tata Steel 2023 R1: Maximum start for Warmerdam

15/01/2023 -

44th Olympiad God medalist, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Ding Liren made a winning start at 85th Tata Steel Chess Masters 2023. While the World no.2 showed his prowess against Gukesh, Rapport's surprise choice of Vienna Game did not have the desired effect against the former World Rapid champion. Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi had a well contested draw. In the Challengers section, Adhiban drew with Tabatabaei and IM Vaishali survived a minor scare against IM Thomas Beerdsen. It will be So vs Arjun, Aronian vs Praggnanandhaa, Giri vs Gukesh, Vaishali vs Donchenko and Adhiban vs Beerdsen in Round 3 which starts today at 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Everything new in ChessBase 17

14/01/2023 -

The latest version of ChessBase, ChessBase 17 was launched on 23rd of November 2022. This time, there are some huge changes to the software, modifications which add significant improvements to ChessBase! The two main programmers of the software - Matthias Wüllenweber and Mathias Feist have added a completely new file format, beauty medals, interactive search, and much more! IM Sagar Shah takes you through all of the new features of ChessBase 17 along with relevant screenshots and a guide of using these new features. Thumbnail: Abhyudaya Ram

Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Adhiban and Vaishali ready for 85th Tata Steel Chess 2023

14/01/2023 -

The first major chess event of the year 2023 is 85th Tata Steel Chess. As Vishy Anand tweeted, it is not January without Tata Steel Chess. The 'Wimbledon of Chess' starts on Saturday 14th January 2023. D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa will be seen in action in the Masters section along with Carlsen, Ding Liren, Caruana, Giri, So, Rapport, Aronian, Parham, Abdusattorov, Keymer and Jorden van Foreest. The Tata Steel Challengers 2016 winner, GM B Adhiban will be making a return to the Challengers section. Tata Steel Chess 2022 Women Blitz winner, IM Vaishali will be making her debut in the Challengers section. Who are your picks to win the Masters and Challengers sections? Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section. Photo: Official site

AICFB National Junior Championships for the visually challenged 2023 kicks off in Bangalore

14/01/2023 -

All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB) works for the visually impaired chess players of the country. One of the reasons why we have strong chess players from India who are visually impaired is because of regular tournaments being held. From 13th to 15th of January, the national juniors are being held in Bangalore. The tournament has witnessed the participation of 31 players with Sam Peniel (1341) from Tamil Nadu being the top seed. Two players from the tournament will get a chance to play at the World Junior Championships later this year in Spain. Check out our day 1 report.

Your chance to win 30 Quality Chess books with Quality Chess Prediction quiz

13/01/2023 -

Quality Chess is one of the best publishers of chess books in the world. Each year they keep an ambitious aim to publish a certain number of books. In 2023 they have an aim to publish more than 15 titles! This is something they haven't achieved since a decade now. Which are the books that they are planning? Get to know in this article. Also, we have a link to a google form that takes you to the Prediction Quiz 2023 and the winner would get 30 Quality Chess Books. 14th of January is the last day to submit your answers. So hurry up and don't miss this chance.

Annirudhha Potawad wins the 3rd Christmas eve ChessBase India Club Tournament 2022

13/01/2023 -

After winning the 2nd ChessBase India Chess Club tournament, Annirudhha Potawad won the 3rd edition as well scoring a perfect 6/6. A total of 44 players took part in the Christmas eve edition of the event at the Phoenix Marketcity Mall, Mumbai. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹10000. The top three prizes were ₹5000, ₹3000 and ₹2000 along with a trophy each. Fourth to eighth won 1-month ChessBase Premium Account subscription and a 10% discount coupon which can be used on ChessBase India shop.

Srijit Paul dominates 1st War of Knights Rating Open 2022

13/01/2023 -

Top seed of the tournament, IM Srijit Paul scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 1st War of Knights Rating Open 2022. He finished a full point ahead of the field. Four players - Deboushnik De, Rishan Debnath, Snehil Raj Singh and Ayush Das scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed second to fifth according to tie-breaks. The six-day nine-round rating tournament was organized by The Knight Chess Academy at Swami Vivekananda Institute of Modern Science. Total prize fund of the tournament was ₹240000. Top three prizes were ₹45000, ₹30000 and ₹20000 along with a trophy each. Photo: The Knight Chess Academy

Daakshin Arun: The young Chennai lad who became the National Under-13 Champion

12/01/2023 -

Daakshin Arun is a prominent young talent from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, who has performed amazingly in several big tournaments at the young age of 13. However, there was one title missing from his trophy cabinet so far - the National Championship. This time, he has got it - Daakshin won the MPL 35th National Under-13 Open Chess Championships 2022! He scored an unbeaten 10/11 to clinch the trophy. We reached out to Daakshin for a short interview after his victory. Read the article to know about his career, his favorite games from the event, future tournaments and much more! Thumbnail: Aditya Sur Roy 

Arhan Anand's golden run in the Rilton Cup 2023

12/01/2023 -

In the prestigious Rilton Cup 2023, a lot of Indian players took part, the top seed being GM Krishnan Sasikiran. There were many talented Indian players who performed very well, but the one player who stole the show was Arhan Chethan Anand. The 14-year-old youngster had a live rating of 2174 when the event started, and he gained a total of 111 points in a very strong field! In this article, we try to take you through Arhan's performance in the Rilton Cup 2023, with his thoughts on his performance and a deeply annotated version of his final round victory over Swedish FM Eric Thorn (2397). Thumbnail: Lars OA Hedlund.

Abhijith triumphs at 2nd ISC Below 1700 Rating Tournament 2022

12/01/2023 -

Sixth seeded Abhijith U scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win 2nd ISC Below 1700 Rating Chess Tournament 2022. He finished a half point ahead of the field. Bright Lee M Sunilkumar scored sole 8/9 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. Five players scored 7.5/9 each. Out of them, Abdallah M Nisthar was placed third according to tie-breaks. Total prize fund of the tournament was ₹499999. The top three prizes were ₹51000, ₹40000 and ₹30000 along with a trophy each. A total of 145 prizes were up for grabs. The tournament was organized by International School of Chess Pvt. Ltd. Photo: ISC Pvt. Ltd.

Vitaly Sivuk wins 7th Johor Open 2022, Harikrishnan third

12/01/2023 -

Both GM Vitaly Sivuk and GM Novendra Priasmoro scored an unbeaten 7.5/9 each. The former, Sivuk won 7th Johor Open 2022 due to better tie-breaks, Novendra was adjudged second. IM FT Harikrishnan A Ra scored sole 6.5/9 to finish third. The top three prizes were RM 8000, 5000 and 3000 in the Open section. Harikrishnan received approx. ₹56103. A total of 78 players including 7 GMs, 9 IMs and 2 WIMs took part from 16 countries across the world. The six-day nine-round Swiss League Rating tournament was organized by Johor Chess Association from 26th to 31st December 2022 at Fairview International School, Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Photos: Johor Chess official site

Sidhant Rana - the 7-year-old-boy who works on chess 10 hours a day

11/01/2023 -

Sidhant Rana lives in Faridabad. He is just 7 years old but has been the Haryana state champion in under-8, under-10 and under-12 age categories. He is also the current national schools under-7 champion and has now won the gold medal at the Asian schools under-7 in classical and rapid section. He also won the silver in blitz. There is no doubt that this boy is going to make the country proud on numerous occasions in the years to come. What is even more impressive is that the boy loves chess and practices more than 10 hours each day! It's amazing how he does it. Check out this article to know more about this young talent.

Khumukcham Sanjoy Singh dominates 7th Kurukshetra Rating Open 2022

11/01/2023 -

Second seeded Khumukcham Sanjoy Singh scored an unbeaten 8.5/10 to win 7th Kurukshetra Rating Open 2022. Three players - Soram Rahul Singh, Bhogen R K Singh and the top seed Y Dhanabir Singh scored 8/10 each. They were placed second to fourth respectively according to tie-breaks. Sanjoy defeated Soram and drew with Bhogen. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹280000. The top three prizes were ₹35000, ₹25000 and ₹18000 along with a trophy each. This is Sanjoy's first-ever tournament triumph. He has played only seven rating tournaments in his career before this victory. He finished second at the last event he played in 2021 at Nagaon. Photo: IA Arun Singh

Apply for the 4th Pursue your chess scholarship of Rs.1,25,000

11/01/2023 -

The longest standing chess scholarship of the HelpChess Foundation - Pursue your chess is back. It's the 4th continuous year of this scholarship and each year the person behind it - Ashwin Subramanian, has increased its amount by Rs.25,000. The scholarship amount for this year has reached Rs.1,25,000 per year. The scholarship will start from the 1st of February 2023 and the last date to apply for it is 25th of January 2023. In this article you get to know about the first three scholarships, who won them, how has been their progress, how to apply for this years scholarship and you also get more information about Ashwin Subramanian, who has always been quietly working behind the scenes powering chess in India.

Novendra Priasmoro wins 14th Penang Heritage City Open 2022, Muthaiah third

11/01/2023 -

Both GM Novendra Priasmoro and GM Vitaly Sivuk scored 7.5/9 each. The Indonesian GM Novendra won 14th Penang Heritage City Open 2022 due to better tie-breaks, Sivuk had to settle for the second place. Four players scored sole 6.5/9 each. Out of them, IM FT Muthaiah Al was adjudged third. Novendra and Muthaiah are the only two to remain undefeated among top ten players. The top three prizes were RM 8000, 5000 and 3000 in the Open section. Muthaiah received approx. ₹56103. IM FT Harikrishnan A Ra and Hemanth Raam scored 6/9 each to secure seventh and ninth place respectively. Photos: Andrew Ooi or Muhd Arshad, unless stated otherwise