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Candidates R05: Nepo leads; players worried about the global pandemic

23/03/2020 -

The big news of Round 5 at the Candidates 2020 was Ian Nepomaniachtchi winning his game against Wang Hao and taking the sole lead with 3.5/5. It was a game where you can learn a lot about how symmetry doesn't really result into equality every time. Amidst MVL taking the sole second spot and Ding Liren changing his hotels to get fresh air, the most important news is that players are not feeling the most comfortable continuing the event. Grischuk said, "Earlier, I didn't have a clear opinion but now from the last several days I have a strong opinion, I think this tournament should seriously be stopped." Caruana mentioned, "The US State department said that the American citizens have to come back to the US or won't be able to come back later."

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Candidates R04: The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige

22/03/2020 -

When a top player thinks for 53 minutes, you begin to wonder what exactly are they doing? What are they thinking about? Why did they take so much of time to decide on their move! And when you realize that the move they came up with has already been played before, you become all the more bewildered! That's what happened in the fourth round game between MVL and Grischuk. Alexander had one of the worst time management bouts of his career, landed in a lost position but managed to save himself by the skin of his teeth. IM Sagar Shah analyzes this and other three games and also tells you what is the similarity between a Christopher Nolan movie and top level chess!

Guseinov, Pragg, Gukesh and more will fight in 2nd Saturday Online Blitz 2020

22/03/2020 -

Missed out on the opportunity to play against India and the World's strongest on 21st March? No need to repent because we bring you the second edition this Saturday on 28th March 2020. We already have 11 GMs, 23 IMs, a WGM and 2 WIMs taking part in what is shaping up to be another strong line up. Players from India, Algeria, Colombia, England, Sri Lanka, Singapore and USA have already confirmed their participation. The entry fee to the tournament is *FREE, however you need an active ChessBase Premium subscription. There are prizes worth ₹10000 to be won for the top three finishers. That's not all, the circuit winner at the conclusion of five Saturday Blitz event will win an additional ₹10000. Photo: Various sources

Candidates 2020 R03: Hilarious and instructive post game interviews!

21/03/2020 -

The most important game of round three was between Ding Liren and Caruana. On our newspage we covered this game extensively, but the other games were not uninteresting. In fact Alekseenko was quite close to beating Nepomniachtchi and so was Grischuk against Wang Hao. Giri played a solid draw against MVL. We bring you in this article not just the analysis and pictures, but also post-game interviews and most importantly, high class analysis by GM Vidit Gujrathi. Checking them along with the questions posed to you will surely improve your chess understanding.

Out-Preparing the Candidates with Fat Fritz Part 1

21/03/2020 -

As the Candidates headed into the rest day, one thing that is obvious is how each player is fighting unto their very last reserves for that extra half point! We have seen decisive games in all the 3 rounds till now, and with such zest it is impossible to pick a clear favourite. One thing that stands out however, is the high level of opening preparation. Out of the 12 games played, 10 games have witnessed the absolute peak as far as homework is concerned. However, Tanmay Srinath set out to beat the preparation of the Candidates with the help of Fat Fritz and come up with some really deep ideas that can be used by any player in their future games.

Aditya Mittal analyses Fabiano Caruana's dynamic play against the Nimzo-Indian

20/03/2020 -

Aditya Mittal is one of India's finest up-and-coming chess talents. He is just thirteen years old but is already an IM rated 2438. One of the reasons why Aditya is so strong at the game is that he closely follows all the elite level events of the world. The boy's knack for annotating games is really quite special and is certainly something that sets him apart from the rest. In this article he analyses one of Fabiano Caruana's recent games from the ongoing Candidates 2020 in detail. If you haven't gone through Aditya's annotations before then you are in for a treat. The thoroughness of the work the youngster does will absolutely surprise you! 

Nihal, Pragg and Andriasian headline the 1st Saturday Online Blitz tournament

20/03/2020 -

ChessBase India presents the first edition of five series of Saturday Online Blitz Tournament on 21st March at 8 p.m. IST (2:30 p.m. GMT). It will witness the participation of 16 GMs, 22 IMs, 3 WGMs and 3 WIMs from all across the globe. For the first time we have opened the tournament to players from all over the world and currently we have players India, Armenia, Azerbaijain, Bangladesh, Colombia, England, Ireland, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore and USA. Total Prize fund for each of the five tournaments will be ₹10000, with a first prize of ₹5000. The winner of the five events, the Circuit Champion will win an extra ₹10000. Last few hours to go to register if you haven't yet. Photo: Various sources

How Ding Liren fought the "Caruana" virus (in pictures)!

20/03/2020 -

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand!" - This famous proverb is true for all chess players. Hence, with this article we would not only like you to see, or hear or read, but to actually experience what happened with Ding Liren in the third round of the Candidates 2020. We want you to put yourself in Ding Liren's shoes and sit against one of the greatest opening innovators of our era - Fabiano Caruana. What must have gone through the Chinese number one's mind. What must he be thinking when Caruana unleashed a beast like novelty on him. We try to take you through the entire action in this novel article written by IM Sagar Shah along with the pictures provided by Lennart Ootes and Maria Emelianova.

NEW: Charlie Storey: The White Sniper

19/03/2020 -

Charlie Storey is an FM from England, English Chess Federation Academy Coach and Under-18 Team Coach. His second FritzTrainer is a follow-up to the popular release "The Sniper" a club player's weapon for Black. The White Sniper is characterized by three moves against any black setup: 1.g3, 2.Bg2 and 3.c4 though not necessarily in that order. Think of The White Sniper as a Hyper-Accelerated Sicilian Dragon against anything that Black plays. If you are looking for a way to spice up your opening repertoire and add a new arsenal to your element of surprise, look no further. Charlie Storey is back and this time it is a follow-up from the White's side. Photo: ChessBase

Nikolic Predrag wins 80th Noteboom Old Masters 2020

19/03/2020 -

Bosnian GM Predrag Nikolic won the 'Old Masters' section of the 80th edition of Noteboom, organized by Leidsch Schaakgenootschap (Leidsch Chess Society) from 28th February to 1st March at Leiden, Netherlands. Nikolic beat Timman twice and Karpov once in the double round-robin event. Total 270 players participated combining Group A, B and C. The tournament is organized in memory of Daniel Noteboom who was a contemporary of the only World Champion from Netherlands, Max Euwe. A report of the 'Old Masters' section with a couple of games from the event. Photo: Harry Gielen

Candidates 2020 R02: Elbowshakes, long thinks and Grischuk's humour!

19/03/2020 -

If there is one man who is facing no real jitters at the Candidates 2020 - it's Fabiano Caruana! Bold openings, no long thinks, accurate calculations, he is in his element. Ding Liren is suffering big time and is on 0/2. As Grischuk mentioned, "He seems to have been poisoned in his quarantine!" While Caruana won his game against Alekseenko, MVL beat Ding Liren right out of the opening. Grischuk was very close to getting a big advantage against Nepo and Wang Hao botched up a completely winning game against Giri. Check out this round 2 report where we bring you not just detailed analysis, but also player interviews, pictures and more!

Decoding the queen versus rook ending that Nepomniachtchi played to perfection

18/03/2020 -

Ian Nepomniachtchi's brilliantly instructive handling of a queen versus rook endgame from the very first day of Candidates 2020 was much talked about throughout the chess world. Karthik Rangarajan, who is a former National Junior Champion of India and an avid endgame enthusiast, did an in depth study of the same, and in this article he breaks down his analyses and takes the readers through all the nuances in an easy to understand but insightful manner. Spend an hour or two with Karthik working through the details and you are sure to come out equipped with some very handy techniques of the endgame.

Candidates 2020 R01: Ian Nepomniachtchi shows his class

18/03/2020 -

After all the tension and drama related to whether the tournament would take place or not, the eight gladiators finally sat down for the first round of the Candidates 2020. Things were not the same though. There were no spectators allowed in the venue, and the players were given an option as to whether they would like to shake hands or not with their opponents before and after the game! But once the games began we witnessed full-fledged fights in all four encounters. At the end of round one very few would have actually imagined that there would be two wins, both with the black pieces. It was Ian Nepomniachtchi who played an absolutely delightful game to beat Anish Giri. And Wang Hao who took advantage of nearly every slip made by his opponent Ding Liren to take home the full point. Caruana had his chances against MVL and so did Grischuk against Alekseenko, but both the games ended in draws. 

Romancing the helpmate with Grandmaster Christopher Jones

17/03/2020 -

The genre of helpmate is much ignored by over-the-board chess players but for the open-minded out there, who really wants to care, it can truly become a perennial source of joy. Helpmates are immensely satisfying to both solve and compose, and perhaps no one can tell this better than Grandmaster Christopher Jones. Now 68 years old, Christopher started off by solving helpmates from the magazines of the British Chess Problem Society and then went on to compose, over a course of more than thirty years, thousands of helpmates of his own. In this article we bring you a revealing interview with Christopher and of course also, a small collection of some exquisite helpmates! 

GM Laxman invites you to play March Masters Rs.50,000 Online Blitz on 29th March

17/03/2020 -

India's 20th GM Laxman Rajaram is a regular at ChessBase India Online Blitz events. He loves playing blitz and he has also been a multi-time National Blitz Champion. Due to the Corona virus threat, online tournament is the only way one can participate in chess tournaments these days. GM Laxman decided to make sure a mega blitz event takes place this month by contributing ₹15000 to the prize fund of ₹50000 in March Masters ChessBase India Online Blitz event which will take place on 29th March 2020. The event is FREE for all GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. For everyone else, entry fee for the ChessBase Premium Account subscribers is ₹300, while for Non-Premium subscribers the entry fee is ₹600. Photo: Amruta Mokal

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