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The Badshah turns 30!

28/01/2020 -

The CEO of ChessBase India IM Sagar Shah turns 30 today! Well, what's the fuss about that? Avathanshu Bhat pens down what makes Sagar special for him and the entire chess community. The man who had a dream, and set out to make that dream a reality. There were decisions that were taken, milestones that were overcome and old plans that were improvised. It was never easy, and he could never have done it without the backing from those lovely people. Don't forget to read the wishes of all his close friends and family! Yes, this is quite a long article, but we feel that it definitely couldn't have been any shorter without losing the personal touch of so many different people. Enjoy!

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Savitha Shri's journey from 1968 to 2261 in two months

27/01/2020 -

Savitha Shri B is just 13 years old but already has a rating of 2261. She gained about 300 Elo points in the past two months itself just by playing several strong independent tournaments in Spain. Her father Baskar, who used to be an electrician in Singapore, left his job to accompany his daughter in different events and ensured that she evolves into a world-class chess player. Savitha's quest for excellence has been and still is a path ridden with hurdles but the girl from Tamil Nadu is as resolute as ever. In this article we explore some of her recent successes and tell you how in two months she gained 300 Elo points to move from 1968 on the Elo scale to 2261.

Pavel Ponkratov wins 12th Chennai GM Open 2020

27/01/2020 -

Top seed of the tournament Pavel Ponkratov scored an unbeaten 8.0/10 to clinch the championship. He won the Dr. N Mahalingam Trophy and ₹300000 cash prize for his efforts. Seven other players also finished at the same score. They were placed according to their tie-break score. Jose Eduardo Martinez and Sergei Yudin secured the first and second runner-up positions respectively. Among the Vishnu Prasanna was the only player to finish shared first, eighth according to tie-breaks. Total 284 players participated from 21 countries including 29 GMs, 23 IMs and 3 WGMs. The tournament was organized by Tamil Nadu Chess Association at Novotel and IBIS Omar at Chennai from 18th to 25th January 2020. Photo: IA R Anantharam

Fabiano's fabulous finale

27/01/2020 -

"I am sure I will have to play a tough game tomorrow but there won't be any pressure in terms of tournament results", predicted the World no.2 Fabiano Caruana just after winning his twelfth round and becoming the champion of Tata Steel Masters with one round to spare. And he indeed gave it his all in the last round to register his fourth consecutive victory in the tournament by defeating Vladislav Artemiev. Fabi wasn't well physically during the last few rounds of the event but he showed tremendous fighting spirit and let nothing lessen the quality of his games. In this illustrated article we give you the step by step breakdown of his final encounter. Photo: Alina l'Ami

Praggnanandhaa beats the highest rated player of his career - Veselin Topalov (2738)

26/01/2020 -

He was the strongest chess player on the planet at one point of time and in 2005 he showed his true power when he won the San Luis World Championship ahead of all the top players to become the FIDE World Champion. Veselin Topalov is now nowhere close to what he was as a player some years ago, but with a rating of 2738, he is still quite a potent as a competitor. Pragg faced him in the 6th round of the Gibraltar Masters 2020. Playing with the white pieces, the youngster gave his opponent absolutely no chances and won the game with some powerful moves. This is the highest rated player that Pragg has ever beaten in his classical chess career. We bring you the detailed analysis of the game with PGN, video analysis and Pragg's interview after the win. 

How not following top level games can make you lose out on important points

26/01/2020 -

The life of a professional chess player is not easy. He has to be updated with all the latest wrinkles in opening theory. If he misses one of the important games that has happened in his line, then that same variation can be sprung upon him as a surprise. This is what happened with D. Gukesh, who played against Gawain Jones at the fifth round of the Gibraltar Masters 2020. The English GM played the Rossolimo against Gukesh following the line Carlsen had played against Dubov. Gukesh was unprepared and took a lot of time for his moves. Very soon he succumbed to a defeat. Praggnanandhaa played some fantastic chess to score his fourth consecutive win and move to 4.0/5. Check out both the games analyzed in great detail. 

Ju Wenjun retains her FIDE Women's World Championship

26/01/2020 -

Aleksandra Goryachkina was a massive threat to Ju Wenjun's World title reign, but if anyone had an advantage then that was Ju Wenjun. The reason is simple, she has done it all when she beat Tan Zhongyi in 2018 to become the champion in a similar 10-game FIDE Women's World Championship Match. However, Goryachkina tested Ju's limit by pushing her to the max and forcing a tie-break. Ju Wenjun is a former Women's World Rapid champion which means rapid is also her forte and having four rapid games as tie-breaks was just enough to beat Goryachkina 2.5-1.5 and continue her reign as Women's World Champion for at least another year. Photo: FIDE

Caruana conquers the Wimbledon of Chess

26/01/2020 -

Fabiano Caruana defeated Jan-Krzysztof Duda and registered his third victory in a row to win the Tata Steel Masters with one round to spare. Magnus Carlsen could only draw Vladislav Artemiev despite gaining a copious initiative at one point of the game and thus Fabi pulled ahead of his nearest rival by a massive 1.5 points. "This is certainly one of the best tournaments I have ever played in terms of results", said the World no.2 after the game, he also concluded that there were some rocky moments as well where he did need a bit of luck to get through. In this article we we look into Fabiano's performance from rounds eleven and twelve of the event. 

Anand’s Rocky Road to World Title Triumph 2010

26/01/2020 -

Vishy Anand's will to fight back and be resourceful in even the most adverse of situations have enabled him to maintain his position at the top for so long. If there is any instance where his unparalleled suppleness was pushed to its very limits then it has to be his 2010 World Championship match against Veselin Topalov. The Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers had the good privilege to witness this legendary bout up-close. He was present in the venue in Sofia as a reporter for the Australian news site Crikey.com.au and wrote a piece on the night Vishy registered the decisive final round victory. We bring you this article with relevant pictures from the match and let you relive those rare moments of intense pressure and thrill.

Gibraltar R03: S.L.Narayanan and Adhiban Baskaran shine

24/01/2020 -

Five players led by Grandmaster Ivan Cheparinov have so far been able to maintain a perfect score of 3.0/3 in the ongoing Gibraltar Masters 2020. There are six Indians namely Vaibhav Suri, Adhiban Baskaran, Karthikeyan Murali, S.L.Narayanan, Aryan Chopra, and Lalith Babu MR, following them closely just half a point behind on 2.5/3. Adhiban and Narayanan scored emphatic wins in the third round of the event to maintain their spots in the chasing lot consisting of more than thirty players. In this illustrated report we bring you photos, game analysis, and more. 

Praggnanandhaa's love for chess

24/01/2020 -

The biggest enemy of a passionate chess player is bad health. Once you succumb to an illness, you can no longer play chess at a good level. In fact many a times you even have to give up on tournaments. However, the young generation of Indian chess is somehow different. For them often chess takes precedence over health. Here's the story of R. Praggnanandhaa who did not let his health issues come in between his passion for chess. While everyone adviced him to take rest and skip the Gibraltar Chess event, he made the arduous journey to the Rock and started the event as the 31st seed. Things didn't begin well for the youngster as he lost his first round, but he has picked up pace and is now on 2.0/3. Read the inspiring tale of Pragg and his love for chess.

Alireza yet to scale the ultimate height

23/01/2020 -

Alireza Firouzja played some very enterprising chess against Fabiano Caruana in the tenth round of Tata Steel Masters. He sacrificed a piece in the opening for a few pawns and then steered the game into unusual complications. But did he actually succeed? Well Caruana, who is widely considered to be the best analyst of the game in the world and whose powers of calculation are by far second to none, gave the young Alireza a valuable lesson. The 16-year-old is enormously talented but when it comes to matching up with the absolute best in the world, he clearly needs to take his game a notch up. In this article we give you an in-depth analysis of how Caruana slowly but surely outplayed the Iranian lad.

Goryachkina strikes back and forces tie-break in FIDE Women's World Championship match 2020

23/01/2020 -

Goryachkina was going into the final game in classical time control with a must-win situation. Perhaps her short draw in Game 11 was all part of strategy to save energy and fire all cylinders in Game 12. Apparently that worked. The Challenger employed a sideline 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 to surprise the defending champion. Although black managed to equalize easily out of the opening, but she made an error in critical decision of saving one of her pawns, instead she gave up both and landing in inferior position. The score is now 6-6. The tie-break matches will be played tomorrow 24th January to determine the winner. Since both of them skipped World Rapid and Blitz 2019, it will be interesting to see who comes out at the top in the faster format. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili / FIDE

Gibraltar R02: Adhiban turns his beast mode on

23/01/2020 -

Vaibhav Suri and Karthikeyan Murali are the two Indians who have scored a perfect 2.0/2 after two rounds of Gibraltar Masters but if there's anyone whose performance absolutely stood out in the second round of the event, it has to be that of Adhiban Baskaran. Adhiban drew his first round game somewhat uneventfully, in round two however he was truly able to channel his inner beast out. Raunak Sadhwani, Gukesh D, Raahil Mullick, Praggnanandhaa R, and other Indian youngsters all came back strongly in the second round after either losing or being held to draws in the first. We bring you a detailed and illustrated report.

K. Priyanka becomes the latest WIM of India and dedicates the title to her mother

23/01/2020 -

She lost her father when she was only 10. Her mother's health was always on the edge. The monthly income of the family was just Rs.8,000. No matter how hard the circumstances were K. Priyanka never gave up on her chess dream. The dream to become a world class chess player. She fought against all the odds and on 7th of January 2020 she became a WIM. It was befitting that she received her final WIM norm at the hands of none other than the legendary Vishy Anand. After the event ChessBase India got in touch with Priyanka and did an interview with her. In it she talks about her journey and also shares two of the most beautiful games of her chess career. The 1st WIM from Coimbatore signs off by saying, "No matter what life throws to you, keep chasing your dreams. Just Don’t Give Up! One day your life will become the most colourful one!" 

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