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Wesley So on becoming the first Fischer Random World Champion

04/12/2019 -

The Fischer random chess or Chess960 is hailed to be a game of pure wits where elements of theory and extensive home preparation are rendered practically useless and the players are demanded to rely more on their intuition and over-the-board creativity. It therefore came as a surprise to many chess fans last month when Magnus Carlsen, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest natural talents that the game of chess has ever seen, was sheerly dominated by Wesley So in the World Fischer Random Championship 2019. The 26-year-old Filipino-American Grandmaster created a sensation by beating the mighty Norwegian in the finals of the tournament with a sweeping score of 13.5-2.5! How did he do it? IM Sagar Shah caught up with the man himself at the Tata Steel Chess India.

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Will MVL have the final laugh?

04/12/2019 -

The second classical game between MVL-Carlsen and Ding-Aronian also ended up in a draw which means there is no clear favorite going into the faster time control matches. Today each player will play two rapid and four blitz games against the same semi-final opponents. A win in rapid is worth four points and in blitz it's two points. The two players to score 15 points will advance to the finals. At this point MVL and Carlsen seem to be evenly matched, while Aronian is still trying to recover from his ailment. It will be interesting to see who grabs the final two spots in the GCT Finals. It starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Chess Gurukul domination in London!

04/12/2019 -

The London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2019 is being dominated by two Indians R. Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram. Both of them hail from Chennai and go to the Chess Gurukul academy of GM R.B. Ramesh. It is quite heartening to see that both the youngsters have performed above an Elo of 2750 and gained close to 10 Elo points. While this takes Aravindh to 2615, Pragg is inching close to breaking the 2600 Elo mark and is currently 2596. The other two Indian top performers Sahaj Grover and R. Vaishali are also playing well with 4.5/6. With three rounds to go, it will be interesting to see if Pragg or Aravindh can win the title. Currently they are in the joint lead on 5.5/6 along with Anton Smirnov.

Monaco GP R1: Humpy starts with a gritty win

04/12/2019 -

FIDE Monaco Women's Grand Prix starts with a solitary win by Skolkovo GP winner Humpy Koneru. She had to fight for over five hours against Valentina Gunina from an inferior position to score a victory after enduring the longest grind of the day. Legendary Pia Cramling made a good start against Alexandra Kosteniuk but she missed capitalizing on good opportunities and eventually ended up making a draw. The World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina held World Blitz champion Kateryna Lagno, Harika Dronavalli met her match in the form of Nana Dzagnidze, FIDE GP 2019-20 debutant Zhao Xue held Elisabeth Paehtz and the Muzychuk sisters made a peaceful draw in round 1. Photo: Karol Bartnik / FIDE

#AskSwapnil - Live interaction with GM Swapnil Dhopade

03/12/2019 -

It often happens that we have questions in our mind about chess improvement, the way to study chess systematically, tournament preparation, physical fitness and more. In such situations it would feel so nice to have a person, who has already walked this path, answer the questions, guide us on our journey. A chess grandmaster is someone who has gone through the grind and has been able to come out of it successfully. Hence, on 3rd of December 2019, GM Swapnil Dhopade will be present in the ChessBase India studio for an hour long interactive session with the viewers of ChessBase India and answer your questions on how to get better at chess. The session is open for all and free of cost and the instructions on how to attend are given in the article below.

MVL tackles Carlsen's experiment

03/12/2019 -

The Grand Chess Tour finals started on 2nd December 2019 in Hammersmith London. Magnus Carlsen faces Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ding Liren faces Levon Aronian in the semi-finals in a series of classical, rapid and blitz matches to determine the finalists. The semi-final matches were made according GCT standings before the finals at London. On the first day both matches ended up in a draw, however Carlsen-MVL match did not lack fireworks as Carlsen tested the Najdorf expert MVL with an experiment of his own, to which MVL responded well and the game ended up in a very exciting draw. Meanwhile Aronian settled for a quiet draw with Ding as he was still recuperating from jet-lag. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Monaco hosts the best women chess players in the world

03/12/2019 -

The second event of FIDE Women's Grand Prix is officially launched at the Yacht Club de Monaco on 2nd December 2019. The Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun gives this event a miss. World Championship Challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina returns to action before facing the World Champion next month in the FIDE Women's World Championship match. After winning Skolkovo GP, Humpy Koneru would be looking forward to increase her lead at the GP points table. The super strong strong Muzychuk sisters - Anna and Mariya, Nana Dzagnidze and Zhao Xue play their first FIDE Women's Grand Prix event of the 2019-20 season. Photo: Karol Bartnik / FIDE

Vishy's December #02 - Inspiration, teammate, second!

02/12/2019 -

Sandipan Chanda, the ninth GM of Indian chess, recounts his journey from being a youngster who was amazed by Anand's play to being his team mate at the 2004 Chess Olympiad, to being his second and helping him in various tournaments. Sandipan is one of those few people who know Vishy Anand from close quarters and have spent a lot of time with him. This December, ChessBase India is celebrating the month as Vishy's December in honour of the Indian chess legend Vishy Anand turning 50 years old. If you have a story, experience or an anecdote related to Anand which you would like to share with the chess world, you can send it to us at chessbaseindia@gmail.com.

Final words of the two chess greats before they bade adieu to the city of joy

02/12/2019 -

Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen were found in pleasantly candid mood on the last day of Tata Steel Chess India 2019. The event ended with an excellent final press conference where both players gave some really generous and compelling answers to the questions they were asked. We published a video of the same on our channel earlier but sadly, owing to unfortunate noise disturbances, many of the interesting responses were hard to understand in it. In this article we therefore try to mitigate this problem by bringing you the transcript along with the video. Hopefully, you will be able to appreciate the revealing press conference with the two chess greats better after going through this write-up.

Praggnanandhaa plays the King's Indian for the first time in his career, moves to 4.0/4 in London

02/12/2019 -

The London Chess Classic FIDE Open is an exciting event for Indian fans because of the presence of few of our young stars. And one of them is leading the event with a score of 4.0/4. Praggnanandhaa played some enterprising chess in round 4 against IM Raymond Song, to win his fourth game in a row. With this win, Pragg's live rating has now reached a massive 2593, very close to breaking the 2600 mark. We bring you detailed annotations of his win in the King's Indian Defence, an opening that he played for the first time in his life! Also in the report we have pictures and updates from the venue sent to us by two chess enthusiasts living in London.

Sriram Jha becomes the first titled Indian player to triumph in Japan

02/12/2019 -

Sriram Jha became the first titled Indian player to compete and win an open tournament in Japan. He scored an unbeaten 6.0/7 and finished a half point ahead of the competition. This was Sriram's first ever visit to Japan and he won a tournament in his very first attempt. The New Delhi resident shares his best game from the tournament with his annotations. We also get to know about his experience in playing there and how easy it was to get everything done to reach in Japan in a short interview with him. Photo: Nagoya Chess Club

Vishy's December #01 - "Anand Viswanathanovich"

01/12/2019 -

On 11th of December 2019, Vishy Anand will turn 50 years old. As a mark of our gratitude to the immense contribution that this legend has made to the field of chess, we are celebrating Vishy's December! Throughout the month we will have stories, articles, anecdotes and wishes put out on Anand by his friends, competitors, peers and well wishers! We kick off the series with the first one by one of his oldest friends in the world of chess - Ravi Abhyankar. Ravi sent us four short stories of Anand which are interesting, humorous and at the same time thought provoking! In case you have an interesting story or anecdote to share about Vishy Anand, you can do so from the google form link that we have provided at the end of the article or email it to us at chessbaseindia@gmail.com!

Aravindh, Praggnanandhaa and Sahaj in the lead at the London Chess Open 2019

01/12/2019 -

National Triple Crown champion GM Aravindh Chithambaram is the top seed of 11th CSC London Chess Classic 2019 Open. He is in the lead with a score of 3.0/3 along with eleven other players including two other Indians, Praggnanandhaa and Sahaj Grover. All three of them are vying for the top spot. The eleventh edition of tournament witnesses a total participation of 165 players including 15 GMs, 14 IMs, a WGM and a WIM from 35 different countries all over the globe. There are various other parallel and side events taking place, apart from this tournament and Grand Chess Tour finals starting on 2nd December 2019. Photo: Lennart Ootes/London Chess Classic and Tata Steel Chess

Boris Chatalbashev dominates Malta Open 2019

01/12/2019 -

Top seed of the tournament GM Boris Chatalbashev of Denmark scored an unbeaten 8.0/9 to win Malta Open 2019. He finished a half point ahead of the competition. GM Igor Naumkin of Russia scored 7.5/9 to secure the first runner-up place. The champion and the runner-up won 1000 and 600 Euros respectively as their prize. Seven players tied for the third place by scoring 7.0/9. IM Craig Hanley of England was placed third according to his tie-break score. Total 225 players including six GMs and six IMs participated from over 30 different countries across the globe. The annual event was held in Topaz Hotel in the seaside town of Bugibba. A pictorial report of the tournament by the organizer Clarence Psaila.

10 things that made the Tata Steel Chess India 2019 special

30/11/2019 -

The Tata Steel Chess India 2019 was held from the 22nd to the 26th of November 2019 in Kolkata, India. It was truly a path-breaking event being the strongest tournament ever to be organized on not just Indian but Asian soil. What were the things that made the event special? Who are the people who worked day in and out to make this a success? In this article, IM Sagar Shah tells you about the ten things that according to him made the Tata Steel Chess India special - Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, National Library of India, huge fans, the cricket touch, Grand Chess Tour, Tata Steel and the organizers, the Anand quiz, the ChessBase India coverage and last but not the least the amazing players themselves! 

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