Gong Qianyun: "I had to clean toilets if I failed to memorize the classics correctly!"

21/07/2018 -

At the conclusion of the QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann Grandmasters Invitational 2018, Singapore got its latest Woman Grandmaster in Gong Qianyun. Despite being the lowest rated player in the field, Gong was able to hold ground against Grandmasters rated as much as 300 points above her! In this interview with Junior Tay, she talks about her performance in the invitational, her personal life and her early days of learning chess when she had to clean toilets if she wasn't able to memorise the classics correctly!  

Where do you see Indian chess in 10 years from now?

21/07/2018 -

20th of July every year is celebrated as the International Chess Day. This was the day when the world chess organization FIDE was established in 1924. In 1966, UNESCO suggested to observe 20th of July as the International Chess Day and since then all the 181 members of FIDE celebrate this special occasion. India is now progressing towards becoming the strongest chess country in the world. We asked lots of top Grandmasters and eminent personalities from India and the world one question, "Where do you see Indian chess in 10 years from now?" We have accumulated all the answers and compiled them in this article below. We have also selected few of the best answers by our readers from Facebook and Twitter and published it here.

A motivated Indian Blind team sets off to Bulgaria for the World Team Championship

20/07/2018 -

The Indian blind team is off to Bulgaria today for the world team championship. Over the next few days, they will be taking on some of the best blind teams in the world in their quest for a medal at the event. In this article, we discuss their preparation, assess their chances of a podium finish at the event and tell you about their meet with Viswanathan Anand.

8-year old kid shows never give up attitude in ACL 1st Super League 2018

20/07/2018 - 8-year old Aditya Saxena of Victorious Chess Academy kept fighting despite being down by a piece till the end for a win against Kushal Radia of Dynamic Chess Academy. Aditya shows us it's not about just winning games and matches for the team, it's all about fighting till the end and not giving up. Both players have made a lot of mistakes, but that is besides the point. Aditya managed to get a winning position but in the end he couldn't figure out how to win as it was not in his knowledge. Let's take a look at this roller coaster of a game and learn from the kids on keeping the fighting spirit alive even when you are down. Photo: Sameer Ghela and Manish Parmar.

"Smart" Vishy Anand stars in Vodafone ads

19/07/2018 -

Big brands use celebrities all the time to promote their products. Usually they go for Bollywood stars and when it comes to sports, it's the cricketers who get the endorsements. However, when brands want to portray smartness, there is one man who is a cut above everyone else. Yes, you guessed it right - the five-time World Champion Vishy Anand! Recently Vodafone released three 30 second ads on their smart data plans and the protagonist in them was India number one Viswanathan Anand. Anand doesn't speak much in the ad. It's his smile and witty answers to Gaurav Kapur's questions that gets the message across! 

Nas Daily features Armenia's Chess in Schools program

19/07/2018 -

Yesterday, famous Facebook vlogger, Nuseir Yassin aka Nas released an interesting video on Armenia's chess in schools program. For any chess lover, this was a pleasant surprise as finding chess in popular social media content is quite a rarity. Keeping with the spirit of his other videos, Nas shared an interesting story worth learning from. And guess what! Levon Aronian featured in that video along with the Armenian President. In this report, we share Nas' video, present a few quick facts about Armenia's Chess in Schools program and compare it with Indian scholastic chess.

Koustav Chatterjee wins WB State Sub-Junior and Youth consecutively

17/07/2018 -

Koustav Chatterjee becomes the first player in West Bengal to win two different West Bengal State Championships consecutively within two weeks. Koustav won State Sub-Junior for the very first time and within 8 days, he won the first edition of State Youth championship. He had won State u-11 and u-13 before in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Koustav won both Sub-Junior and State Youth convincingly as he finished half point ahead of the runner up. Bristy Mukherjee won State Sub Junior Girls emphatically as she finished a full point ahead of a pack. Photo: Amruta Mokal

From world's second youngest GM in 2006 to world's second youngest GM in 2018

17/07/2018 -

Praggnanandhaa becoming world's second youngest GM on 23rd of June 2018 at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days was a fantastic achievement. But 12 years ago, in 2006 India experienced something similar. A young boy from Delhi, Parimarjan Negi achieved his GM title at the age of 13 years 4 months and 22 days becoming the second youngest GM behind Sergey Karjakin. This record stood for eleven years before Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan broke it in the year 2017. Today Negi, being a computer science student at Stanford, has the ability to think deeply about how becoming one of world's youngest GMs helped him in his chess career. We also ask him if he has any advice that might be of use for Praggnanandhaa.

This couple works selflessly to promote chess in Mumbai

16/07/2018 -

Finding a good coach or an academy in chess has been difficult for many players and parents. When chess parents Hemangi and Rishi Gupta from Mumbai faced the same problem for their daughter Ananya Gupta, they did not decide to send her outside the city to work with high class trainers. Instead, they got the best trainers from all over India to come their home and started the iLead Chess Academy from their living room. The vision was to provide high class training to kids in Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra. Money making was never the aim. Hemangi and Rishi have in many ways helped in transforming the chess training scene in the city. An article on the work they have done by FM Sauravh Kherdekar. 

How I became the ACO World Champion (2/2)

15/07/2018 -

In Part I of this article we saw how Ashwin Subramanian who was just an unrated player, went to the ACO World Championship in Greece, played in 1600-1800 section and won the event. He was the only unrated player in the section, but he finished ahead of all the rated players. While this was a fantastic result, the question on everyone's mind was - how did Ashwin do it? Was it plain luck, or was it meticulously planned pre-tournament preparation? It was definitely the latter and in this article we tell you all about how the 40-year-old engineer from Intel worked hard on the different chess resources out there to become a stronger chess player.

What happens behind the doors of the best training camp in India?

14/07/2018 -

Getting selected in the national team and playing for the country at the chess Olympiad is a matter of pride for every chess player. But with it comes the great responsibility and pressure for performing well for your country. The Batumi Olympiad will be held in Batumi, Georgia from the 23rd of September to 5th of October 2018. Indian team will be represented by its strongest five female players - Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli, Eesha Karavade, Tania Sachdev and Padmini Rout. The girls and their trainer Jacob Aagaard are taking the event very seriously as they worked meticulously in the pre-Olympiad preparation camp that was held in Hotel Leela Ambience, Delhi from the 3rd to the 9th of July 2018. Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal visited the camp for a few hours and bring you their impressions. 

Pawan showcases his endgame skill in ACL 1st Super League 2018

13/07/2018 -

Pawan Dodeja of d'pawn Chess Academy faced Manish Parmar of Dynamic Chess Academy in the first round of Academy Chess League 1st Super League 2018 in Rating 1800-2200 category. He showed his excellent skill in the endgame when he outplayed his opponent Manish in a Rook and opposite color Bishop endgame. Pawan sent us the game annotated where you can delve into his mind about his knowledge of similar endgames and how he goes about it.

Nihal Sarin turns 14 today!

13/07/2018 -

Today Nihal Sarin turns 14 years old. He is one of the brightest chess talents of Indian chess. As on today we can all see his sparkling games and some of his fantastic victories to know the chess player he is. He already has a rating of 2551 and two GM norms at this tender age. But how did this boy develop into such a strong chess player? We go back in time and look at an important episode in Nihal's chess career that took place in the year 2012, when the boy was just 8 years old. This short anecdote tells us why Nihal is different from all the kids of his age.

ChessBase India Power Group Tour makes a strong beginning in Montcada!

12/07/2018 -

Somewhere around March we published an article on ChessBase India newspage about the ChessBase India Power (CBIP) group tour to Barcelona, Spain. Ankit Dalal, the head of CBIP, was going to be the tour manager and would not only ensure that all the logistics are in place but would also travel to Barcelona with the players to take care of their every need. This dream project began on 23rd of June when 20 members of the group tour landed in Barcelona, Spain. The first tournament was the Montcada International 2018. Indians simply dominated the event, with GM Shyam Sundar winning it. Ankit Dalal writes about his experience of managing a tour where he is with kids who are travelling to a tournament for the first time without their parents!

Dressed to Impress: How IM Kevin Goh prepped and persevered for his final GM norm

11/07/2018 -

The recently concluded QCD-Prof Lim Kok Ann GMs Invitational saw one of Singapore's most talented players, IM Kevin Goh, earn his final GM norm after a six-year-long hiatus! In the tournament, Kevin showed some excellent preparation coupled with resourceful play to finish second whilst achieving his final norm. All that stands between Kevin and the GM title now are seven rating points; he is currently rated 2493. Besides being a master-class chess player, Kevin is also a Chartered Accountant. In this interview with CM Junior Tay, Kevin discusses some of his games, his mindset during the tournament, how he juggles chess and work, his future goals and his dazzling dressing sense!