9/20/2021 – Apparently there is no stopping Praggnanandhaa at the Hou Yifan Challenge for young stars. The Indian prodigy has won all 9 of his games so far in the rapid tournament taking place online. Vincent Keymer is currently in second place, two points behind Pragg, albeit with one game less to his name. Keymer will face Pragg on Monday, in round 11. | Pictured: Pragg during a training session with Vladimir Kramnik in 2019 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

9/18/2021 – Day 1 of the Hou Yifan Challenge, the last regular event of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour, saw Praggnanandhaa scoring five wins in as many games to take the sole lead. Vincent Keymer won his first four games, but lost against Christopher Yoo in the final round of the day, and now stands in sole second place. Pragg’s sister Vaishali was the strongest among the women, as she collected 2½ points in four games. | Pictured: Vaishali and Pragg with their mother, Nagalakshmi | Photo: Amruta Mokal

6/12/2021 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who came from winning the first event of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour, did not have a strong first day in the Gelfand Challenge. However, an impressive streak of five straight wins on day 2 prompted him to the top of the standings, as he is currently sharing the lead on 8/10 points with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Three players stand a full point behind with nine rounds to go. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

4/12/2021 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu kicked off the final day of action in the Polgar Challenge with three consecutive wins to secure first place with a round to spare. Four players finished 1½ points behind — Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Gukesh D, Nihal Sarin and Volodar Murzin. | Photo: Alina l’Ami

4/11/2021 – Despite losing against Vincent Keymer in the last round of the day, Praggnanandhaa kept the sole lead in the Polgar Challenge for young stars. Nodirbek Abdusattorov also ended the day with a loss and goes into the last four rounds of the event a half point behind the leader. Nihal Sarin and Awonder Liang (pictured) are sharing third place a full point behind Pragg — Liang scored 5 out of 5 on Saturday! | Don’t miss the expert analyses by endgame specialist Karsten Müller. | Photo: Crystall Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club

4/10/2021 – A sole leader has emerged after 10 rounds in the Polgar Challenge for young stars. Praggnanandhaa is leading the standings table on 8½/10, a half point above Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Christopher Yoo. On day 2, Kazakhstani IM Dinara Saduakassova abandoned the competition due to continual issues with her internet connection. | Photo: León Masters

4/9/2021 – Three players are sharing the lead after round 5 at the Polgar Challenge, the first event of the Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour. Praggnanandhaa, Christopher Yoo and Nodirbek Abdusattorov each scored 4 points on the first day of competition. Three players stand a half point behind, including Lei Tingjie, who was the sole leader after round 4 and was inches away from scoring a win in her last game of the day. | Photo: David Llada

12/22/2020 – Vishy Anand has ruled the number one spot in Indian chess for over three decades now. The five-time World Champion is now 51 years old and is still very much one of the best in the world. But Anand also wants to ensure that there are youngsters in India who rise quickly to the top of the world rankings in the years to come. It is with this objective in mind that the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy has been created. Nihal Sarin, Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, Gukesh and Vaishali are the five youngsters who received a fellowship and will be personally mentored by Vishy Anand.

8/22/2020 – On August 10, Praggnanandhaa turned 15 years old. On that day he received a message by IM Sagar Shah: "Would you like to test yourself today?" Without hesitation Pragg agreed. Normal 15-year-old kids would prefer to have a party or spend time with their friends on their birthday. But Pragg is different. He is ready to give up all that if he can spend some time learning a new trick or two on the chessboard. And, so the test began! Fifteen positions were solved in less than an hour. It turned out to be a tremendous test — give it a go! | Photo: Leon Masters website

4/2/2020 – Amid the Coronavirus crisis, chess players have turned to online tournaments to practice, compete and keep their spirits high. In this context, ChessBase India organized a five-event series to take place every Saturday since the 21st of March. Two tourneys have already been played. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Arjun Erigaisi were the winners, but Diptayan Ghosh is leading the overall standings table. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

1/28/2020 – Chess players have taken over the Rock of Gibraltar once again and, as usual, the festival has proven why players and spectators alike have made it a fixture in their calendar. After seven rounds, four players share first place in the Masters — Wang Hao, Parham Maghsoodloo, Andrey Esipenko and David Paravyan (pictured) have all collected 6 points so far. Bela Khotenashvili and Zhansaya Abdmualik are the top scorers among the women. | Photo: John Saunders

1/25/2020 – The Gibraltar Chess Festival is one of the strongest open tournaments in the world but only after three rounds did we see the GMs begin to separate from the pack, five of whom maintained a perfect score. After four rounds the five dropped to one: Ivan Cheparinov. The festival also has an interesting program of side events. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, currently number eight in the world, gave a masterclass (pictured) after round two, which you can relive at your leisure. | Photo: Niki Riga

10/29/2019 – The European Team Champs has seen a number of interesting games. IM Lawrence Trent checks out one from Anish Giri. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's Black to move! | Lawrence is live for free and on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

10/28/2019 – Wrapping up our coverage of the World Junior Championship, we bring you all the pictures from the closing ceremony as well as photos of the 17 norm makers. Reporting from one last time are the intrepid team of Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal. | Pictured: Volodar Murzin and Praggnanandhaa — future world title contenders? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/23/2019 – Polina Shuvalova is on fire at the World Junior 2019. After her pretty queen sacrifice at the World Youth 2019 that went viral, the Russian youngster yet again sacrificed her queen, this time at the World Junior. This one wasn't as deep or beautiful as what we saw in Mumbai in her game against Afonasieva, but to beat a player like Assaubayeva with a queen sacrifice is never easy! In the open section we have two leaders: Shtembuliak drew his game against Shant Sargsyan. This let Miguel Santos Ruiz catch up. The Spaniard beat Praggnanandhaa in pretty fashion to join Shtembuliak at the top. IM SAGAR SHAH brings a detailed report from New Delhi.

10/22/2019 – On the heels of the World Youth, Under-18 winner Praggnanandhaa moved on to the stiffer competition of the World Junior Championship. IM Lawrence Trent analyses his game against the fifth round leader, GM Evgeny Shtembuliak. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's Black to move. | Lawrence is free on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

10/20/2019 – Going into the rest day we are now past the half way mark at the World Junior Championships 2019. In the open section we have two leaders: Evgeny Shtembuliak of Ukraine and Aram Hakobyan of Armenia. They are on 5.0/6 and are followed by a pack of seven players on 4½/6. In the girls section we have Mobina Alinasab who has taken the sole lead with 5½/6 beating Altantuya on top board. Polina Shuvalova is in the sole second spot with 5.0/6. As many as ten girls are on 4½/6. In this report we bring you the most interesting games of round six and interviews. We also tell you about the Iran-Israel controversy which has been going on at the event. Two Iranians (pictured) were paired against Israeli opponents in this tournament and forfeited. A power-packed report by IM SAGAR SHAH from New Delhi.

10/18/2019 – On October 17th, the World Junior Championships 2019 had two rounds. After the final game ended we already had clarity on who has the early lead in the event. In the open section we have three players who are sharing the lead with 3½/4 — Miguel Ruiz from Spain, Evgeny Shtembuliak from Ukraine and the local favourite Praggnanandhaa. In this article IM SAGAR SHAH analyses one game of Praggnanandhaa and one game of Shtembuliak in great depth. While Pragg teaches you the art of exchange sacrifices, Shtembuliak shows you how to play positions in which you are winning. In the girls section we have Boldbaatar Altantuya from Mongolia who is on 4.0/4 and is the sole leader. A detailed report from New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/16/2019 – The World Junior Championships 2019 began with great excitement on Tuesday in New Delhi, India. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich visited the event and boosted the spirit of the participants. This is the second big event happening in India in the month of October after the successful completion of the World Youth Championships. It is perhaps for the first time in the history that the number of male participants in the open section is exactly equal to the number of female participants in the girls section — 94 each! In the first round both the top seeds — Amin Tabatabaei (2642) and Zhu Jiner (2507) — were held to a draw. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you detailed coverage from the venue in New Delhi. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

10/15/2019 – The World Youth concluded with a fantastic result for Indian prodigy Praggnanandhaa in the Under-18. IM Lawrence Trent analyses one of his best games. | Puzzle time: In the diagram below, it's White to move. | Lawrence is free on-demand for a limited time, or forever on-demand with a ChessBase Basic Account. You can register a free 90-day account to watch.

10/13/2019 – Six new World Youth Champions were crowned on October 12th 2019: Aydin Suleymanli and Meruert Kamalidenova won the under-14 open and girls section respectively, under-16 was won by Rudik Makarian and Leya Garifullina and under-18 titles went to Praggnanandhaa and Polina Shuvalova. How tense was the last round? In four sections things went as per plan, however in the under-14 girls and under-16 girls everything changed completely in the final round. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you a detailed report of how things panned out on the final day of the World Youth Championships 2019. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/6/2019 – As often happens in tournaments, the first few rounds are filled with upsets, lower rated players stunning their higher rated opponents. However, once the rounds progress and the dust settles you begin to see the stronger players with higher rating begin to call the shots. This is what is happening at the World Youth 2019 as players like Praggnanandhaa, Shuvalova, Garifullina, Makarian, Suleymanli, Rakshitta are in the lead. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you the most interesting moments of the day along with analysis of some selected attacking games, endgames and study like positions. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

10/6/2019 – At the end of the fourth round of the World Youth 2019, we have one section where a sole leader has emerged. In under-14 open, Srihari LR (pictured) claimed the pole position by beating top seed Sreeshwan Maralakshikari. The game was so good that it was given the "ChessBase Game of the day prize"! Divya Deshmukh, the top seed in under-14 section lost her game to a player rated over 400 points below her. Rudik Makarian, Aronyak Ghosh in under-16 open and Leya Garifullina and Nazerke Nurgali in under-16 girls are the four other players on a perfect score of 4.0/4. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you a detailed report with pictures, game, analysis from the Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/4/2019 – A double-round in a day always speeds up an event. After the first day, we had two rounds on the second day of the World Youth 2019. In all the sections we have five or fewer players on perfect score. In the under-18 girls section we already have a sole leader! IM SAGAR SHAH analyzes the win of Honorata Kucharska, the sole leader in girls under-18 and try to improve our understanding of the Exchange French. We also have two very interesting games by the highest rated player in the event Shant Sargsyan (2580) and lastly we look at two pawn endgames that were complex enough for strong players to solve them over the board! | Pictured: Polina Shuvalova and Alexandra Obolentseva share some light words before the game | Photo: Amruta Mokal