9/7/2022 – A major highlight of this year's Chess Olympiad was the stellar performance of the India 2 team. Composed mostly of teenage grandmasters, it finished third and narrowly missed gold. Grandmaster RB Ramesh was the coach of the young team. When he recently was in the Paris suburb of Asnieres to share his experience with 25 French coaches, he talked to Dhananjay Khadilkar about the Olympiad, his career, his students, the secrets of becoming a good coach, and more. | Photos: Dhananjay Khadilkar

8/23/2022 – Jules Moussard claimed his first French championship while Almira Skripchenko (pictured) won a record seventh women's national title at the French championship which was held from August 13 to August 21 in Albi, southern France. Skripchenko, who was tied on six national titles with Sophie Milliet prior to this year’s championship, defeated Natacha Benmesbah in the final round while Moussard got the better of Etienne Bacrot in a nail-biting encounter. | Photo: Lars OA Hedlund (Archive)

7/1/2022 – It has been more than a year since Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) finished second in the Candidates tournament. Ideally, the French Grandmaster should have been playing in this year’s edition too. However, he missed out following disappointing performances in the Fide Grand Prix events. With the 2021 Candidates tournament relatively fresh in mind, Dhananjay Khadilkar spoke to MVL on a range of issues including his pick for the 2022 Candidates, skipping this year’s Olympiad and the possibility of Magnus Carlsen not defending the world championship title.

6/1/2022 – Grandmasters Maxime Lagarde (pictured) and Laurent Fressinet won the Internationaux de France blitz and rapid championships that were played over the weekend at Port-Marly near Paris. Lagarde won the blitz tournament with 11.0/13, and Fressinet won the rapid tournament with 8.0/9. | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

5/26/2022 – At the recently held Malakoff Open near Paris, Woman International Master Anastasiya Rakhmangulova scored 6.5 points in nine rounds to finish in 11th place. While her performance wasn’t extraordinary, the mere participation of the 27-year-old Ukrainian at the annual chess tournament was. She was in Kyiv when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. | Photo: Anastasiya Rakhmangulova at the Cappelle-la-Grande tournament 2022

9/20/2021 – Etienne Bacrot went into this year’s World Cup without any expectations, including qualifying for the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix, a series of three tournaments that will serve as a qualifying route for the next Candidates. Understandably so, as the last time the French Grandmaster had played in a Fide Grand Prix was in 2013. "Based solely on my rating (2658), I could not have qualified for the Grand Prix. It’s crazy that I made it this time," Bacrot said on the sidelines of a rapid tournament that was held in Asniéres-sur-Seine near Paris on September 11 and 12. | Photo: Pascal Simon (Archive)

9/1/2021 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave couldn’t have asked for a better time to win the Sinquefield Cup. Scoring six points in nine rounds, he became the only player to outrightly win the event twice. Equally important for him, the win beckons a return to top form. In an interview with Dhananjay Khadilkar, he remarked, “I have absolutely no doubt that I am part of the chess elite”. | Photo: Austin Fuller

8/26/2021 – The region of Saint Emilion near Bordeaux is renowned for producing some of the world’s finest wines. Hundreds of hectares of vineyards belonging to different domains dominate the landscape. One of these enchanting wine estates was the venue of a rapid chess tournament held on August 22. The 77 participants played the nine-round event in the midst of giant metal tanks and hundreds of wine barrels at the Château Montaiguillon. | Pictured: Maxime Lagarde and Mathieu Cornette | Photo: Thibault Plaire

7/27/2021 – The week long Festival de Fontainebleau chess tournament which started on 18 July doesn't feature any Grandmasters or International Masters. While the Open section comprises players with ratings under 2000, competitors in the three closed tournaments - each of which has eight players - have Elo ratings ranging from around 1800 to 2200. But what makes this tournament unique is its location and the Covid-19 related health controls that have been put in place here. | Photos: Club d'échecs de Fontainebleau-Avon

7/5/2021 – Bischwiller claimed their third consecutive French club championship title by winning the 2021 edition of ‘Top 12’ in Chalons en Champagne. Led by French Grandmaster Etienne Bacrot, the club scored an impressive 10 wins and a draw in the 11-round event to claim 32 points, three ahead of the runners-up Asnieres. | Pictured: Marie Sebag (left) of Bischwiller defeated Pauline Guichard of Asnieres in their round-5 match

7/3/2021 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave has had a roller coaster 2021. A faltering start after resumption in the Candidates Tournament meant Maxime could never catch up with the eventual winner Ian Nepomniachtchi. The disappointment of the Candidates was compounded by a drop in rating points. In an exclusive interview, the French Grandmaster touched upon these topics and much more. | Photo: Nadja Wittmann

7/1/2021 – The "Top 12" competition sees some of the world’s best players battle it out to claim the French club championship. This year players such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Veselin Topalov and Jorden Van Foreest show their class in this 11-round event. However, this competition also serves as an excellent platform for amateurs who seldom get to play against such strong opponents. Dhananjay Khadilkar asked Mathieu Ternault (pictured), a wine maker by profession, and Mickael Hutois, a professor for mathematics, how it feels to play in such an event. | Photo: Dhananjay Khadilkar

3/30/2020 – French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who jointly leads the now suspended 2020 Candidates is back in Paris. After an eventful fortnight, that included a surprise call to the event, the consequent last-minute scramble for a visa, an impressive performance at the tournament and returning home after passing through an empty airport. In an exclusive interview with Dhananjay Khadilkar, MVL, as he is popularly known, speaks about his surreal experience. | Photos: Lennart Ootes/FIDE

1/4/2020 – Improving one's chess rating is a tough task at every level, especially when one reaches an apparently insurmountable plateau. As we go up the rating ladder, things only get more difficult, as Anatole Vlachos (pictured) and Thal Abergel explain in this article by DHANANJAY KHADILKAR. A look into what it takes to go from FM to IM, and from IM to GM. | Photo: Dhananjay Khadilkar

11/20/2019 – Chessboxing has spread to France. The hybrid sport which combines alternating rounds of blitz chess and boxing has been popular in London and Berlin, and now the first official bout has been held in Paris. Paris-based journalist DHANANJAY KHADILKAR was there and sent this report. | Pictured: Thomas Cazeneuve vs Xhemshid Vogliqi | Photos: Dhananjay Khadilkar

11/8/2019 – Russian Grandmaster Alexey Sarana (pictured) won the Karpov Trophy while Algerian GM Bilel Bellahcene emerged victorious in the classical Grand Prix tournament at Cap d’Agde in southern France. Eight Grandmasters participated in Karpov Trophy, a 14-round rapid tournament. The top four finishers qualified for the knockout stage. In the semifinals, Sarana got the better of Indian GM Nihal Sarin while Bassem Amin defeated French GM Etienne Bacrot. In the final, Sarana won both the rapid games against Amin to win the title. | Photo: Pierre Textoris

9/29/2019 – Grandmaster Sergey Fedorchuk won the 28th Sevres Open, a nine round rapid tournament outside of Paris. The 38-year-old Ukrainian is a veteran of the professional tournament circuit, and a two-time Paris Champion. In a look at the typical life of a 2600-GM, Paris-based journalist DHANANJAY KHADILKAR paid a visit and spoke to the top finishers. | Photo: Dhananjay Khadilkar

8/27/2019 – The 2019 French Championships concluded on Sunday in Chartres, capital of the Eure-et-Loir department. Both the open and women's categories were decided on tiebreaks. In the end, Pauline Guichard got her second consecutive national title after taking down six-time champion Sophie Milliet, while Maxime Lagarde became French champion for the first time after beating Laurent Fressinet in the blitz phase of the play-offs. DHANANJAY KHADILKAR reports. | Photo: Fédération Française des Échecs