Sagar Shah is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views.
ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia) and the prices are tailored to the spending capacity of these countries. All ChessBase products including ChessBase software, Mega-database, Fritz, different engines and DVDs by world famous authors are available for 60% discount as compared to International prices.
3/15/2024 – Have you ever finished last in a tournament? Well, it happened to Vidit Gujrathi at the Prague Masters 2024. As Vidit himself pointed out, this might be the first time ever that he finished last in his entire chess career. And it happened 20 days before the most important event of his life - the Candidates, this cannot really be a good sign, can it?
2/24/2024 – After an intense tournament at Weissenhaus, Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal had a free week before their trip to the Prague Masters. They decided to use this time to visit the residence of Anish Giri and Sopiko Guramishvili in The Hague. The plan was to record an opening video course for ChessBase. This was done quite efficiently in three days, and the course is a 7-hour masterclass covering opening play. Moreover, the trip turned out to be much more than just recordings. For the author, experiencing the life of a beautiful family, which combines ambition, love and respect, was extremely enjoyable!
12/4/2023 – Ding Liren won the World Chess Championship 2023 and became the 17th World Champion. It's been 200 days since the last game of chess that he has played publicly. So where is Ding Liren, what is he up to? During his period of being away from the world of chess, IM Sagar Shah managed to get in touch with him and asked him about key position in the match. Ding also speaks about life after match and more. | Photo: Anna Shtourman
11/28/2023 – Grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming is both the CEO of the Singapore Chess Federation and an 8-time national champion at the Southeast Asian city-state. Kevin recently shared a post on X, showing his experience teaching chess at the Singapore Prison Services. IM Sagar Shah interviewed him on the topic. “Most importantly, chess has brought joy to [the inmates] in a way that perhaps serious, competitive players may never understand”. | Photos: Kevin Goh Wei Ming’s X account
11/21/2023 – The FIDE Candidates tournament will be held in April 2024 in Canada. Leading up to this all-important event, one that will determine the World Championship challenger, the All India Chess Federation has announced a financial assistance to Vidit Gujrathi, R. Praggnanandhaa and R.Vaishali to the tune of Rs.20,000,000 (US$240,459). This amount will be used for their training, travel, building a team and much more. It is truly a fantastic move by the National federation to support the Candidates of India!
11/16/2023 – At the age of 29 years, Vidit Gujrathi did something very special: he won the FIDE Grand Swiss outright and with it a spot in the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2024. In an personal conversation with Sagar Shah, Vidit speaks about what the title means to him, the role of his family and parents, and reveals his trainers. This Podcast gives an insight into the personal side of this world class GM.
11/1/2023 – India is on its way to becoming the biggest super-power in chess. Some of the credit goes to ChessBase India, which has organized a large number of projects to foster this development. CEO Sagar Shah is now on a mission to make chess a subject of the regular school curriculum, not just to generate further champions, but to foster the social and learning skills of students. Currently he is holding a seminar on how to implement chess in schools across entire states. Here are his talking points.
10/4/2023 – Geurt Gijssen, born in 1934, is one of the most famous chess arbiters in the world of chess. He was the chief arbiter for the World Championship match between Kasparov and Karpov in 1987. He has been the top arbiter for several world championships, Olympiads and also the chairman of the FIDE rules commission for 20 years! What makes him so special? In this interview IM Sagar Shah sits down with Geurt and gets to know all about his life story. Towards the end Geurt also gives his advice to young and budding people who want to become chess arbiters.
9/22/2023 – Recently we announced a very special FritzTrainer by GM Leon Mendonca, one of India's most promising young talents. It is on the Keymer Variation. In this follow-up video IM Sagar Shah invites Leon to speak more about this opening and share his ideas with us. The result is a lesson that can help you build an opening repertoire with 1.Nf3 and 2.e3. Do not miss the chance!
8/3/2023 – Gukesh is one of the most promising youngsters in the world of chess. He is no longer just a talent, but has confidently marched to the very top of the chess world, where he is currently ranked no. 11, with an Elo of 2751. In March 2023, Gukesh visited the ChessBase India studio in Mumbai and together with IM Sagar Shah they recorded a video course on how to attack like a super GM. The video course was well received – here are some reviews, from a strong IM to an unrated player.
7/27/2023 – The junior chess championships of various age categories serve a very important purpose. The talented medal winners get the limelight they need — with the adequate amount of support, these kids can go on to do great things in the chess world! One such example is 2014-born Thehas Rithmitha Kiringoda, gold medallist in the Under-9 World Schools Championships 2023. Starting off as the 21st seed among 61 players, Thehas went on to score a dominating 7½/9 and win the event! In this article, we ask Thehas a few questions about his chess journey so far, his performance in the World Schools, future goals and much more. Get to know the mindset of a young chess talent.
7/16/2023 – What happens after a company sponsors a chess player? How does it find value in the sponsorship? This article puts down the story of Arjun Erigaisi and QuantBox. QuantBox is a High Frequency Trading company, which has made one of the biggest sponsorship deals in the history of Indian chess with Arjun. Recently Arjun met the members of QuantBox at their Bangalore office, and what happened is portrayed in the article below.
6/1/2023 – From the 1st to the 6th of June 2023, as a part of the Maharashtra Chess Festival, two matches between world class players will take place in Nagpur, India. The first is between India's no.3 GM Vidit Gujrathi, who will take on the eight-time Russian Champion Peter Svidler. The second is between the top rated junior from the state Raunak Sadhwani and former World Championship Challenger Nigel Short. We have done extensive video interviews with the players.
5/21/2023 – Our Summer Camp has completed five days, with many hundreds of new players being trained. The camp is being held at the Phoenix Marketcity Mall in Mumbai and is open to all. There are no charges and people can learn chess in a fun and engaging way, at their own pace. Trainers and volunteers help to educate the public and guide them in the right direction. Is this a model that can be emulated in countries all over the world? Full video impressions at the end of the article.
5/10/2023 – After Sagar Shah, founder and driving force behind Chessbase India, spoke to former World Champion Vishy Anand about the dramatic World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren, Sagar also interviewed former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik on the same subject. As a supporter of "Team Nepo" Kramnik was directly involved in the World Championship match. In the interview, Kramnik talked about his work with Nepomniachtchi, the critical moments of the match, opening preparation, nervousness in World Championship matches and much more.
3/27/2023 – The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23 is into its third leg, and it is a huge moment for Indian chess. The start to the event has been rocky. One of the participants, Zhansaya Abdumalik, has withdrawn from the tournament after reaching New Delhi and spending a day at the venue. The players wrote an official letter to the FIDE President, and FIDE responded back with an official statement. Meanwhile, Zhansaya’s compatriot Bibisara Assaubayeva, who is present at the venue, wrote a post on social media voicing her opinions. We try to put it all together in this article. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
3/15/2023 – Sagar Shah has been a chess player, coach, journalist, YouTuber, entrepreneur and more. In his journey through different countries and tournaments, he has collected plenty of valuable experience to share. In his new series ‘From the CEO’s Desk’, he shares his musings and thoughts about various things — sometimes related to chess, and sometimes just life. Today, Sagar takes a closer look at the deep-rooted emotions and fears of a chess player, drawing parallels with his own life.
3/2/2023 – Gukesh is just 16 years old, already a full-blown top GM with a live rating of 2730, currently number 20 in the world. Ilamparthi, is a young talent, 13 years old, currently the world under-14 champion, and an IM rated 2423. Both Gukesh and Ilamparthi did really well in Dusseldorf at the WR Masters and Juniors respectively. It was time for some fun on our train journey from Dusseldorf to ChessBase in Hamburg. This article includes ten tough positions posed by Ilamparthi to Gukesh!
This Fritztrainer offers you the perfect addition to any Sicilian or Najdorf repertoire, and covers all the minor variations that White has tried to avoid the open Sicilian.
The Powerbook Philidor Defence 2024 is based on 33,000 computer games from the engine room of Schach.de as well as 21,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Philidor Defence Powerbase 2024 is a database and contains a total of 4561 games from the Mega 2024 and the Correspondence Database 2024, 269 of which are annotated.
This Fritztrainer offers you the perfect addition to any Sicilian or Najdorf repertoire, and covers all the minor variations that White has tried to avoid the open Sicilian.
The Powerbook Philidor Defence 2024 is based on 33,000 computer games from the engine room of Schach.de as well as 21,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess.
Philidor Defence Powerbase 2024 is a database and contains a total of 4561 games from the Mega 2024 and the Correspondence Database 2024, 269 of which are annotated.
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.