6/29/2022 – The German Grandmasters Karsten Müller and Luis Engel developed a model that allows to classify players according to their playing style: The 4 Player Types model. According to Müller and Engel there are "Activists", "Pragmatists", "Theorists", and "Reflectors". Each group of players has distinctive strengths and weaknesses and knowing which type of player you are - and the opponents you play against - can be extremely helpful. Tanmay Srinath liked the model.

10/21/2020 – In this day and age, it is not so important to get an opening advantage - it is more important to get a playable position that you understand better than your opponent. With the Sveshnikov all the rage at the top, and the Open Sicilian no longer guaranteeing White his birthright opening advantage, top players have moved on to exploring lesser known but sound systems, and one such opening is the Rossolimo. Almost all the top players play this opening with both colours, its chief advocate being the American No.1 Fabiano Caruana. Jan Werle recently authored a DVD on the subject, and Tanmay Srinath takes a closer look at the Dutch GM's debut offering for ChessBase, along with a brief interview with the author about these DVDs.

8/10/2020 – All eyes were on the Candidates 2020, which was to determine the next challenger for Carlsen's World Championship. The top seed of the tournament, Fabiano Caruana, also has the unique distinction of publishing most of his findings on one of the most complex openings, the Spanish, in a 16 hour 3 DVD package for ChessBase. Having loved the first two parts, Tanmay Srinath in a detailed look at the DVD takes you through the last part, and tells you why listening to one of the greats of the modern game is a shortcut to chess improvement! | Photo: World Chess

2/17/2020 – The 2020 Prague Masters has reached the half-way mark, and it has been a one man show so far! Vidit Gujrathi has exhibited amazing composure and concentration, drawing with Black and winning with White. Today he dismantled Alireza Firouzja in the Exchange Slav after the latter mistakenly grabbed a poisoned pawn and found himself resigning on move 24. David Navara also showed some fighting spirit to best Nils Grandelius in the symmetrical English. Sam Shankland missed too many opportunities, letting David Anton escape. Nikita Vitiugov was close to winning against Harikrishna, but missed some nuances that could have killed the game off and had to split the point. Markus Ragger confidently held J-K Duda to a draw in the Exchange Ruy Lopez. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/16/2020 – When two sides play a perfect game of chess, the game more often than not ends up a draw. Today, while all the five games ended up as draws, three of them didn't follow the stated script. Alireza Firouzja exhibited passion and imagination, confusing Nikita Vitiugov with a speculative knight sacrifice to gain a decisive advantage, but made two inexplicable moves to gift the latter a draw. Duda was seriously worse after nine moves, but his opponent Anton failed to find the most incisive continuation, continuing his roller-coaster ride in the tournament. Harikrishna played the forgotten Sozin Attack, and had to soon defend for a while to see out the game to a draw. Markus Ragger was tortured by the exchange down by David Navara for a while before concluding the game in peace, and Nils Grandelius signed a rather tame draw with the tournament leader Vidit, who retains sole lead. | Photo: Official site

2/15/2020 – After three hard-fought rounds of chess in Prague we finally have a sole leader! Vidit Gujrathi, after surviving a mega-scare against David Anton yesterday, found his rhythm and squeezed Markus Ragger in a Grunfeld endgame to go to world number 21 and 2½/3. Alireza Firouzja has found the going tough in the first two rounds, but he seems to have benefited from the close shave yesterday, as he outplayed Harikrishna in a Closed Ruy Lopez structure to score his first win of the event. David Anton was seriously worse, but David Navara's struggles continued as he missed numerous chances for an advantage with White to gift the Spaniard the point. Grandelius continued to falter in decisive moments, as Vitiugov escaped by a hair's breadth to maintain a plus score, and Shankland missed out on what could have been a brilliant win over Duda as Black. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/20/2020 – Many people aim for perfection in their chosen field. However, only a select few ever reach the pinnacle of achievement. As far as chess is concerned, Fabiano Caruana is one of the rare few who has, giving the chess world new ideas and beautiful games for years. TANMAY SRINATH reviews the second volume of Caruana’s FritzTrainer trilogy, and comes out amazed, yet again! | Photo: David Llada

2/14/2020 – In chess, results are one of the most important factors, but what is also interesting to the astute reader is how the result came to be exactly. On a day when all games ended in draws, some point splits can be more interesting than wins, especially if two players of equal strength engage in a fist-fight to death! That is precisely what happened in round two of the Prague Masters 2020. Nils Grandelius fabulously outplayed Alireza Firouzja out of an Anti-Berlin, but when the time came to finish off his opponent just after the time control he faltered. Anton too endured disappointment, when Vidit Gujarathi suddenly blundered to gift him a winning advantage, which Anton didn't take advantage of. The remaining three games featured rather tame draws, with high-class opening preparation. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

2/13/2020 – It's only the second edition of the Prague Masters 2020, but everyone is already calling it the Czech Wimbledon! Jan-Krzysztof Duda is the top seed of the event and with a rating average of 2707, it is one of the strongest round robin events out there. At the last moment Wei Yi was replaced by Alireza Firouzja because the Chinese GM wasn't able to travel due to the Coronavirus. In the first round itself, three out of five possible decisive results meant that a lot of blood was spilled. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

12/18/2019 – Looking for a holiday gift for your chess-fan friend or relative? The current World No.2, being a 1.e4 player his entire life, has shared his deep knowledge about the Ruy Lopez in a 3-DVD series, acclaimed by amateurs and professionals alike. In 2018, Fabiano Caruana achieved one of the most prestigious honours in the history of the game: he qualified for a match for the World Chess Championship. He lost, but left many surprised as to how he out-prepared and out-played Magnus in the classical portion of the match. TANMAY SRINATH takes a closer look in this comprehensive review.

12/11/2019 – December 11th, 2019, is the 50th birthday of Viswanathan Anand, the subject of ChessBase's most recent Masterclass Vol.12. TANMAY SRINATH critically examines ChessBase's latest offering in this series, a foray into the mind of a chess genius who has influenced the game in countless ways. | Pictured: Anand and his wife Aruna in Kolkata. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

7/31/2019 – After winning a tournament, players usually take a quick draw in the last round to go and celebrate. Not Vidit! He fought tooth and nail and managed to outplay Maghsoodloo in a reversed King's Indian as Black to end the tournament a whopping 6 points clear of his nearest competitor (using Biel's weighted scoring system)! Shankland was lost for the majority of an exchange-up endgame against Leko, but somehow survived to take second and relegate Leko to third. Georgiadis thumped Cori's indecisive play with a piece sacrifice and won an attacking beauty. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/30/2019 – He's done it! Vidit Santosh Gujrathi dominated the Biel Chess Festival 2019, winning with a round to spare! On Monday he pressed for 41 moves against Abdusattorov, but decided to take a draw after his tournament victory was assured by Shankland's draw against Bogner. The American was considerably worse out of a Gruenfeld, but his opponent Bogner seemed to be in a peaceful mood, and they ended up splitting the point. Leko took no time in recovering from yesterday's loss, crushing Cori with an elegant exchange sacrifice in the late middlegame. Georgiadis missed a huge chance to put Maghsoodloo under pressure, and had to fight to split the point. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/29/2019 – Change is never pleasant, but when one succeeds in expanding his skill set the results are often staggering - ask Vidit Gujrathi! His attacking masterclass over Bogner sees Vidit just 3 points away from his 1st Biel title! Sam Shankland was a surprise victim today - Jorge Cori played splendidly in a reversed French structure to hand the American a potentially decisive loss and come closer to the coveted 2700 mark. Abdusattorov came back from the brink to stun Georgiadis, while Leko blundered deep into the endgame to switch places with Maghsoodloo in the points table.

7/28/2019 – After the rapid tournament, one felt that Vidit was not playing his best chess. But his play improved towards the end of rapid and in the classical event! After dominating the first four rounds of the classical, he now razed the field in Blitz with a powerful 11.0/14! His victory in this section followed a well-known pattern: ruthless against the bottom half with 8.0/8(!) and holding his own against the remaining three by breaking even (3.0/6). Sam Shankland played superbly as well, but a last round loss from a completely winning position ruined his chances, and he now trails the two-player race by a point with three Classical games left to play. TANMAY SRINATH has an exhaustive report. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/27/2019 – The Biel Grandmaster tournament has entered its only rest day, after five gruelling days of chess. Along with this flagship event, a nine-round Masters Tournament is being organized for players above 2000 Elo. The top seed is newly minted member of the 2700 club Jeffery Xiong, who faces stiff competition from fellow American Gata Kamsky and Israeli Tamir Nabaty. With 34 GMs and 22 IMs there are a lot of norm chances as well! After five rounds, Croatian surprise package Ante Brkic and German Alexander Donchenko lead the tournament with 4½ out of 5, followed by a host of players on 4 points. | Photo: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival

7/26/2019 – Really? Game of the year? You heard it right! After an opening mistake from Vidit Gujrathi, Nico Georgiadis turned on beast mode and made it to an endgame a pawn up. However, instead of a routine piece capture, he had a chance to end the game with a spectacular piece sacrifice! Vidit survived by the scruff of his neck, and is now joined at the top by Sam Shankland, who produced a Sicilian miniature consisting of temporary piece and exchange sacrifices to down Maghsoodloo in only 26 moves. Friday is the tournament's rest day, so play resumes on Saturday with blitz!

7/25/2019 – Vidit Gujrathi didn't play perfect chess, but his slow and steady build-up was too much for Peter Leko to take, and the Indian GM now takes over sole lead in the tournament. Nodirbek Abdusattorov handed Sam Shankland a defeat in the 4.d3 Anti-Berlin after the 2018 US Champion lost his objectivity and overextended his queenside. Parham Maghsoodloo's loss of form turned worrying, as an overestimation cost him a sure draw, with Jorge Cori being the lucky beneficiary. | Photos: Simon Bohnenblust / Biel Chess Festival