The Maharashtra Chess Association was formed in 1921. Maharashtra is located in the western peninsular region of India and occupies a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. The state is the second-most populous in India, being home to 112 million people, including 18 million in the capital of Mumbai. The "chess city" of Pune is also located in Maharashtra.
Pratapgad fort on the Deccan Plateau in Mahashtra
LetsUp is India's first WhatsApp-based digital magazine which can be availed on an all-in-one mobile app and provides the fastest updates of happenings across the world. It is a medium to connect with people and provide them with information on various subjects on their smartphone.
The LetsUp Online Grand Prix will run from June 3rd until July 1st, 2020. Here is the schedule:
The rounds start every Wednesday at 8 p.m. IST (5:30 p.m. Moscow, 4:30 p.m. in Europe, 10:30 a.m. New York) on Playchess. You can check the starting time at your location here. The tournament will have a total prize fund of Rs.155,000. Registration for each event will close on the previous day of each event, i.e. Tuesday at 8 p.m. IST.
Entry Fee: the tournament is open to everyone all across the world. The entry fee for each tournament is Rs.250 or Rs. 1000 for all five events. Players outside India who would like to participate can make the payment through this Paypal link by paying €5 for each event or €20 for all five events and write a mail to teamchessbaseindia@gmail.com mentioning their name, FIDE ID, Playchess ID and gender. Entry is free for GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. Titled players must write to us (same address) with their Playchess id to confirm their entry.
There is a special PayPal service for foreign players.
Prizes
You get GP Points for finishing in top ten in every event. At the end of five events all your points are added. However, only the score of best four events will be considered for the Grand Prix Prize money. E.g. if a player has finished first, second, third, fourth and fifth in the five events, then his/her score of only the first four events will be counted.
The main prizes are Rs. 6500 for first place, down to Rs. 300 for places 15-20. The best woman receives Rs. 700, the best unrated player Rs. 700 (runners up Rs. 500).
Confirmed titled players (Sunday May 31)
- GM Alan Pichot of Argentina
- GM D Gukesh
- GM Jakhongir Vokhidov of Uzbekistan
- GM Andres Carlos Obregon of Argentina
- GM Stany G A
- GM Shardul Gagare
- GM Dusan Popovic of Russia
- GM Laxman R R
- GM Himanshu Sharma
- IM Terry Renato of Peru
- IM Saksham Rautela
- IM C R G Krishna
- IM Arjun Kalyan
- IM Arghyadip Das
- IM Bharath Subramaniyam H
- IM Aronyak Ghosh
- IM Himal Gusain
- IM Neelash Saha
- IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete
- IM Hemant Sharma
- IM Aleksei Kireev of Russia
- IM Anuj Shrivatri
- IM Moksh Amit Doshi
- WIM Isha Sharma
- WIM Cholleti Sahajasri
- WIM Trisha Kanyamarala of Ireland
It's going to be a tough tournament. Portraits of the players on the CB.India tournament page.
In the meantime...
ChessBase India YouTube channel crosses 350,000 subscribers
ChessBase India started its YouTube channel as a way to interview top players, coaches, parents, organizers, sponsors and all the people connected with the game of chess. Slowly it extended into showcasing games of players, top class analysis, live shows and much more. The main aim of the channel is to enrich and enlighten players and spectators and make chess one of the most followed sports in India and the world. At the beginning of the year we had around 250,000 subscribers, now after five months we have reached 350,000.
Top ten most watched videos on the ChessBase India YouTube channel
Did you know the channel has 17 videos with over a million views? The top five videos together total up to 100 million views! This is the right time to share with you our top ten videos!
- R Praggnanandhaa vs Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Blitz, Round 17 - 30.5 Million views. This is the most famous chess playing video not just on the ChessBase India YouTube channel but across the entire internet. No chess playing video has garnered so many views! We are proud of this fact. Here's an article where we tell you why this video became so popular.
- Magnus Carlsen vs Vidit Gujrathi, Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Blitz, Round 10 - 27.6 Million views. This is the most popular video of World Champion Magnus Carlsen on the internet. In one of the rounds in the Tata Steel Chess India blitz, he had an upset stomach and so he offered a draw to Vidit Gujrathi on move five, which was accepted by the Indian GM. Carlsen's draw offer, Vidit's smile, the spectator's shocked reaction all make this video a very entertaining one, although it is just for a minute and a half.
- Rematch Vishy Anand vs R Praggnanandhaa, Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Blitz, Round 15 - 27.3 Million views. This video was much less popular than the first game between Pragg and Anand. However, in the last few months, it shot up like hot fire.
- R Praggnanandhaa vs Vishy Anand, Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Blitz, Round 6 - 9.5 million views. Vishy playing a dangerous variation in the Sicilian and Praggnanandhaa launching a deadly attack. Anand repelling it and finally winning the game. What an encounter between a future champion and a legend!
- Nakamura cannot believe he couldn't win this!- 4.8 Million views. R Praggnanandhaa vs Hikaru Nakamura, Tata Steel Chess India 2018 Blitz, Round 9. This game holds a special memory for all the Indian chess fans. It was because of this draw that Nakamura ended on the same points as Vishy Anand, a tiebreaker was played and eventually Vishy managed to win Tata Steel Blitz 2018.
- Vishy Anand vs Magnus Carlsen, Tata Steel Chess India 2019, Round 8 - 4.4 Million views. Carlsen plays the Scandinavian and grinds out a win against Vishy. A brilliant technical effort by the World Champion.
- What happened when Anish Giri offered a draw to Magnus Carlsen on move 4! - 4.3 million views. Anish Giri vs Magnus Carlsen, Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Blitz, Round 11. Carlsen had offered a draw to Vidit on move five in one of the previous rounds. So Anish thinks of doing it better! Why not a draw offer on move four! Check out what happens!
- 15-year-old Abdusattorov makes Carlsen lose his cool | World Blitz 2019 - 2.5 million views.
- The big controversy in the game of Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja at the World Blitz 2019 - 2.5 million views. This video was captured by Sagar Shah at the World Blitz Championships 2019. It contains some of the behind the scenes footage which gives you an insight into his big controversy between World Champion Carlsen and the future World throne contender Alireza Firouzja.
- Sergey Karjakin vs R. Praggnanandhaa - 2.2 million views. Karjakin had become world's youngest GM at the age of 12 years and 7 months. Pragg very nearly beat his record. A game between both these players was definitely a delight for the spectators!
You can see all the above videos with full transcripts of the games here.
