The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2
The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.
Participate and play the best Indian players ever!
Dear Chess Players,
Indian Chess in the 1980s was still an old man’s game. People weren’t yet used to losing to 14-year old children who barely thought over a move. This is in contrast to what we see these days when we see 10-year old kids hunting down grandmasters. Probably this is because the times are changing and computers have been getting better and better.
But one of the key reasons why this is true is the rising number of tournaments. A young chess player has numerous options to play quality chess tournaments anywhere in India. The All India Chess Federation (AICF), led by D.V. Sundar and Bharat Singh Chauhan, is doing a tremendous job of making sure that a favourable environment exists. This allows India to host so many FIDE rated tournaments round the year (at last count India hosts 200+ such events every year!).
Mr. D.V. Sundar with the Bronze winning Indian team at the 2014 Olympiad
In our humble attempt to host world-class tournaments with facilities most players only see in top level events, we are proud to launch the ChessMine Rapid and Blitz Open 2017.
ChessMine's vision is to make chess a financially powerful sport. We are all about honouring great chess and great chess players. We do this by relying on a unique revenue model that we have developed after years of studying the sport. The people involved in this organisation are all chess players first, their ratings spanning between 1650 and 2500, with a keen interest in finance and entrepreneurship.
ChessMine is all about honouring great chess and great chessplayers.
A good ChessMine tournament means that the players get the best playing conditions, good money in cash prizes, and strong players, all in one place.
For years chess has remained in shadows of other, bigger sports, and while most people believe that it can never be a spectator sport, we firmly believe that it is an amazing game that can be played by anyone, anywhere and hence has the potential to become the most powerful sport on this planet.
Valar Dohaeris.
Play. Play chess. Play chess in our tournaments. Like some of these very strong players have decided to:
India No. 3 Vidit Gujrathi (Elo: 2692, Rapid Elo: 2718)
Former Indian Champion and Asian Champion, S.P. Sethuraman (Elo: 2625)
Former World Junior Champion and winner of several world-class Opens across the world, Abhijeet Gupta (Elo: 2625)
The gems of Indian chess, Aravindh Chithambaram and Karthikeyan Murali (Double Indian Champion) are both close to 2600.
Summary
Main Cash Prizes and Category Prizes totaling to Rs. 4 lakh 50 Thousand, in other words, about $ 7000. Exchange Rate: 1 USD=Rs. 65.
Special Prizes for Female players, Seniors, Juniors, and Schools
Time Control and System of Play
While there is a raging ongoing debate about the tie-break system that is most fair to all the players, we firmly believe that 'Most number of wins' is not the best way to determine the fair winner of the higher prize. Therefore, we have gone back to the Buccholz tiebreak system, until a better system of breaking ties can be found. However, to determine the winner of the first prize, we shall have a Play-off.
Entry Fees:
We believe that our tournament is not only for the elite players. This is for every player at every level. In future, we will endeavour to bring down the entry fee even further. The youngsters meanwhile have heavily discounted entry fees--our way to encourage them to play.
Main Cash Prizes and Category Prizes totaling to Rs. 1 Lakh 50 Thousand, which is $ 2330.
Special Prizes for Female players, Seniors, Juniors, and Schools
Again, as we mentioned before, we would prefer to stick to 'Buccholz System' of tiebreaks. But there will be a play-off for the first place.
Again, for Blitz as well, keeping with our policy of making the event for players of all the levels, there is a flat entry fees which is quite low. But if you want to play both the Rapid Tournament and the Blitz Tournament,...
Heavily discounted prices for players playing both the tournaments. For 10 and below it is $30, for Age 11-16: $31, Age 17+: $35
India’s 46th Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan will give a special 1.5-2 hours lecture on ‘Improvement in Chess’.
Srinath is an accomplished player with numerous achievements to his credit. He is the former World Under-12 Champion, former three-time Asian Junior Champion, and has had students who have made a 200+ rating jump on a regular basis, at all levels.
Srinath will additionally pair up with one of the visiting grandmasters and answer all the doubts of the players who want to improve their chess.
What better chance to learn from a world-class grandmaster? Srinath has coached a set of chosen students who are rated between 1500 and 2450 in his repertoire until today, and ALL of them have shown 100-300+ jump in their ratings.
The lecture will be held in the playing hall on Sunday after the Rapid Tournament finishes, and before the Prize Distribution Ceremony begins at 4.30 PM.
Affordable Grandmaster coaching at the end of Rapid Tournament and a day before the Blitz Tournament.
The backwaters of Kerala
The Kerala houseboat is a cultural heritage which in itself tells you a lot about this province. The country-side house boats are referred to as ‘Kettuvallam’ in Malayalam – the language of Kerala. They are made up of locally found materials like of bamboo poles, coconut fibre, ropes, bamboo mats, and are often 60-70 feet long.
Inside of the Kalamandala – a typical south Indian temple architecture. They are fortresss like structures with the main temple in the centre
This is the traditional way of eating food in South India in general. The food is served in a banana leaf which does a plate’s job. It is believed that this maintains the freshness and tenderness of the food. The rice is known as rosematta rice, an indigenous variety that gives you an earthy flavour which reaches enticing proportions when eaten with red meat
Silent Valley at Palakkad
Champakulam boat race competition
And of course, you must not forget to visit the Chess Village, Marrotichal! (Photo by Jack Palfrey)
Regulation for local players: We want the players to note that even though we have not arranged accommodation for every player, we leave the choice in the players' hands.
If you are a foreign player, please drop an email to us (and fill the form above) and we will be honoured to help you get good accommodation at reasonable costs. India is a fantastic country to visit, and Bangalore is only a few couple of hours from Goa that is famous for its beaches, Kerala, which is famous for its greenery, and Tamil Nadu (including Chennai, the birthplace of Vishy Anand), the centre of Indian chess. Not to forget Karnataka and the host city Bangalore itself, which is the hub of a revolution in the making.
We hope you will participate and contribute your bit in making chess a financially powerful sport.
Regards,
Priyadarshan Banjan, Srinath Narayanan, Hinduja Reddy, and Likhit Chilukuri
(For ChessMine)
For Further Details Contact
For Titled Players: GM Srinath Narayanan [Email: nsrinath2794@gmail.com]
Others: Priyadarshan Banjan [WhatsApp: +918848057156]
Email: chessmine64@gmail.com
For Sponsorship, Business, and Commercial Opportunities: banjanpriyadarshan@gmail.com
Indian players can pay their Entry Fees in ChessBase India here.
Download the Prospectus from here.
All Photos by Amruta Mokal
