10/8/2019 – A professional chess player at just 14 years of age? IM SAGAR SHAH has the details in his latest report with pictures and analysis from Mumbai. Other sole leaders after round six in the event are Leya Garifullina at 5½/6 in the under-16 girls and Rudik Makarian with 5½/6 in the under-16 open. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

10/6/2019 – As often happens in tournaments, the first few rounds are filled with upsets, lower rated players stunning their higher rated opponents. However, once the rounds progress and the dust settles you begin to see the stronger players with higher rating begin to call the shots. This is what is happening at the World Youth 2019 as players like Praggnanandhaa, Shuvalova, Garifullina, Makarian, Suleymanli, Rakshitta are in the lead. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you the most interesting moments of the day along with analysis of some selected attacking games, endgames and study like positions. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

10/6/2019 – At the end of the fourth round of the World Youth 2019, we have one section where a sole leader has emerged. In under-14 open, Srihari LR (pictured) claimed the pole position by beating top seed Sreeshwan Maralakshikari. The game was so good that it was given the "ChessBase Game of the day prize"! Divya Deshmukh, the top seed in under-14 section lost her game to a player rated over 400 points below her. Rudik Makarian, Aronyak Ghosh in under-16 open and Leya Garifullina and Nazerke Nurgali in under-16 girls are the four other players on a perfect score of 4.0/4. IM SAGAR SHAH brings you a detailed report with pictures, game, analysis from the Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/4/2019 – A double-round in a day always speeds up an event. After the first day, we had two rounds on the second day of the World Youth 2019. In all the sections we have five or fewer players on perfect score. In the under-18 girls section we already have a sole leader! IM SAGAR SHAH analyzes the win of Honorata Kucharska, the sole leader in girls under-18 and try to improve our understanding of the Exchange French. We also have two very interesting games by the highest rated player in the event Shant Sargsyan (2580) and lastly we look at two pawn endgames that were complex enough for strong players to solve them over the board! | Pictured: Polina Shuvalova and Alexandra Obolentseva share some light words before the game | Photo: Amruta Mokal

10/3/2019 – The World Youth Championships 2019 kicked off on October 2nd 2019 in Mumbai, India. The biggest upset of round one was defending champion Viktor Gazik losing his game to local lad Vedant Panesar. Gazik sacrificed an exchange in the style of Petrosian, but never really had enough compensation. In the past, players like Tiviakov and Andersson have been successful with a similar idea, and IM SAGAR SHAH probes the differences between those sacrifices, plus a brave effort from a girl playing in the Open section. | Photos: Amruta Mokal.

10/2/2019 – When the World Youth Championships 2019 come for the first time in India, how do you expect the opening ceremony to be? For all those who were present at the Convention center of the Renaissance Hotel in Mumbai, the experience was "electrifying". The dance performances showcased at a glance the myriad culture of India. Players from 64 countries are taking part at the World Youth Championships 2019 in under-14,16 and 18. The Indian challenge at the event is being led by Praggnanandhaa (2567) and Divya Deshmukh (2362). In this article we bring to you the glimpses of the opening ceremony and also tell you about the "How well do you know India" Quiz that was conducted by us with players from across the world!

9/4/2019 – As we reported last week, Vladimir Kramnik conducted a special training camp in Chens-Sur-Léman, France, for six very talented Indian youngsters, all in their early teens, but already GMs or close to winning the title. The camp was sponsored by the Chennai-based company Microsense Private Limited and ended last Saturday. ChessBase editor Frederic Friedel visited the camp and watched the interaction between the kids and the former World Champion. | Photos: Amruta Mokal and Frederic Friedel

8/19/2019 – As we reported last Friday, Vladimir Kramnik is conducting a special training camp in Chens-Sur-Leman, France, for six very talented Indian youngsters. It is sponsored by the Chennai-based company Microsense Private Limited and is well under way. Sagar Shah, CEO of ChessBase India, is looking after the youngsters, aged between 13 and 16, and recording as much as he can of the sessions. He has written an extensive report from which you too can learn — and have a bit of fun in the process. | All photos: Amruta Mokal

8/16/2019 – It is a new development that will boost Indian chess beyond measure: Vladimir Kramnik, the 14th World Champion, has started to work with six talented Indian youngsters in a training camp that will be held in Chens-Sur-Leman, France. It is the first of four sessions and is sponsored by the Chennai-based company Microsense Private Limited. ChessBase India has played a pivotal role in bringing all of the elements of the camp together. IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal will be accompanying the youngsters.

7/10/2019 – The Commonwealth Championships 2019 were held from June 30th to July 7th 2019 in New Delhi, India. 'Mr. Commonwealth', four-time Commonwealth Champion also known as Abhijeet Gupta (pictured right) was taking part in the event and was the top seed. It was a fierce fight and in the end Abhijeet emerged victorious to take home his 5th Commonwealth title. Tania Sachdev (pictured left) won the women's event. IM SAGAR SHAH interesting chess analysis, photos, videos and much more.

12/16/2018 – Fan favourite super-GM Vassily Ivanchuk lost to 12-year-old Sreeshwan Maralakshikari from India. The powerful youth are likely to remain one of the chief storylines in Sitges, a town just down the Mediterranean coast from Barcelona. In attendance are the top players in the world ages 11-14 — all from India — plus the European number one under-15 IM Vincent Keymer from Germany. | Pictured: The playing hall on the eve of battle | Photo: Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival

12/5/2018 – Following the example of the massive bi-annual Chess Olympiad, an Under-16 youth version was held in Konya, Turkey, a 9-round Swiss team tournament which took place from November 25th to December 2nd, 2018. The Uzbek team won with 16 points ahead of India and China. Iran's top board, Alireza Firouzja scored 8.0/9 for a performance rating of 2736! | Photo: Official site

10/15/2018 – Ahmedabad, the fifth largest city in India, concluded its first International Grandmaster Open on October 12th. The ten round Swiss league attracted about 250 participants from more than 15 different countries. Although the field included some strong grandmasters, the event was dominated by Indian youngsters for the most part. At the end of ten rounds, the tournament's top seed, GM Martyn Kravtsiv won the event by defeating the overnight leader IM Vignesh NR in the final round. | Photo: Niklesh Jain

9/25/2018 – It's a historic moment for Indian chess. The country will be hosting its first super tournament this November — the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz. Bigwigs like Aronian, Nakamura, Karjakin, So and Mamedyarov will be seen crossing swords with Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit and others. Prodigies, Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa will also be seen matching their wits with some of the absolute best in the world. Here's all you need to know about the event.

8/21/2018 – The state of Kerala in India is in disarray right now. The flooding has reached catastrophic levels, 350 people have died and more than 200,000 are displaced after losing their houses. In such a situation, the third GM of Kerala, 14-year-old Nihal Sarin, has decided to do his bit to support the people affected by the floods. The young boy will feature on the ChessBase India live show on the 22nd of August 2018 at 8 p.m. to raise funds for the flood victims. It's a call to the chess community to help our brethren in distress.

8/1/2018 – Today, India hosts at least six grandmaster events annually. This October, two more GM tournaments are slated to add up to that list: one in the heritage city of Ahmedabad and another in the party capital of the country, Goa. The events will be held from October 5th to 12th in Ahmedabad and October 13th to 20th in Goa. Both the places have their own specialities and these being the first editions of both events, the organizers are extremely motivated to provide the best possible service to the players. Here's all you need to know.

7/5/2018 – It was an exciting final day at the Commonwealth Championships 2018. At the end of penultimate round we had four leaders with a score of 6½ / 8. P. Karthikeyan was the only one who won his game. With 7½ / 9, he became the Commonwealth Champion. Tania Sachdev scored 6.0 / 9 and took the women's title. Report by SAGAR SHAH, for ChessBase India. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

6/29/2018 – Chess reports are filled with news and updates, but this report from Commonwealth 2018 is different. It is filled with high level of instructional content. IM SAGAR SHAH, says, "To go through this entire report will take two hours of your time. But if you do it carefully, it is bound to teach you a lot about chess." Games, training, video and, to add more flavour to it, you have some world class photography by Amruta Mokal. | Pictured: Standing out from the crowd - GM Deepan Chakkravarthy!

6/18/2018 – “Tournaments should be held in places which uphold the rights of chess players”, says WGM Soumya Swaminathan after withdrawing from the Asian Nations Cup 2018 due to a dress code that requires women to wear a hijab. The Asian Nations Cup will be held from July 27th to August 4th, 2018 in Hamadan, Iran. Soumya has refused to travel to the tournament as she thinks that the dress code violates her human rights. This stand by Soumya which started as a small Facebook post has snowballed into international coverage.

5/24/2018 – The third edition of Kolkata International Grandmaster Open came to a close on Tuesday. At the end of nine rounds, GM Srinath Narayanan emerged on top of the field with a score of 7½/9. This was one of the best Grandmaster events organised in India and also happens to be the last event of FIDE Presidential candidate Nigel Short before he begins his election campaign. | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

5/19/2018 – "Never play with drunkards and desperate men and quarrelsome people for it leads to a brawl”. Chess researcher SERGIO NEGRI continues his deep dive into the origins of our game, this time focusing on the most widely recognised theory, that of an Indian origin | Image (centre): Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga (early chess) on an 8x8 Ashtāpada (a board) (Wikipedia Commons)

4/6/2018 – In September 2017, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sergio Negri, a researcher specialized in chess of Argentine origin, completed an epic treatise on the origins of chess. Thoroughly detailed, and thought-provoking, we bring it to you in a new series of articles over the coming weeks. This first part introduces the topic and discusses the first of several theories: a Persian origin. | Photo: "Zereshk" (Own work) CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

1/18/2018 – January 18th, 2016, is the date when ChessBase India came into existence. It's been two years since ChessBase India has been powering chess in the country. Right from a thriving news page, to bubbling social media, to online prize money tournaments, travel portal, calendar, ChessBase India is trying to provide all the services that help to improve the life of a chess player. In this article Sagar Shah, co-founder of ChessBase India tells the story of how this company came into existence and also we have a contest for you to win premium quality recently launched ChessBase India t-shirts.

1/18/2018 – When the 2700+ rated GM confirmed his participation for the Delhi International 2018, questions arose whether he would be able to win the tournament or not. With the under-rated Indian players, it was not going to be easy. However, Naiditsch showed to the world that he was a class apart as he easily won the tournament with 8½/10. He paced himself in exemplary style and was never in danger of falling behind. Ziaur Rahman finished second and Nubairshah Shaikh was third. We bring you the final round report along with some pictures of the prize giving ceremony. | Pictured: Top three winners of the tournament with Bharat Singh Chauhan and Arkadij Naiditsch (centre), Ziaur Rahman (left) and Nubairshah Shaikh (right) | Photos: Niklesh Jain