Tag: India

Qatar 04: Carlsen back at the top

The top-board battle between GMs Li Chao and Anish Giri in the fourth round of the Qatar Masters Open 2015 turned out to be a well-fought draw. However, this result helped GMs Carlsen, Wesley So and Matlakov as they won their respective games to join Li Chao and Giri at the top of the table. The aforementioned five players have notched up 3.5 points each.

Meanwhile, Indian juniors continued to impress at this very strong open. The biggest result of the day was produced by Indian IM Vignesh N. R. who shocked Chinese sensation Wei Yi in a game that witnessed lots of up and downs. Vignesh is currently on an impressive 3/4. Also, other Indian juniors like IM Gagare and untitled Harshit Raja have amassed 2.5/4 and are holding their own despite the high level of opposition.

The 5th round of the tournament promises to be very exciting with the top boards witnessing elite-level clashes. On the first board, World Champion Magnus Carlsen is pitted against GM Li Chao whilst on the second, GM Anish Giri will be playing GM Wesley So.

Round 4 Results: Here

Qatar 03: It’s time for Li Chao vs Giri!

With wins over GMs Wojtaszek and Sethuraman respectively, GMs Giri and Li Chao moved to 3/3, becoming the only two players to retain perfect scores at the end of Round 3 of the Qatar Masters Open 2015. The duo will take on each other in what will be the central battle of Round 4.

Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen overcame IM Yuffa in a convincing manner whilst GM Mamedyarov won a nice attacking game against GM Lenderman. On the other hand, GM Kramnik was pushed against the wall by Italian GM Vocaturo. However, the former World Champion eventually managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.

Amongst Indians, IM Gagare continued his fantastic run as he held top-ranked female player GM Hou Yifan to a draw. So far, Gagare has notched up 2 points and is undefeated. However, it is GM Ganguly who is currently leading the Indian challenge with 2.5/3.

Round 3 Results: Here

Qatar 02: Only 9 players with perfect score

The second round of the Qatar Masters Open 2015 saw only nine players emerge with perfect scores. This group of players includes top GMs like Anish Giri, Wesley So and Li Chao along with Indian hope GM Sethuraman and five others.

The top-board clash between GM Vladimir Kramnik and GM Piorun Kacper witnessed an excellent defensive effort by the latter, who accurately neutralized Kramnik’s chances in a tricky Rook endgame to secure a draw. GMs Sergey Karjakin and Shakriyar Mamedyarov were also held to draws. However, other top GMs like Anish Giri and So Wesley won their games in a relatively comfortable fashion.

As usual, World Champion Magnus Carlsen’s game evoked a lot of interest. Playing India’s GM Aravindh with the black pieces, Carlsen emerged better right out of the opening, only to squander the advantage later in his opponent’s time-trouble. However, the Indian prodigy was unable to find the best moves with his clock ticking, ending up in a tough position before finally losing on time.

The third round of the tournament promises to be even more exciting, with an all-2700 clash between Anish Giri and Radoslaw Wojtaszek scheduled on board one.

Round 2 Results: Here

National Women Premier Final: Padmini Rout Victorious!

Despite shockingly losing her last round game to Priyanka K, IM Padmini Rout managed to finish first in the Ramratna 42nd Indian National Women Premier Chess Championship 2015. Padmini amassed a total of 8.5 points over the course of 11 rounds, winning as many as 8 games on her way to this coveted title.

Meanwhile, a three-way tie was witnessed for the second place with WGMs Soumya Swaminathan, Bhakti Kulkarni and Swati Ghate notching up a total of 7.5 points each. However, on account of their better tie-break scores, Soumya and Bhakti finished ahead of Swati Ghate, securing the second and third spots respectively.

Final Standings: Here

National Premier Chess 03: Vidit and P. Karthikeyan held to draws

Four decisive games meant that it was a fighting Tuesday at the Men’s National Premier Chess Championship. Kunte and M. Karthikeyan managed to open their accounts, the latter at the expense of an extremely consistent Venkatesh who remains at a sorry 0/3.

To both Vidit and P. Karthikeyan’s dismay, they were held to draws. Deep and Rathnakaran lost their second consecutive games, the former tragically from a won position. Praneeth caused yet another upset when he took down Dhopade while Shyam Sundar and Arghyadip played out an entertaining draw.

Check the Round 4 pairings here.

Edmonton Chess 09: Bakre finishes joint first

The Alberta Chess Association organised the Edmonton Invitational Tournament with three grandmasters in the fray.

India’s GM Tejas Bakre (2438) was the only competitor in the ten-player field to remain undefeated /throughout the tournament. He finished tied for first at 7.5/9 with USA’s GM Jesse Kraai (2506) and GM Enrico Sevillano (2464).

Check the Final Standings here.

Edmonton Invitational 03: Bakre and Kraai lead

The Alberta Chess Association is organising the Edmonton Invitational Tournament with three grandmasters in the fray.

In round three, GM Jesse Kraai (2506) of USA and India’s GM Tejas Bakre (2438) drew to walk into joint lead at the end of three rounds with 2.5/3.

Check the Round 4 pairings here.

WYCC 2015: Indians win 11 medals in total; 5 Golds

The Indian contingent had a clearly superior performance at the 2015 World Youth Chess Championship at Porto Carras, Greece winning eleven medals. Seventeen countries were competing for thirty-six medals in Open and Girls sections in the Under 08, Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 age categories.

None of the other countries could manage more than four medals in their respective tallies. India’s eleven-medal haul includes five gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals.

The winners among Indians are mentioned below.

5 Gold medals: Rakshitta Ravi in Girls U-10, Mahalakshmi M in Girls U-18, Praggnanandhaa R in U-10, Vaishali R in Girls U-14 and Bharath Subramaniyam H in U-08.
3 Silver medals: Dev Shah in U-08, Varshini V in Girls U-18, Nihal Sarin in U-12.
3 Bronze medals: Divya Deshmukh in Girls U-10, Salonika Saina in Girls U-12, Vantika Agrawal in Girls U-14.

Bilbao Chess: Wesley So wins Bilbao Masters, 2015

American GM Wesley So (2760) won the tiebreak against Dutch GM Anish Giri (2798) to win the Bilbao Chess Masters, 2015.

Earlier during the day, both the games of Round 6 viz., Ding-Anand and So-Giri ended in draws, forcing a tiebreak match of blitz games to decide the winner among the Dutch and the American grandmasters.

In the first blitz game, Anish Giri built a winning position with the black pieces after So made some suspicious moves in a Queen’s Gambit Declined middlegame. Despite, being a pawn up, Giri failed to convert, and allowed So to fight back. Eventually, Giri ended up blundering a full piece, losing the game. In the second game, playing the white pieces, Giri again had a better position, but So defended hard. After several moves of back and forth, they both agreed to a draw in an opposite-coloured bishop ending.

GM Wesley So won the tie-break match 1.5-0.5, thus winning the tournament.

Bilbao Chess 04: Giri beats Vishy, joins So in the lead

Dutch GM Anish Giri (2798) won an easy game against Indian ace GM Vishy Anand (2803), earning an almost winning position after only eleven moves of an English Opening. The novelty by the young Dutchman on move seven playing the white pieces turned out to be a heavy blow for the five-time former World Champion.

Wesley So (2760) playing the black pieces meanwhile could only hold Chinese GM Ding Liren (2781) to a draw.

Wesley and Giri now lead the Bilbao Chess Masters, 2015, with six points each. Vishy and Ding meanwhile occupy the bottom places with three points apiece.