Indian chess prodigies look to NRIs for funding : HindustanTimes.com

Indian chess prodigies look to NRIs for funding : HindustanTimes.com: "Indian chess prodigies look to NRIs for funding"

News from HindustanTimes.com

Asian Championship to begin from Oct 6 - Sports News - Webindia123.com

"Asian Championship to begin at Hyderabad from Oct 6"

Is there any official website? I would be glad to track games of this tournament. Well! yes I don't want to cover San Luis - the tournament I wish never have happened. :(

Harikrishna 31st in world

: "Chess: Harikrishna ranked 31st in world ratings", NDTV reports.

This is a very good news. Harikrishna is making move steadily and soon should be among the most prominant players of the world. He is one of my favorite sportsperson. His ELO of 2673 is an achivement itself. Kudos to Hari.

BIENVENUE AU LAUSANNE YOUNG MASTERS 2005

Harikrishna making waves in Lausanne Young Masters Chess Tournament. Harikrishna is in semifinals now.

World Champion Dronavalli Harika

In March this year, chessbase published an interview of World under-14 champion Dronavalli Harika. Know more about this soon to be another GM from India in this article titled "Following the footsteps of Judit Polgar"

More about Tania

Know more about Grandmaster Tania Sachdev with Times of India column Ready for a teddy! with her.

19 year old Tania became Grandmaster in July this year. This year I will watch her in World Junior Championship and Women's world championship. Soon, she is going to cross ELO rating 2400.

Another Five Indians with International titles

See "Five Indian players earn chess titles" by newstodaynet.

LIST:
1. Tania Sachdev (Del) - Woman Grand Master,
2. Kruttika Nadig (Kar) - Woman International Master,
3. Mary Ann Gomes (Ben) - Woman International Master,
4. Abhijeet Gupta (Raj) - International Master, and
5.Ramanathan Balasubramaniam (ICF) - International Master

Report also mentions that "India has 2039 Elo rated players, 12 qualified GMs, 8 WGMs, 44 IMs, 14 WIMs now", numbers I am not very proud of but they are promising. They way Chess is being adopted in India, I forsee much larger number than these.

Chess in Sikkim

Now, chess generates interest in remote Sikkim, reports newKerala. Teams from eastern Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and the northeastern Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland states are among the participants.

Without a doubt Chess has broad appeal. India's booming economy should support Chess and soon there will be a day when it will be seen as a "Sport" all over the country. Not just a another game.

I feel really happy reading these kind of news.

Abhijeet Gupta - India's youngest IM

: "Abhijeet Gupta becomes India's youngest IM" Check out news at NDTV - 15 yrs old from Rajashthan is awared IM title by FIDE at Dresden in Germany in a executive board meeting. Congrats to Abhijeet.

Many many congrats to Tania Sachdev for her Woman Grandmaster title and to Mary Ann Gomes for her Women International Master title.

Anand reigns supreme in Mainz Chess Classic

: "Anand reigns supreme in Mainz Chess Classic" NDTV reports. Anand once again won at Mainz. Great news.

Sponsor blues!!??

Post - Sponsor blues: "August 3, 2005

New Delhi: India's youngest world chess champion, Sahaj Grover, might see his promising career killed because no one is willing to sponsor him. " Reporst thepost

This kind of news frustates me. Wish I had more money to encourage prodigy like Sahaj.

Delhi boy Sahaj is world champ - The Times of India

Delhi boy Sahaj is world champ - The Times of India: "Delhi boy Sahaj is world champ"
Another champ in making?!?!
Sahaj (Elo 1955) joined V. Anand, P. Harikrishna, K. Humpy and D. Harika as other Indians to have won the gold at world-level junior meets when he won the title in Belfort (France) on Wednesday.

Arjun Vishnuvardhan - another chess prodigy

The Hindu News Update Service The Hindu reports wins for fourteen year Arjun at Biel International Chess festival in Switzerland.

Also check out news at ians (http://www.eians.com/stories/2005/07/25/25win.shtml)

The Hindu : Sport : Tania Sachdev joins WGM club

The Hindu : Sport : Tania Sachdev joins WGM club: "Tania Sachdev joins WGM club"
Tania achieved a nine-game norm from the 11-player round-robin competition. She had gained her first norm on winning the Asian junior title in 2002 and the second one last year in the Abu Dhabi International. With a rating of 2343, she has already met the rating requirement of 2300 for the coveted title.

IndiaPost. Anand comes from behind to win Leon Chess tournament

IndiaPost. Anand comes from behind to win Leon Chess tournament: "Anand comes from behind to win Leon Chess tournament"
In what was a great comeback, Anand, trailing 0-1 after losing the first game, won the second and the fourth game and drew the third to attest his superiority once again in the rapid version of the game.

Anand in Ciudad de Leon rapid chess finals

"Vishy Anand defeated Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen in the semifinal, set to meet Rustam Kasimdzhanov in final of the tournament. More at CheessBase here ChessBase.com - Chess News - Kasimdzhanov and Anand win 3:1, 3:1:

Ganguly won all-India rapid chess tournamentl

The Hindu reports Ganguly is champion: "Grand Master Surya Sekhar Ganguly of Indian Oil used the advantage of being the overnight leader to ensure the title in the Tata Steel all-India rapid chess tournament, which concluded in kolkatta on Sunday."

MTel Masters 2005 Final

This is the final point tally:
Topalov: 6.5
Anand: 5.5
Polgar and Ponomariov: 5.0 each
Kramnik and Adams: 4.0 each

Result: Topalov wins the tournament, Anand is second.

No doubt that it was an interesting tournament. Thumps up to the new rule regarding draw. We saw lots of game from Kramnik producing results. These rules will make chess more interesting to watch.

Thats about good news. Bad news for Anand fans like me. Topalov might overtake him in rating and take the Kasporov held numero uno position. Anand lost to Topalov in round 6, which turned out to be decisive. Consider this, if that would have been a draw, both Anand and Topalov would had 6.0 point each and would had shared the top position.

This tournament was very good for Topalov. Specially after round 5, when he won 4 matches and drew 1. Ofcourse in final game Kramnik played a move which was a super super blunder, but it is chess. Only results matter. In short, I am disappointed with the possibility of Anand not being at top.

MTel Masters 2005 Update

So, I was out for some days and see what happened! Look at the point-table after round 5. All players have played a match each with other players.

Adams, M 3
Kramnik, V 3
Anand, V 2.5
Ponomariov, R 2.5
Topalov, V 2
Polgar, J 2

Out of 15 games played so far, 11 games ended in draw. All games of Round 2 and 4 were drawn.

Kramnik was interesting to watch so far. He is involved in 3 out of 4 games with a result. He started with win against Ponomariov in Round 1. And then gracefully lost to Adams in Round 3. Round 5 he won against Polgar. Following the trend I expect results in his game in Round 7, 9. Surprise loss for me, Topalov against Ponomariov.

I am Vishy fan, so obviously I was expecting him to get 5 points in 5 rounds. Its tough to beat him, but he is finding it tough to beat others too. He has neither lost or win so far. He should start beating these guys (and the solo woman Polgar). Polgar-Anand had interesting match in round 4.

Lets hope the second round of games be interesting and Anand win the tournament.

M-Tel Masters 2005 First round

Score card says it all
Kramnik, V 1
Polgar, J 0.5
Topalov, V 0.5
Adams, M 0.5
Anand, V 0.5
Ponomariov, R 0

Anand played a draw againg Topalov, game between Adams and Polgar was draw too. Kramnik beat Ponomariov.

M-Tel Masters 2005

M-Tel Masters 2005
M-Tel Masters 2005 starts today at Sofia, Bulgeria. Vishy is palying against 5 top-class players, Topalov, Kramnik, Adams, Polgar, Ponimariov. I am sure all the matches are going to be exciting. Wish Anand good luck to win the tournament.

Anand's ready for World Chess Championship- The Times of India

Anand's ready for World Chess Championship- The Times of India: "Anand's ready for World Chess Championship"
Times of India reports that Anand confirmed participation in world chess championship in San Luis, Argentina, around September-October this year. This going to be exciting tournament with top 8 players of world. I am looking forward to watch all the matches.

Satish Talim's Chess Blog

Satish Talim's Chess Blog: "Satish Talim's Chess Blog"
Another chess blog I liked.

Suneet Singh Mausil's Chess Page

Suneet Singh Mausil I liked this chess page.

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005 Update 4

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005: "Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005"
At the end Sasikiran decided to draw to with Timman to share the first spot. The game lasted 11 moves. His win against Nakamura was the highlight of the tournament, which forced Nakamura to third spot. Good result for Sasikiran, a loss-less tournament.

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005 Update 3

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005: "Sasikiran and Timman share the lead with 6/8 and their game in the final round will decide who wins Sigeman Chess Tournament 2005. All the eyes on Sasikiran after his win over Nakamura. This is a golden chance for 24 year old Sasikiran to shut off his critics and to prove that his win against Anand in 2002 was no fluke."
Also, Nakamura drew with Timman and is out of the race for first place and he will now have to fight Hansen over third place.

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005 Update 2

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005: "Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005" Sensational victory for Sasikiran over Nakmura. He is now second with 5 points and looking good to end tournament with first or second. Wow!! nice game Sasikiran. Looks like his last game of the tournament, with Jan Timman is going to be decider.

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005 Update

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005: The website says: "Sasikiran nursed a small advantage against Hector and everything looked good. Commentators Peter Heine Nielsen and Brynell gave Hector a 10% chance of drawing, but 5 seconds after they had said that, Sasikiran missed a knight check that cost him his extra pawn. Sasikiran threw away half a point and perhaps also some fighting spirit. That was at least Peter Heine's guess. Hector fought hard and got his reward, he will now be able to land on a decent score if he does well against his Swedish colleagues."

Sasikiran has 4 out of possible 6 points and he is now in third position. I wished better than this. Brighter side, he has not lost any game. He has three matches to go including games against tournament millow GM Persson os Sweden and tournament leader GM Timman of Holland. I hope he will do better than third. Btw with 2642 ELO he is second to GM Nakamura of US (with ELO of 2657) in this tournament.

Anand not thinking about Elista - Indian Express

Anand not thinking about Elista: Indian Express reports "While the FIDE has released the eight biggest names for the forthcoming classical chess championship in Elista to decide on the world champion, Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand is not taking any keen interest yet. Anand, instead, has his sights set on M-Tel Masters Trophy to be held at Sofia, in May "

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005

Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005: "Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2005"
After round 5, Sasikiran is joint 2nd with 3.5 points.

All the right moves- Esha Karavade

All the right moves- The Times of India: "All the right moves"
Times of India recently has a talk with Esha Karavade, latest chess prodigy from India. She is only eight Indian woman grandmaster (WGM).

Gail Adopts Harikrishna

: "GAIL adopts junior chess champion Harikrishna from NDTV"
Report says: Two months back, world junior chess champion P Harikrishna had told NDTV that he may have to quit playing chess because of lack of funds.

It is really disturbing to see world class player like Harikrishna going through trouble like this. Good for him that he has got a sponsor. Hope many more sponsor will come forward to help Harikrishna, one of my favorite chess player. He is targeting top 10 in the next two years. It is very much achivable. Best wishes Harikrishna, hope to see you soon on top. Thanks GAIL for sponsoring him.

The Hindu News Update Service

The Hindu News Update Service: "Chess: Karavade becomes India's eighth WGM"

The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Abhijeet Gupta becomes IM

The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Abhijeet Gupta becomes IM: "
Abhijeet Gupta becomes IM"

Check-mate Mommy!

Check-mate Mommy!: "Check-mate Mommy!
Six-year-old Vikrant picked up chess in five months, beats his mom and amazes his coach by his skills"

Hari gets back to winning ways- The Times of India

Hari gets back to winning ways- The Times of India: "Hari gets back to winning ways"

Kunte in joint lead after Round 2- The Times of India

Kunte in joint lead after Round 2- The Times of India: "Kunte in joint lead after Round 2"

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Amber 11: Anand wins Rapid and Blindfold

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Amber 11: Anand wins Rapid and Blindfold: "Amber 11: Anand wins Rapid and Blindfold"

Great news, Anand wins both rapid and blindfold. Rapid and blindfold are interesting variant of standard chess. Another variant is kriegspiel. I will try to post more information about it in later posts. Anand played very well in rapid and was full 2 points ahead of fiver more players sharing the second spot.

Anand posts convincing victories- The Times of India

Anand posts convincing victories- The Times of India: "MONACO: Viswanathan Anand began with convincing victories over Latvian born Spaniard Alexei Shirov in the first round of 14th Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here."

Linares Final

Some shocking results at the end. Kasparov lost to Topalov. How it happened! I am still wondering. Anyhow, Kasp is winner in tie-break. Rules were:
1- most wins
2- most wins with black
3- results between tied players
4- elimination of results of lower players
5- blitz
Kasparov is winner by rule 2.

Final Points:
Kasparov, Topalov - 8
Anand - 6.5
Leko - 6
Adams - 5.5
Kasim - 4.0
Vallejo - 4.0

Corus winner Leko was only undefeated player. But he did not win any game either.

Anand started with win against Topalov in round 2. In round 11 he won against Kasim, but ended with lost to Adams in round 14. He had good chances, as he played with white against Vallejo and Adams. Both were struggling in the tournament. Against Vallejo Anand lost a comfortable position, almost lost the game.

Linares update - After round 13

Today in round 13, Anand-Kasparov agreed on draw after 22 moves.
Kasimdzhanov-Leko game was also draw. Topalov beat Vallejo and took
the second place in standing. Tomorrow is the the last round at
Linares. Kasparov seem to be winning it. Anand is playing against
Adams and Topalov against Kasparov. He might end tournament at second.
Lets see what happens tomorrow.

Scores after round 13

Kasparov 8.0
Topalov 7.0
Anand 6.5
Leko 5.5
Adams 4.5
Kasimdzhanov 4.0
Vallejo Pons 3.5

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Linares R11: Anand in hot pursuit

ChessBase.com - Chess News - Linares R11: Anand in hot pursuit: "Linares R11: Anand in hot pursuit" 06.03.2005 Today Vishy Anand proved that he is not taking Kasparov's victory in Linares for granted. With a convincing black victory over FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov the world's number two player came within striking distance.

Linares 2005 update - After round 10

Kasparov leading the table with 6.5 points. Anand, Leko and Topalov having 4.5 each. Both Anand and Topalov has two day rest so far, but Kasparov and Leko only one.

In this 14 round event Kasparov has very good chance to emerge as sole leader. He has 4 wins so far, 2 against Spain's Grandmaster Vallejo Pons and one very good win against world champion Kasimdzhanov. Anand's sole win came in round two again Bulgarian Grandmaster Topalov. Rest all his matches ended in draw so far. Most surprising result of the tournament is Kasimdzhanov losing to Vallejo. England's Grandmaster Adams has 4 points, he lost to Kasparov in round 5, to Topalov in round 1 but won again Vallejo in round 7.

Anand-Kasparov draw

Just checked the official page of tournament. It is draw between the two giants. Good Game.

Kasparov all alone on top

ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

World No. 1 Garry Kasparov captured the solo lead with an impressive win with White against English superstar Michael Adams in the fifth round of the Linares Super Grandmaster chess tournament in Spain on Sunday (Monday in Manila).

The Russian champion faces his closest rival, Viswanathan Anand of India, in the much-awaited showdown between the world’s two strongest super GMs in the sixth round on Monday after which the seven combatants will take their first rest day.

Anand held to a draw by Kasimdzhanov - Sify.com

Anand held to a draw by Kasimdzhanov - Sify.com: Anand held to a draw by Kasimdzhanov

Linares (Spain): India's Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by FIDE World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan in the fourth round of the 22nd Linares Super Grandmasters Chess tournament.

In other matches, World championship finalist Michael Adams of England defeated local hope Francisco Pons Vallejo for his first victory and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov split points with Corus champion Peter Leko in a keenly contested game.

After four rounds, Anand and Russian Garry Kasparov are at the top of the table on 2.5 points from four games. They are followed by Kasimdzhanov, Topalov, Leko and Adams with 2 points each from as many games. Francisco Pons Vallejo has so far managed just half-a-point from three games.

Anand, Leko split point

Anand, Leko split point: "Anand, Leko split point:

[Sports India]: Linares (Spain), Feb 26 : Viswanathan Anand played a safe game and settled for a quick draw against Hungarian Peter Leko in a second round tie of the 22nd Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament here."

Chess: Anand begins with a bang

Chess: Anand begins with a bang: "
Chess: Anand begins with a bang -PTINEWS" Linares (Spain), Feb 25 (PTI) Viswanathan Anand kicked off his campaign in the 22nd Linares super Grandmasters chess tournament with a scintillating victory over Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgarian in the second round here.
The Indian, who had a bye in the first round, now share the lead with four other on one point each but is technically well placed as he has played one game less in this Category-20, Euros 297000 prize money event being played on a double round-robin basis between seven players.

XXII Torneo "Ciudad de Linares"

XXII Torneo "Ciudad de Linares" Official website for Linares Tournament, check out games.

Sasikiran finishes with a win

Sasikiran finishes with a win: "Sasikiran finishes with a win" - Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran finished his campaign with a finely crafted victory in the Aeroflot International Open Chess tournament which was won by Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky of Israel.

Anand-Kasparov blockbuster at Linares- The Times of India

Anand-Kasparov blockbuster at Linares- The Times of India: "Anand-Kasparov blockbuster at Linares" Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will be looking to settle a few scores against world number one Garry Kasparov when the two meet in the Linares Super Grandmasters Chess tournament.

Sasikiran suffers shocking loss- The Times of India

Sasikiran suffers shocking loss- The Times of India: "Sasikiran suffers shocking loss" GM K Sasikiran suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi in the penultimate round and fell out of contention for a decent finish in the Aeroflot International Open chess tournament.

Chess: Sasikiran wins Round 4 match at Aeroflot Open in Moscow

Chess: Sasikiran wins Round 4 match at Aeroflot Open in Moscow: "Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran finally managed to score a much awaited victory against GM Tomasz Markowski of Poland in the fourth round of the Aeroflot International Open Chess tournament.

Grandmaster Andrei Kharlov of Russia created the biggest upset of the event defeating second seed and hot favourite Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine."

Sasikiran goes down

Sasikiran goes down- The Times of India: "MOSCOW: Grandmaster Tejas Bakre emerged as the only winner on an otherwise average day for Indians in the second round of the Aeroflot International open chess tournament here.

In the top group christened 'A1' Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran suffered his second straight loss against Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexander Areshchenko in under two weeks time after going down against the latter in the final round of the recently concluded Gibraltar chess festival. "

AEROFLOT OPEN 2005:

AEROFLOT OPEN 2005 Official Home Page

Though Krishnan Sasikiran is ranked joint 16th (AEROFLOT OPEN 2005: Pairings & Results: List of players) , it would be good to see him performing much better than that.

Only a few shocks felt at Aeroflot tilt

ABS-CBNNEWS.COM: "Most of the top seeds hurdled their first assignments in the Aeroflot International Open chess tournament at the Hotel Rossija in Moscow on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila)."

Chess: Sasikiran off to winning start

Chennai Online News Service - View News: "Moscow, Feb 16: Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran took off with a lucky victory over veteran GM Vitaly Tseshkovsky of Russia in the opening round of the Aeroflot International Open chess tournament here."

After a break

There has been lot going on the Indian Chess Screen recently. I made this block several months ago but not been able to update it regularly. There were lot of things going on with me too. Never mind, will try to keep this blog updated from now on. As I won't be finding time to write, most of the posts will be clippings from the web. I want to trace not only GMs but also local events too.

Will certainly appriciate comments on the articles. Email me if you want to contribute to this blog.