Videos Chess Olympiad u16 from Hungary

Hello chess blog friends, Chess Olympiad u-16 was recently held in Győr, Hungary with a record 40 teams. Indian won the chess olympiad. Here are some nice videos from the event. Enjoy!





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Indian Bollywood Chess Movie with Superstars Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar

Hello chess blog friends, here's an interesting chess video - the teaser trailer of Bollywood Indian movie 'Wazir'. Wazir, in Hindi, means vice-regent or minister, but in India, when taken in context of chess, it refers to the Queen piece! Enjoy the trailer, we will keep you posted on more updates via Chess Magazine Black and White. The movie stars Indian sub-continent superstar Amitabh Bachchan and another young star/director Farhan Akhtar.




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Padmini Rout is India National Women's Chess Champion 2014

Hello chess blog friends, Padmini Rout, born 1994, became the 18th player ever to win the Indian National Women's Premier Chess Championship. Padmini was expected to win against bottom ranked Hinduja but the desired result came after a long 94-move battle. When she won, her immediate rivals, Mary Ann Gomes and Vijayalakshmi had lost. Padmini replaces three-time champion Mary Ann Gomes as the new champion.

A career best purse and a hefty rating gain are awaiting the new champion as she will get ready to play her last game against Nimmy George on Wednesday. Padmini had been a strong player for long and was widely tipped by experts like Manuel Aaron and others to win this title. Her play is packed with depth and tact.

The penultimate round may have opened a new era in women's chess of India. Padmini Rout had won the gold medal for the best result among players in the fifth board in the Tromso Olympiad 2014. While felicitating the bronze medal winning Indian team at Chennai on Sep 5, 2014, the AICF chose to felicitate her as well. Padmini Rout had previously been the National Junior Girls Champion of India. She came directly from Pune having become India's best performer in the World Junior Girls that concluded on October 19. (Asian Chess Federation report)
 
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GM Sasikiran is India National Chess Champion 2013

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran is the Indian National Chess Champion 2013. GM Sasikiran won the 51st Indian National Premier Chess Championship 2013 on Monday. 

 

Sasikiran played some very strong chess to beat extremely tough competition over the last two weeks. The last round had two vital games to be played that would effect the final outcome. GM Adhiban went into the last round trailing the leader by half point and convincingly beat MS Thejkumar. This was even as Sasi battled Shyam Nikhil. If Sasi were to draw, he would have to give the title to Adhiban on tiebreak. But, Sasi held on strong and beat Nikhil to win the tournament with 10.5/13. GM Sasikiran has won the title for the fourth time. 

The third place went to Lalith Babu who played exciting chess to beat Debashis Das. Babu has won the most number of games in this tournament - nine! However, he lost three games thereby making it to the third place.

Thejkumar MS who finished fourth too had an excellent tournament scoring a GM norm and also increasing his rating by 22 points. He will surely be India's next GM in the days to come.
The other two players who finished in the top 6 Were Ashwin Jayaram who played a great game against Vishnu Prasanna and Deepan Chakravarthy who drew with Rathnakaran in just 10 moves.

G Akash won his first game of the tournament in the last round, however, Parimarjan did not turn up to play the last-round game and gave a walkaover to Akshat Khamparia. (Indian Chess News)

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Indian Chess Challengers for National Championship Qualification won by Thejkumar, Jairam

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

The 51st National Challengers (National ‘B’) Chess Championship 2013 took place from 12th to 22nd October at the T.T.Nagar Stadium, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The event was organized by the Academy of Chess Education Bhopal, M.P. State Level Chess Association, Sports & Youth Welfare Dept. Govt., on behalf of All India Chess Federation. A total of  272 players competed in the 13-round Swiss open tournament.

International Masters Thejkumar M. S. and Ashwin Jayaram tied the first place with 10,5 points each, leaving the nearest followers a full point behind. Debashis Das, who shared third place, completed the requirements for the GM title and becomes first Grandmaster from Odisha state.

Top nine finishers of this Championship qualify for forthcoming National Premier (National ‘A’) Championship. It is curious that only one Grandmaster in the field, Deepan Chakkravarthy, succeeded. (www.chessdom.com)

Final standings:

1 IM Thejkumar M. S. 2421 Rlwys – 10.5

2 IM Ashwin Jayaram 2461 TN – 10.5

3 IM Akshat Khamparia 2384 Rlwys – 9.5

4 IM Debashis Das 2497 Odisha – 9.5

5 IM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2496 TN – 9.5

6 IM Shyam Nikil P. 2412 TN – 9.5

7 IM Stany G.A. 2388 AAI – 9.5

8 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. 2476 TN – 9.5

9 IM Rathnakaran K. 2428 Rlwys – 9.5

10 GM Adhiban B. 2587 PSPB/IOC – 9

11 GM Lalith Babu M.R. 2583 PSPB/IOC – 9

12 GM Laxman R.R. 2424 Rlwys – 9

13 IM Swayams Mishra 2434 AAI – 9

14 IM Karthikeyan Murali 2444 TN – 9

15 GM Sengupta Deep 2589 PSPB – 9

16 Roy Prantik 2238 WB – 9

17 GM Kunte Abhijit 2487 PSPB – 8.5

18 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2566 PSPB(ONGC) – 8.5

19 Sagar Shah 2373 MAH – 8.5

20 GM Neelotpal Das 2455 PSPB – 8.5

21 Ravi Teja S. 2285 AP – 8.5

22 IM Gagare Shardul 2443 MAH(ABIL) – 8.5

23 FM Das Sayantan 2366 WB – 8.5

24 K. Praneeth Surya 2210 AP – 8.5

25 IM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2471 Rlwys – 8.5

26 IM Sharma Dinesh K. 2390 LIC – 8.5

27 Gusain Himal 2307 CHN – 8.5

28 CM Puranik Abhimanyu 2238 MAH – 8.5

29 Navalgund Niranjan 2230 TN – 8.5

30 FM Prasenjit Datta 2253 DEL – 8.5

31 Ram S. Krishnan 2228 TN – 8.5

32 Yogit S 2024 TN – 8.5

33 IM Karthikeyan P. 2389 Rlwys – 8.5

34 Vignesh Nr 2256 TN – 8.5

35 IM Konguvel Ponnuswamy 2366 PSPB(ONGC) – 8

36 IM Murali Krishnan B.T. 2306 Rlwys – 8

37 IM Kulkarni Vikramaditya 2335 Rlwys – 8

38 Deshpande Aniruddha 2270 MAH – 8

39 IM Ravichandran Siddharth 2372 TN – 8

40 Visakh Nr 2218 TN – 8

41 Pranav Vijay 2239 TN – 8

42 FM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2346 TN – 8

43 IM Girinath P.D.S. 2333 Rlwys – 8

44 Imocha Laishram 2197 PSPB(OIL) – 8

45 Patil Pratik 2237 MAH – 8

46 CM Prince Bajaj 2230 DEL – 8

47 Dhulipala Bala Chandra Prasad 2139 AP – 8

48 IM Babu N Sudhakar 2262 IB – 8

49 Joshi Govind Ballabh 2166 Air India – 8

50 IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 2430 Air India – 8

51 Gurpreet Singh Maras 2261 DASCB – 8

52 Abhishek Kelkar 2291 MAH – 8

53 Rohan Ahuja 2093 GOA – 8

54 Saravana Krishnan P. 2323 TN – 8

55 Shreyansh Daklia 2232 CG – 8

56 Abhishek Das 2228 Rlwys – 8

57 FM Joshi Pankaj 2271 Rlwys – 8

58 IM Mohota Nisha 2283 PSPB – 8

59 Singh S. Vikramjit 2221 Rlwys – 8

60 Lasya.G 2034 AP – 8

61 IM Gokhale Chandrashekhar 2276 Air India – 8

62 IM Deshmukh Anup 2265 LIC – 8

63 FM Muralidharan M.B. 2200 KER – 8

64 IM Prakash G B 2255 IB – 7.5

65 WGM Padmini Rout 2330 Odisha – 7.5

66 Navin Kanna T.U. 2358 TN – 7.5

67 IM Praveen Kumar C. 2286 Rlwys – 7.5

68 Ajay Krishna S 2006 TN – 7.5

69 IM Sangma Rahul 2394 Rlwys – 7.5

70 FM Shantharam K.V. 2167 IB – 7.5

71 Pardeep Arora 2033 PUN – 7.5

72 Akash Pc Iyer 2206 TN – 7.5

73 Tiwari Arjun 2273 MP – 7.5

74 Shashikant Kutwal 2239 Rlwys – 7.5

75 IM Himanshu Sharma 2391 Rlwys – 7.5

76 Sumit Grover 1935 J&K – 7.5

77 Mehar Chinna Reddy C.H. 2339 AP – 7.5

78 FM Raghunandan Kaumandur Srihari 2146 KAR – 7.5

79 Muthaiah Al 2083 TN – 7.5

80 IM Koshy Varugeese 2245 PSPB(ONGC) – 7.5

81 Santanu Borpatra Gohain 2103 ASM – 7.5

82 Chakravarthi Reddy M 2123 AP – 7.5

83 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2059 Odisha – 7.5

84 IM Nitin S. 2364 AAI – 7.5

85 Hemant Sharma (del) 2277 Air India – 7.5

86 Sekar B 2149 TN – 7.5

87 Agarwal Brajesh 2084 LIC – 7.5

88 Suresh Kumar T.J. 2154 Rlwys – 7.5

89 Negi Virender Singh 2094 Air India – 7

90 Krishna C.R.G. 2340 AP – 7

91 Siva Mahadevan 1976 TN – 7

92 FM Matta Vinay Kumar 2209 AP – 7

93 Thanki Hemal Karsanji 2038 BSNL – 7

94 Gavi Siddayya 1956 KAR – 7

95 FM Harshal Shahi 2010 DEL – 7

96 Rajdeep Sarkar 1921 WB – 7

97 Basu Suman 2067 WB – 7

98 Krishna Teja N 2185 AP – 7

99 Yogesh Gautam 2057 HAR – 7

100 Darpan Inani 2022 AICFB – 7

101 Prasannaa.S 2171 TN – 7

102 FM Ram Aravind L N 2051 TN – 7

103 Bartakke Amardeep S. 2149 Rlwys – 7

104 Kumaran B 2258 TN – 7

105 Sinha Santosh Kumar 2188 GUJ – 7

106 WFM Mahalakshmi M 2116 TN – 7

107 Anilkumar O.T. 2132 KER – 7

108 Godbole Atharva 1942 MAH – 7

109 Gajendra Singh 2043 LIC – 7

110 FM Rengarajan Srinivasan 2156 LIC – 7

111 Deepak Katiyar 2222 UP – 7

112 Anshuman K 1965 TN – 7

113 FM Ramakrishna J. 2207 AP – 7

114 Sai Agni Jeevitesh J 2067 AP – 7

115 Shailesh Dravid 1944 MAH – 7

116 Kranti Kumar P. 1953 AP – 7

117 Debarshi Mukherjee 1994 WB – 7

118 Dahale Atul 2137 MAH – 7

119 Teli Rajendra 2016 RAJ – 7

120 Akshay V Halagannavar 1835 KAR – 7

121 Raj Kumar Chauhan 2013 BSNL – 7

122 Jagadeesh A.K. 2068 KER – 7

123 Dupit Tabu 1955 ARU – 7

124 Srinath Rao S.V. 1938 CG – 6.5

125 Sahil Tickoo 1830 HAR – 6.5

126 WFM Vaishali R 1988 TN – 6.5

127 IM Lahiri Atanu 2325 LIC – 6.5

128 Aradhya Garg 2029 DEL – 6.5

129 Vijay Kumar 1999 BIH – 6.5

130 IM Shetty Rahul 2255 Air India – 6.5

131 Niraj Saripalli 2052 GOA – 6.5

132 Gurung Rakesh 1846 SIK – 6.5

133 Raja Harshit 1915 MAH – 6.5

134 Nath Rupankar 2045 WB – 6.5

135 Kishan Gangolli 2054 AICFB – 6.5

136 Makwana Ashvin K 1858 GUJ – 6.5

137 Lakshmi Narayanan Mv 2130 TN – 6.5

138 Anigani Kavya 1813 AP – 6.5

139 Aishwin Daniel 1934 MP – 6.5

140 Nayandeep Dilip Kotangle 2007 DASCB – 6.5

141 Polavarapu Ramakrishna 1948 MPSCB – 6.5

142 Deep Kapoor 1965 DEL – 6.5

143 Linda Rangarajan 2170 PUD – 6.5

144 Kaushik Shubham 1876 HAR – 6.5

145 Saurabh Anand 1921 BIH – 6.5

146 Harsh Mangesh Ghag 1849 MAH – 6.5

147 Dony K V 1741 SSCB – 6.5

148 Sudarshan Malga 1804 MP – 6.5

149 Kushwaha Sanjay 2025 MP – 6.5

150 Srikanth K. 1972 SSCB – 6.5

151 Anchit Vyas 1892 MP – 6.5

152 Saptorshi Gupta 1793 WB – 6.5

153 Pradip Tiwari 2005 DASCB – 6.5

154 Lalnunsanga 1895 MIZ – 6.5

155 Laldingngheta K 0 MIZ – 6.5

156 Sabarimuthu R. 1968 PUD – 6.5

157 Adithya S 1664 TN – 6.5

158 Dutta Umashankar 1878 TRI – 6.5

159 Sanjeev Biswas 2009 CHN – 6.5

160 Manan Rai 1913 DEL – 6

161 Kumar Gaurav 1933 BIH – 6

162 WCM Tejaswini Sagar 1876 MAH – 6

163 Diwan Rajesh 1959 OFSPB – 6

164 Awadh Chaitanya 1697 MP – 6

165 Dhananjay S 1930 CG – 6

166 Ajit Kumar Saw 1715 JHAR – 6

167 Rajeev V.M. 1781 KER – 6

168 Tamang Thendup 1738 SIK – 6

169 Aansh Gupta 1844 DEL – 6

170 Rijied Katrai 1694 MEG – 6

171 Dave Kantilal 2064 RAJ – 6

172 Vasudevan S. 1881 PUD – 6

173 Madhab Sarma 1995 ASM – 6

174 WFM Savant Riya 1939 GOA – 6

175 Md.Affan Siddiqui 0 UP – 6

176 Kamal Kishore Debnath 1867 JHAR – 6

177 Karthik K 1809 KER – 6

178 Anmol Agarwal 1479 AND – 6

179 Amanpreet Singh 1782 PUN – 6

180 Singh Balwinder 1914 PUN – 6

181 Bramhecha Divya 1762 MAH – 6

182 Pradeep Pandya 1777 GUJ – 6

183 Sushmita Lama 1559 SIK – 6

184 Matta Besh Vignesh Reddy 1665 AP – 6

185 Rajith V. 1994 LIC – 6

186 Thamizharasan J 1613 PUD – 6

187 Anupam Nema 0 MP – 6

188 Malla Nooka Raju 1878 AP – 5.5

189 Harikrishna. S. R. 2044 KER – 5.5

190 Saksham Dewan 1812 DEL – 5.5

191 Shane Alvarin Braganca 1659 GOA – 5.5

192 Barath M 1777 GOA – 5.5

193 Avdhoot Lendhe 1749 MAH – 5.5

194 Erigaisi Arjun 1811 AP – 5.5

195 Kiran Panditrao 2124 MAH – 5.5

196 Jayakumar P. 2082 BSNL – 5.5

197 Deepak Rai 1911 DEL – 5.5

198 Matta Theja Sahithi 1596 AP – 5.5

199 Naveen Bansal 1951 CHN – 5.5

200 Aryan 1783 BIH – 5.5

201 Davis Zoremsiama 1699 MIZ – 5.5

202 Dharmendra Mojidra 1834 GUJ – 5.5

203 Sradhanjali Jena 1788 Odisha – 5.5

204 Rajashekara N 1593 NAGA – 5.5

205 Anshul Kaushik 1778 HAR – 5.5

206 Ojas Kulkarni 1801 KAR – 5.5

207 Soundarya Kumar Pradhan-Visually Cha 1684 AICFB – 5.5

208 Silkam Sangma 1668 MEG – 5.5

209 Narendra Singh 1677 UTK – 5.5

210 Venkateshwara Reddy M 1689 AP – 5.5

211 Gautam Keshari 0 CG – 5.5

212 Bobby Lyngdoh 1662 MEG – 5.5

213 Ahirwal Dinesh 1449 MP – 5.5

214 Tapi Shah 1413 ARU – 5.5

215 Nayak Rajesh 1766 Odisha – 5

216 Prachurya Kumar Pradhan-Visually Cha 1646 AICFB – 5

217 Harshita Guddanti 1690 AP – 5

218 Gurung Rahul 1586 SIK – 5

219 Vishwanath Vivek 1535 AP – 5

220 H. Ibochouba Singh 1732 MAN – 5

221 Prem Babu 1872 OFSPB – 5

Raluk Dui 1697 ARU – 5

223 Ramesh Kalai 1680 TRI – 5

224 Vipin Tiwari 0 BSNL – 5

225 Akshay Shoshta 1644 HP – 5

226 Mishra H.D 1735 MP – 5

227 Om Batra 1659 DEL – 5

228 Prashanth Ashok Boricha 1566 VPT – 5

229 Potsangbam Jaminkanta Singh 1903 MAN – 5

230 Vinod Khudiyar 1744 MPSCB – 5

231 Sanjay Kumar 0 UP – 5

232 Singh Soram Rahul 1953 ASM – 4.5

233 WCM Ananya Suresh 1818 KAR – 4.5

234 Potluri Saye Srreezza 1744 AP – 4.5

235 Kumar Atul 1733 UP – 4.5

236 Dilbagh Singh 0 PUN – 4.5

237 Vipan Kumar 1611 HP – 4.5

238 Babu Rao R. 1784 MPSCB – 4.5

239 Hage Lasa Nado 1725 ARU – 4.5

240 Thakur Sanjeev 1693 HP – 4.5

241 Anugrah Nair 1473 AND – 4.5

242 Anshul Nigam 1641 JHAR – 4.5

243 Ashutosh Kumar 1661 MP – 4.5

244 Pukhraj Singh 1416 PUN – 4.5

245 Dawngliana MS 0 MIZ – 4.5

246 Sanjay Kumar 1340 AND – 4.5

247 IM Narayanan Srinath 2475 TN – 4

248 Sanasam Basantkumar Meitei 0 MAN – 4

249 Ratan Sarkar 0 AND – 4

250 Pranav Sharma 1553 J&K – 4

251 Ningthoujam Boboycha 0 MAN – 4

252 Poudel Yemu 1432 MEG – 4

253 Kishan Chand 1564 HP – 4

254 Akhil Kumar Deka 0 ASM – 4

255 Piyush Raj 0 MP – 4

256 Keshav Kant Gairola 0 UTK – 3.5

257 Joram Ago 0 ARU – 3.5

258 Taba Anam 0 ARU – 3.5

259 Sama Nishok 0 AP – 3.5

260 Shankar Murthy 0 MP – 3.5

261 Nabam Takap 0 ARU – 3.5

262 Vikrmaditya awasthi 0 MP – 3.5

263 Kughaho kiho 0 NAGA – 3

264 Swamy Ganesh G 0 AP – 3

265 Malik Jibran 0 J&K – 3

266 IM Singh D.P. 2276 Rlwys – 2.5

267 Melesayi Dawhuo 1949 NAGA – 2.5

268 Adidam S S V Manoj 0 AP – 2.5

269 Gupta Niti 1413 MAH – 2

270 IM Das Arghyadip 2471 Rlwys – 1

271 Aryan Rai 0 MP – 1

272 Anushka Raj P 0 AP – 1

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Progress in Chess is an Ongoing Process: Parimarjan Negi

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) 2013

Hi everyone, 

 

He used to be a "one dimensional player" but over the years, India's youngest Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi has adapted more "rounded and universal styles" of play which he is looking to use in the biennial Chess World Cup next month. 

"I used to be a one dimensional player going just for the attack, or the complications, but I think over the years I have matured as a player. I believe I have adapted to more rounded and universal style of play. There are many different ways to play chess and I have started adapting to those styles," Negi told PTI from Texas.

"Still, its an ongoing process and I always need to work on little parts of my game. "I feel I have also improved in dealing with the psychological aspect but this area still requires more improvement. But such improvements don't necessarily result in an automatic rise in the ratings as they need to be combined perfectly with the other chess traits," he added. 

Negi have had a good season so far, having won the Cappelle de Grande chess event in France in February and Spring Open International chess tournament in Dallas, Texas in March.

In addition to that, he ended up winning the Continental Chess Association Open in Washington and was declared the joint winner of the USD 43,000 World Open Chess in Virginia this month.

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Indian Chess Talent B Adhiban Praised by Vishy Anand, Qualifies for World Cup

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

Here is a cool chess feature for all fans of Indian chess. Recently, B. Adhiban qualified for the World Chess Cup, to be held in Norway from August 5, and the youngster is determined to make the opportunity count, writes P. K. Ajith Kumar in the Sports Star.

In an interview after winning his fifth World chess championship, in Moscow last year, Viswanathan Anand was asked to name India’s most promising chess players. On top of Anand’s list was B. Adhiban. For those following the Chennai youngster’s career, it was hardly a surprise.

He is a natural. He is easily one of India’s more talented kids on the 64 squares. He has won the World Under-16 championship and been part of an Indian team that won the bronze in the World team championship.

Recently, Adhiban, 21, qualified for the World Cup, to be held in Norway from August 5. He made the cut from the Asian championship in Manila. He was placed fifth in the tournament when the tie-breakers were applied; on points he was ranked second. He had 6.5 points, half-a-point behind the champion, Li Chao of China.

To meet the qualifying mark, he had to defeat John Paul Gomez of the host nation in the final round. “It was a comfortable win for me, as I had a strong attack on the king-side,” said Adhiban. “I was pretty relieved with that victory as I had badly wanted to qualify for the World Cup. Looking back, I feel I should have done even better; I drew far too many games, five of them. If I could have converted one of those draws into a win, I could have won the title.”

It is this desire to win that set him apart from most of his contemporaries, as an upcoming talent. It was refreshing to watch a young Adhiban, still at school, playing imaginative chess, game after game, always wanting to win.

Read more »

National Chess Challengers Begins in India

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

The latest chess news from home of the reigning world chess champion Vishy Anand is that the 50th edition of National Challengers Chess Championship (formerly known as Indian National B Chess Championship) has begun on Friday. 

As is usual in Indian chess, there were upsets in the opening round itself. N Krishna Teja beat urth seed IM P Karthikeyan of Tamilnadu. Another upset came from Goa youngster Ritviz Parab beating IM P Konguvel. However, other top seeds played through to the second round with victories. 

Top seed and defending champion International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni of Railways defeated Jalpan Bhatt of Gujarat while second seed IM S Satyapragyan beat Ankit Gajwa. IM Debashis Das beat Kotepalli Sai Nirupama.  of Andhra Pradesh.

A total of 236 players, including 24 International Masters, one Women Grandmaster and 213 rated chess players from across India are taking part in the championship that would also select players for the forthcoming National Premier Chess Championship scheduled to be held in October.

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BBC Chess Article on Why Chess on the Rise in India

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

The BBC has just released a very nice chess article on why Chess is on the rise in India. The world chess championships are under way in Russia, where Viswanathan Anand defends his title. His success is widely credited for the growing popularity of chess in his home country, India, the nation widely believed to have given the game to the world.

He's been described by some as the Sachin Tendulkar of chess, a role model to thousands of Indian school children and arguably one of the country's most successful sportsmen. Vishwanathan Anand is India's biggest chess star, and was the first in the country to secure the game's highest honour, by becoming a grandmaster.

Anand gained international acclaim in 2000 after he became world chess champion, a title he has now won four times.
The 42-year-old from Chennai is currently in Moscow, competing against Israel's Boris Gelfand for his fifth title. The score is currently two points apiece after four draws.

Chess has a particularly strong following in Delhi, Calcutta and across the south of India. The state of Tamil Nadu, where Anand is from, was even in the bidding to host the current world championships, losing out to Russia. Chess has risen in popularity in the years following Anand's first triumphs, says Bharat Singh, the secretary of the All India Chess Federation.

"The game has really grown in the past six or seven years particularly," he says, highlighting the fact the number of grandmsters (GMs) in India has tripled in that time frame, to 27 GMs today. The number of international chess masters in the country has also tripled (to 76) in the same period, and India is in the world top 10 in rankings. Read the full article here.


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Israel-India team chess match from April 2-4

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

According to an Indian chess news report, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran will head the Indian team in a special match with Israel from April 2 to 4 in New Delhi. The match is being organised as a curtainraiser to the upcoming World Chess Championship to be held in May in Moscow. Besides Sasikiran, GM and current National Champion Abhijeet Gupta, Grandmaster B Adhiban and Grandmaster G N Gopal complete the Indian line up. 

The Israeli team includes Grandmaster Illya Smirin, Grandmaster Tal Baron, Grandmaster Vitaly Golod and Gil Popliski. The match will be spread over three rounds and each player will play against all players of the other country at least once. There will be 12 games in all.

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