Moscow Open - As I see it!

This isn't a tournament report stating who won the tournament. Neither is this about the tournament by an IM or a GM. It’s all about what it meant to me - Moscow Open and all that is related to it. Bharathi R tells us about her experience of playing in Moscow Open and presents us some interesting positions towards the end of this article.

My experiences in US Amateur Team North

"There is no 'i' in team but there is in win." these legendary words were said by Michael Jordan on working as a team! Through this article I would like to share my experiences in playing the US Amateur Team Championship North which was held in Schaumburg, Illnois from 15-17 Feb 2013. Read more.

Zugzwang!! A Poem

Can you relate Chess to your life?

All of us, chess players can relate our lives to Chess in some way or the other. Here the author tries to do so, through a very beautiful poem.

Magnus Carlsen, we bow down to you

Magnus Carlsen breaks Garry Kasparov’s 13 year old record for reaching the highest FIDE rating ever achieved by any chess player. Srinath Narayanan takes a look back at Magnus Carlsen's journey. A brief yet informative article.

Commonwealth galatta!

Commonwealth Championships 2012 – ‘When it’s Chennai, it’s fun!’

Hi all, Congrats to all of you for making it through Dec 21, 2012!

As you are all aware, the Commonwealth Championship happened for the first time this year in the city of Chennai. The names of the players are not mentioned in any of the games just for fun! It doesn’t take away anything from the quality of the games! We show here some of the most interesting games. In between, you will sometimes get positions to ponder about.

Think Different. Think Creative.

Most of us regard creativity as something that involves aesthetic sensibility, art or a creative insight.

When we see a beautiful Chess combination or a piece of art, in that case, we wonder how someone can produce something so good from scratch. But that is a limited definition of creativity.

We can think creatively as well.

Zero Tolerance and India

Following the unpleasant incident that happened in the National Premier Championships, we decided to ask Indians what they felt about it. Read a part of the story in 'The Hindu' here. Of course, we HAVE seen players losing out on this rule time and again. But this time, the magnitude was very large and the newspapers did not make pleasant reading at all, even to the non-chess buffs.

This incident particularly opens up a few questions.

Life outside the 64 squares!

Hello readers.
I have ("successfully?") recently joined the list of players in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, of Chess players moving to IT industry after college. Arun Karthik expresses his views about his life besides Chess. 

The Difficulties of playing with computer-like precision

Here is a very different topic to read about! With advances in technology, the game of Chess has taken a tremendous leap towards progress. More about Chess and computers. 

The Beauty of Pawn Promotion

Remember that moment when after hours of hard work, you stopped the clock just to ask the arbiter for an extra Queen? Or that moment when you promoted all the pawns even though you were winning already?

Well, this is a humorous poem on Pawn promotion. Enjoy.

The “Draw” debate

Every so often, an article decrying draws appears in a website. Some would claim that it is because of the high percentage of draws that there is a lack of viewership for chess. Ashwin Jayaram tries to analyse the different nature of draws in Chess.

Playing for the Endgame: A response to Akash Jain’s “Zugzwang”

I was very interested to read Akash Jain’s piece on his choice of moves as a twelve year old between pursuing a professional chess career and continuing along a more regular educational path. It’s a pretty standard decision faced by a lot of talented chess kids around this age, including perhaps a couple of the readers, so let’s analyse the position a little deeper, shall we? Response by David Smerdon.

Svetozar Gligoric - The Evergreen Hero!

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.”
When I checked our faithful ChessBase website on the day of Indian Independence, August, the 15^th, I went really sad on hearing the news of Gligoric’s death, for, he was one of my most favourite players. But then, one has to come into terms with reality. He lived for 89 glorious years! We should all thank him for his great personality and his numerous contributions to the game of Chess. A great player in the middle of the 20th century, he contributed a lot to the development of opening theory, especially in the King's Indian Defence and Ruy Lopez. Don't miss this article on an evergreen hero.

Zugzwang.... Without a waiting move

Chess as a Means to an End - When I was around 12, I faced a binary choice about how to continue playing chess. Either I continue my education at my current school, and play chess in the evenings when I have time. Or I use my current ability in chess to gain a scholarship to study somewhere better, and all but give up chess. Education or Chess?

The Philosophical Side of Chess II

After a great response to the first part of The Philosophical side of Chess, Sagar Shah writes a sequel to it. A very interesting theme, and we invite our readers to read and enjoy.

How Life Imitates Chess - Technically speaking!

It doesn't really matter a lot where we end up in life; When you are associated to chess in one way or the other, it keeps showing up in your life somehow! There's just no let off on that!
The best minds are often idiosyncratic, don't sleep in the classroom! Eventually everyone comes up with something extraordinary... Here's one such thing. Being a Computer Science engineer,
my brain worked one time too many... Sometimes things look so easy inside and outside computers! I started to link everything in my college Computer Science and Engineering literature to the 64 squares.

Soviet Chess School Part 2

In the previous edition we discussed how the Soviet chess school reached the epitome of success! What led to the downfall of the Soviet Chess School? (Downfall in terms of high standards they set for themselves). Apart from Fischer no one could match the mighty strength of the Russians/Soviets! But Fischer was also quite Russian type! He studied Russian so that he could get access to the vast amount of books written in Russian Language (Previously all the chess books where written in Russian). More about Soviet Chess School.

Every song has a story!

What makes Chess so special to all the people in and around it? As chess players, we can give you many reasons but here I leave it to you. Find out for yourself!
This is by far one of the most beautiful and fascinating compositions I have seen. Also, as a matter of fact, I fortunately happened to see this chess problem in my very first days of chess.

The Philosophical Side of Chess I

A chess position which deals with a very common problem we all face: Leaving our comfort zone! 

Sagar Shah brings us a beautiful poem with a message, which will be very useful to all the chess players. A must read.

Anand - Gelfand Match 2012!

So You Missed the Legendary World Chess Championship Match 2012??? Don’t Worry!! You are in for a Treat!! Let me take you through this Awesome World Championship in my very own Olala way!