21st Bangkok Chess Club Open 2024 started yesterday. A total of 223 players including 11 GMs, 22 IMs, 2 WGMs and 7 WIMs are taking part in the Open section. The first round did not witness any major upsets. Only a few draws occurred. The Challengers section has 84 players taking part. Players from a combined total of 40 countries across the world are playing in two sections. GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR) is the top seed of the event. The highest rated Indian in the field is GM Pranesh M. Both players have won their respective first round games. Check out the Round 1 report written ..read more

GM Vaishali R suffered her fourth consecutive loss at FIDE Women's Candidates 2024. She self-destructed her game in just 21 moves against GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN). This is also the shortest decisive game at Candidates 2024 combining both Open and Women. Zhongyi has regained her sole lead 6/9. IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL), GM Koneru Humpy and GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) drew against GM Tingjie Lei (CHN), GM Kateryna Lagno and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina respectively. Goryachkina and Tingjie are trailing the leader by a half point at 5.5/9 each, followed by Kateryna at 5/9. Round 10 starts today at 2:30 ..read more

The highly anticipated clash between the leaders - D Gukesh and Ian Nepomniachtchi ended in a solid draw. The tenth round of FIDE Candidates 2024 witnessed two decisive games. Fabiano Caruana (USA) and Hikaru Nakamura (USA) won their respective games against Alireza Firouzja (FRA) and Nijat Abasov (AZE). They both are now trailing the leaders by a half point at 5.5/10 each. The All-Indian clash between R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi ended in a draw. Praggnanandhaa is also at 5.5/10, followed by Vidit 5/10. Today is a rest day. Round 11 starts tomorrow Wednesday at 2:30 p.m ..read more

Iftikar Alom Mazumdar scored an unbeaten 8.5/10 to win 2nd Lt. Diloo Dhar Memorial Rating Open 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. Soram Rahul Singh scored sole 8/10 to secure second place. He also remained undefeated. Four players - Rajdip Das, Snehaal Roy, Subrata Nandy Roy and Elangbam Shashikanta Singh scored 7.5/9 each. They secured third to sixth place according to tie-breaks. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹200000. The top three prizes were ₹30000, ₹24000 and ₹16000 each respectively. The six-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by Siddhanandaji ..read more

GM Vaishali R ended her losing streak in the tenth round of FIDE Women's Candidates 2024. Vaishali was lost the better part of the endgame against IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL). However, after a lot of mutual blunders, it was the youngest player in the field, Nurgyul who made the final big mistake. Vaishali's both wins at this event happened against the same opponent. GM Tingjie Lei (CHN) defeated GM Aleksandra Goryachkina to join the lead with GM Zhongyi Tan (CHN) 6.5/10. Goryachkina blundered in the endgame which should have ended in a draw. GM Koneru Humpy had a well contested draw against ..read more

GM Hrant Melkumyan (ARM) scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win O2C Doeberl Cup Premier 2024. He finished a full point ahead of the rest. This is his third consecutive and overall fourth triumph at this event. His previous wins were in 2019, 2022 and 2023. IM Peng Chen (CHN) and IM Arghyadip Das scored 7/9 each. They secured second and third place respectively. The total prize fund of the tournament was AU $26440, $16200 in Premier. The top three prizes were $5000, $3000 and $1500 each respectively. Apart from Arghyadip, GM Mitrabha Guha and GM Venkatesh M R are two more Indians to make a top ten ..read more

Augustin A scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 to win Anatoly Karpov Legacy Rating Open 2024. He finished a half point ahead of the field. Nanda Kumar T S and Ahaz E U scored 8/9 each. They secured second and third place according to tie-breaks. Nanda also remained undefeated. The total prize fund of the tournament was ₹500000. The top three prizes were ₹60000, ₹45000 and ₹35000 along with a trophy each respectively. The six-day nine round Rating Open tournament was organized by International School of Chess Foundation and Russian House in Trivandrum from 28th March to 2nd April 2024 at Jimmy George ..read more

Sardinia World Chess Festival 2024 is just ten days. The inaugural edition of this festival is offering a total prize fund of €50100. The top three prizes are €10000, €6000 and €4000 each. It is slated to be the strongest tournament ever in Italy. A total of 286 players combining three categories - Open A, Open B and Open C have registered so far. Open A will witness the participation of 163 players including 21 GMs, 32 IMs, 2 WGMs and 6 IMs from 30 countries across the world. GM Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) is the top seed as of this writing. GM Bharath Subramaniyam H will lead the ..read more

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) defeated Richard Rapport (ROU) 1.5-0.5 in the Playoffs win GRENKE Chess Classic 2024. This is the third time Magnus won this in his career. His previous wins were in 2015 and 2019. In the first Playoff game, Rapport made a tactical error. Magnus had no trouble seizing his opportunity. The finish might have taken slightly longer but then again the time control is only 10' + 2". So time played a role in a prolonged finish. In the second game, Rapport had quite a few chances to deliver the equalizer. He missed them all and it ended up in a draw. Thus, the Artist fin ..read more

Arjun Erigaisi became India no.1 officially in FIDE Rating list for April 2024. He becomes the second Indian since D Gukesh to cross Vishy Anand as India no.1 in a published rating list. Gukesh achieved it on 1st September 2023. Seven months later, Arjun did it. Arjun is now World no.9. After Vishy Anand, Pentala Harikrishna and D Gukesh, Arjun became the fourth Indian to make into World top 10. Currently, there are four Indians in top 16, five in top 25, eight in top 41 and ten in top 81. Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the biggest gainer of this list at the top. He and stormed into World top ten at ..read more