General Updates

ICS to host 1st Rapid & Blitz Rating Tournament on 10-11th March, 2012!!

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As your are aware, FIDE would be launching a separate FIDE ‘Rapid’ & ‘Blitz’ Rating List with effect from 01st July, 2012! In keeping with this, Indian Chess School would be organizing its 1st FIDE Rapid & Blitz Tournament (All Maharashtra Open) on 10th & 11th March, 2012. The detailed circular would be uploaded on the website very soon. Welcome to the new world of FIDE Blitz and Rapid Rating Tournaments!! Rapid and blitz rating lists (gist of FIDE decisions has been re-produced below – for full text kindly browse on the following link: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/5721-rapid-and-blitz-rating-lists.html   The Laws to be followed will be as…

Aditya Sukhlecha (1569) Stuns Shavdirov Jahongir (1917)

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The heartening feature of this event for our trainees is that each of them have been able to defeat a higher ranked player in the Asian School Chess Championship 2011 in progress here at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. In the 6th round it was the turn of Aditya Sukhlecha as he defeated 6th seeded Shavidirov Jahongir of Uzbekistan to move on to 4/6 in the U-13 section.    

Aakash Rao (1292) Beats Agamjot Kals (1656)

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14-year old, Aakash Rao of Rustomjee International High School followed in the footsteps of colleague, Siddharth Godambe of defeating the higher ranked players as he scored an upset win over the 19th seeded Agamjot Kals (1656) from the white-side of the French Defense game. Aakash is the lowest FIDE rated player in the Under-15 category of the Asian School Chess Championship in progress here at the picturesque, Indira Gandhi International Stadium. This group has only 36-player. As regards tournament, the players are enjoying it. Apart from providing quality opponent, it also presents them the opportunity to make new friends and see new places. Our…

ICS 3rd Mumbai Open: Registration Module goes Online!!

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The much-awaited online module for registration of entries in connection with the participation in the ICS 3rd Mumbai Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament has gone on-line yesterday night! My thanks to our IT specialist and a Chess lover, Sumit Pilankar for doing this at a very hectic pace!! This idea is totally his brain-child and I hope that it gets picked up by most of the organizers. For interested players, this will be a new experience of confirming their entries. No more telephone calls or sms!! Moreover, in the ‘List of Confirmed’ entries, they can very well see their names!! For…

Art of Living Course + Chess Tournament: 24-26 December, 2011

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Before I give the details of the unique tournament organized by my senior, Shri D.B. Pulekar and my friends Amardeep and Rashmin, let me take you 30-years down the memory lane! Mumbai, at that time was one of the powerhouses of Chess in the country and the Zandu Canteen its Mecca (Yes, the same ‘Zandu Balm’ of Munni!! – Alas, the new owner did not realize that how famous ‘Zandu ’ become because of Chess all these 50-years and closed the place permanently for Chess around a year back – I hope that this article should come to their notice…

Yifan Retains her Crown!

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Somwhere in our heart there was a little hope, just that tiny bit of silver lining in the dark clouds which had hovered all these day, that a miracle would happen and Humpy would bounce back. Alas, no miracle happended – perhaps the God was Chinese! The 8th game, in a ‘must-win’ situation for Humpy ended in a draw after 29-moves, which helped Yifan in reaching the magic figure of 5.5 to retain her World Championship Crown. Congratulations Yifan! You are a worthy champion!! For Humpy she would like to forget this event as early as possible, get back to the drawing board…

Humpy fails to scale the Chinese Wall

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The Women’s World Chess Championship 2011 between the defending champion, GM Hou Yifan and the defender, GM Koneru Humpy started on a very promising mode and appeared to be gearing for a ‘close-contest’  however; after 7-rounds, it has turned out to be ‘no-contest’ as Humpy, the 2nd highest rated female player in the world did not knew what hit her as she lost 2-games with White followed by one more yesterday with Black to hit the nadir. With this win, Yifan now leads the contest 5-2 and just needs a mere draw from the remaining 3-games to retain the crown…

Yifan Wins Game-6, Leads 4-2

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“Impossible is nothing” that is the advertising mantra of a prominent sports brand. Well, that is something Humpy will have to follow if at all she needs to make a fight in this Women’s World Chess Championship at Tirana, Albania., which is now turning out to be a ‘No-Contest’ after her 2nd  consecutive loss with the White pieces in game-6 to the defending champion, GM Yifan. Instances of great fight-backs in sports makes a legend and, legends are the one who have got that extra skill but as the boxing great, Mohammed Ali used to say “The Will should be…

ICS 3rd All Maharashtra FIDE Rating Chess Tournament from 27-31 December, 2011

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Having hosted two FIDE Rating in succession in the year 2010, a well deserved break was taken with a commitment to hold this event every year! As such, I had planned the 3rd edition of this event during the diwali vacation however; could not manage dates. Well, the wait if finally over and I have got the green signal from BCA (I express my gratitude to BCA Secretary and my friend, P.B. Bhilare) to host the All Maharashtra FIDE Rating Chess Tournament from 27-31 December, 2011. The detailed circular would be uploaded soon but the gist of this year’s edition…

Yifan Draws First Blood with Black

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GM Hou Yifan, the defending champion drew the first blood in the 3rd game of the Women’s World Chess Championship  in progress at Tirana, Albania to take a 1-0 lead over her Indian challenger, GM Koneru Humpy. Playing White, Humpy, who had opted for the Catalan defense in game-1, deviated by adopting the Queen’s Gambit to which Yifan replied with the Ragozin defense. Continuing her trend of the first two games, Humpy once again opted for an offensive with a temporary pawn sacrifice to target the weakened Black’s King position. However; Yifan not only thwarted the attack but was also able…