ChessBase India

Day 2 of Norway Chess was explosive!

- Divya Deshmukh continued to show what a powerful player she is in Armageddon as she managed to beat Koneru Humpy.

- Alireza Firouzja is on a perfect 6.0/6 after his two classical wins over Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa! Playing in a wheelchair and slaying such a field. That's just insane!

- Gukesh had a huge chance against Wesley So in their classical game. The World Champion played an amazing game. But it was not enough. The game was drawn and Wesley won the Armageddon.

- The most exciting game of the day was Magnus Carlsen vs Vincent Keymer. Carlsen had many chances to win, but he missed so many of them. And same with Vincent. The classical game was drawn. In the Armageddon Magnus showed his class and won. Carlsen is not in his best shape, but with 8 rounds to go, it is very likely that he is only going to get stronger each day!

With its Armageddon format - the Norway Chess promises excitement every single day. Firouzja leads in the open, and Bibisara Assaubayeva leads in the women's section! :) Stayed tuned for round 3 today!

Read more: chessbase.in/news/norway-chess-2026-round-2-report

Photos by Michal Walusza and Signator Tor Nilssen/ Norway Chess.

#chess #chessbaseindia #norwaychess

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10 hours ago (edited) | [YT] | 2,950

ChessBase India

An absolutely incredible day 1 at the Norway Chess for Indian chess fans!

Divya Deshmukh beat the reigning World Champion Ju Wenjun in the Armageddon after holding a draw in the classical game.

Gukesh beat Vincent Keymer in the Armageddon in just 22 moves. Earlier in the day the classical game had ended in a draw - Gukesh was winning then losing and they played a massive 144 moves!

Praggnanandhaa showed his class by beating Wesley So in the Armageddon in free flowing style!

Koneru Humpy had a painful loss against Bibisara Assaubayeva with white pieces, but we are sure that she will strike back!

The biggest news of the day was an injured Alireza Firouzja who was playing with his leg elevated on a chair, beat the world no.1 Magnus Carlsen in their classical encounter. To sit like this for hours was so impressive. It's absolutely amazing how Firouzja manages to show such amazing resilience!

The tournament is already off to fiery start. The million dollar question on everyone's mind is will Magnus Carlsen win this year's Norway Chess, especially after the rough start? Well, he did it in Sweden recently after losing to Jorden, but let's see if he manages to do it in Oslo as well.

Read more: chessbase.in/news/norway-chess-2026-round-1-report

Photos: Michal Walusza/ Norway Chess

#chess #chessbaseindia #norwaychess

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 day ago (edited) | [YT] | 10,355

ChessBase India

Here are a few interesting questions with their answers from the Norway Chess 2026 Press conference:

Question: "To Magnus. What do you make of the upcoming World Championship between Sindarov and Gukesh? There is some noise that some may tempt you back into the cycle."

Magnus Carlsen: "It's not really about me, though, is it? It's about them, and I think it's going to be a fantastic match. Whatever happens is not going to affect me. I'll just follow it as a chess fan, and it's going to be awesome to see because they are so young and really exciting players as well."

Question: "To Gukesh, what do you make of the comments former World Champions have made about your form in recent months?"

Gukesh: "Most of it, I don't see, first of all. But there are some that I've heard, and I think it's fair. I have not been performing well the last one and a half years, and I would even say my performance is way below expectations. They have the right to say what they feel, and I have the right to try and do my job best. That's what I'm interested in."

Question: "For Magnus. What is the hardest thing about being a World Champion?"

Magnus Carlsen: "I kind of disagree with the sentiment that defending a title is harder than winning it. If you're going to try to win the World Championship, you have to go through all the qualifiers. If you're the reigning champion, you just have to win one match. Personally, for me, the hardest thing was that there were a lot of expectations for me to find the World Championship as important as others did. I never really felt that way. I felt like I was doing it for others rather than for myself. The motivation didn't come from within a lot of the time. There were a lot of things I didn't like about it, but generally having so much of my identity in other people's eyes, and to some extent my own, connected with that one thing that I didn't even particularly like was not great. That's one of the reasons why I'm here and not part of that cycle at all."

Question: "Do you have any preference for the World Championship location?"

Gukesh D: "Anywhere would be nice. But in India, it's always a lot of fun because a World Championship will attract a lot of energy around it. If it's in India, it will be super cool. I'm very happy to play in India."

Read more about the press conference 2026: chessbase.in/news/norway-chess-2026-press-conferen…

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2 days ago | [YT] | 2,898

ChessBase India

Remember that famous photo of Mikhail Tal in the hospital during the FIDE Candidates 1962 and Bobby Fischer visiting him and together they analyzed chess? Well, this story is even more amazing! At the Super Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania, Alireza hurt himself after his game against Anish Giri in the 3rd round of the tournament. His health was bad and he decided to skip the 4th round against Caruana. Many thought he would withdraw from the tournament.

But Firouzja is a fighter. He decided that he will continue. The organizers ensured that Alireza could play on. They booked a room adjoining to his in the same hotel and in the 5th round Firouzja and Sindarov played the game in an crazy setting. Alireza had to ensure that his leg was in a specific angle to avoid the situation aggravating. An arbiter sat in the room observing the game.

Firouzja was worse with the white pieces, but he fought on and held the World Championship Challenger to a draw! The game lasted for well over 5 hours. Hats off to Alireza's fighting spirit and his love for chess! Truly a champion!

Photos: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

PS: There is another story worth mentioning here. It was about Tony Miles at the Interzonals in Tilburg 1985. He had severe back pain and therefore the tournament doctor allowed him to play lying horizontally against Roman Dzhindzichashvili.

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 9,881

ChessBase India

Praggnanandhaa plays an excellent game with the Black pieces to defeat the World Championship Challenger Javokhir Sindarov! Pragg took down Sindarov in Round 2 of the Grand Chess Tour Super Chess Classic 2026.

The last 2 games between Pragg and Sindarov at the Candidates were won by Sindarov - he sacrificed his Knight on both of them, getting very nice play and going on to win! In this game, Sindarov also sacrificed his Knight - but this time around it was Pragg who managed to take the material, defend and win the game comfortably.

Praggnanandhaa is the defending Champion of Super Chess Classic, and joins the leaders pack after the first 2 rounds - he is on 1.5/2 points!

Photo: Lennart Ootes/ Grand Chess Tour
#chess #chessbaseindia #Praggnanandhaa #sindarov #grandchesstour

1 week ago | [YT] | 8,699

ChessBase India

Fondly called as the "Messi of Chess", 12-year-old Argentinian Phenom Faustino Oro 🇦🇷 has become the World's 2nd youngest Chess Grandmaster! As the final round game at the Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026 between Faustino Oro and Ian Nepomniachtchi started, Faustino secured his 3rd and final GM Norm, thus becoming a Grandmaster regardless of his result in the final round. Faustino is currently on 6/8 points!

It is long known that Faustino is well within Grandmaster strength, as he has shown in his play several times over the board and especially online - this title was just a matter of time. Faustino missed becoming the youngest ever Grandmaster by 2 months - that record still stays with GM Abhimanyu Mishra. The 3rd GM norm perhaps took the longest time to complete for Faustino, but this very strong player is a part of the Grandmaster Club now!

Faustino scored his 1st GM norm at the Legends and prodigies Round Robin Tournament in Madrid last year, scoring an undefeated 7.5/9 points, also crossing the 2500 Rating barrier. His 2nd GM norm came at the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli Masters in December 2025. His 3rd and final GM Norm came at the Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026, where he secured the norm with a round to spare, scoring 6/8 points!

It is already clear to the World that Faustino is not even a talent anymore - he's just a very strong player who will reach massive heights. Huge congratulations to Faustino, his team and his family for this amazing achievement!

Graphic: Anmol Bhargav
Photos: Niklesh Jain
#chess #chessbaseindia #faustinooro #Grandmaster #sardiniachessfestival

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 5,067

ChessBase India

The Challenger strikes back - Javokhir Sindarov takes down World Champion D Gukesh with the White pieces in Round 8 of the Grand Chess Tour Super Blitz! Sindarov played a near flawless game to score the win.

This makes their score 1-1 in this event so far - Gukesh defeated Sindarov with Black in Rapid, and now Sindarov strikes back with White! Tomorrow will be their 3rd and final game in this tournament.

Graphic: Anmol Bhargav
#chess #chessbaseindia #javokhirsindarov #gukesh #grandchesstour

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 7,157

ChessBase India

Magnus Carlsen once again reminded the world why he is the GOAT. Even after a subpar start by his standards, he won everything on demand to win the Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament 2026!

Magnus entered the final round a half point down from Arjun Erigaisi. He played an amazing game to defeat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus - a long battle which lasted more than 5 hours. He did the job, and Arjun drew his game against Andy Woodward - this meant that Magnus had to play tiebreaks against Arjun in 30 minutes!

Magnus started in style with a clean win against Arjun in the 1st Blitz game. Arjun struck back in the 2nd Blitz game - it was now time for Sudden death! Magnus won the Sudden death game with the Black pieces to win the tournament - in the photos you will see his expression and sigh of relief after he became the Champion.

What an absolutely amazing guy Magnus Carlsen is. When he's down, when he's tested, he always finds a way to rise up to the occasion!

Read the entire article on ChessBase India: chessbase.in/news/31st-tepe-sigeman-2026-final-rep…

Photo: Peter Doggers/Tepe Sigeman

#chess #chessbaseindia #tepesigemen #magnuscarlsen

Skip the Carousel

1 2 3 4

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 3,003

ChessBase India

There are some games that keep you on the edge of your seat and this was one of them. Javokhir Sindarov came to Warsaw after his epic performance at the Candidates in Cyprus. Gukesh has been struggling with his form for quite some time now. A game between the World Champion and the World Championship Challenger was something that everyone looked forward to with great anticipation.

As the game began, one could already see the glimpses of what we will witness later this year in the World Championship Match - absolute and total uncompromising chess! Sindarov opens with 1.e4, Gukesh plays 1...c6. Both want to win. Both want to make a statement. Get the small psychological edge of having beaten your World Championship opponent.

Sindarov sacrifices a pawn and gets compensation in return. The compensation is Gukesh's weak king. Gukesh defends well and brings his queen to defend his weak king. The position is balanced. At this point Sindarov gets excited. He spots an attacking option and goes for it. He sacrifices a complete knight! As I sit there in the auditorium staring at the players and the big screen, I had no engine bar to help me. I didn't understand if Sindarov was a genius or had just blundered. I am pretty sure Gukesh also had the same question on his mind.

Gukesh's pieces were all clumsy and passive, but it was just temporary. He had to weather the storm, because on the other side of it, he would be a complete piece up. Amidst all of this, I saw the World Champion coming back to his 2024 self. He zoomed in on the board like he loves to do when he smells a chance. He was nodding his head to make sure he had calculated all lines to precision. Sindarov like he always does, was flowing with his moves. Gukesh made several only moves to completely neutralize his opponent's attack. And then the mind games began.

With board players down to their last minute, Sindarov picks up the queen in his hand, signaling to Gukesh that he was going to queen his pawn. Gukesh remained focused as if he had not seen what Javokhir had done. He made a few more strong moves and then picked up his own queen! No action was going unanswered.

When there was no further counterplay left, Sindarov resigned. As he stretched out his hand in resignation, Gukesh shook it and immediately pumped his fist in the air. The last we saw him doing that was when he beat Fabiano Caruana at the Global Chess League 2025. It felt like an emotion that was bottled within Gukesh and he just let it out. His detractors can no longer say that the match will be a one-sided affair.

Yes, it was a rapid game and the match will be classical - but the players will be the same. With Gukesh's victory and fist pump, it is clear that Sindarov is going to get even more motivated to come back. And he has two chances on the 8th and 9th of May with 2 blitz games! Whatever be the result, one thing is clear - it is going to be an amazing World Championship 2026 we will witness. Two youngsters - both of whom believe in themselves, have absolutely no fear are going to go for each other's throat.

And while we all wonder who will be the winner - I for once truly feel, it will be chess who will benefit the most. We will get 14 games of amazing fighting chess! The World Championship is 6 months away, but I already cannot wait for it. What about you?

Complete analysis: www.chessbase.in/news/gukesh-vs-javokhir-sindarov-…

Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

#chess #chessbaseindia #gukesh #sindarov

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 3,930

ChessBase India

This is 8-year-old Tamizh Amudhan (born on 2nd of September 2017). He is sitting in his home in Sivakasi. There was thunderstorm and hence no electricity. The boy had to use a candle and for internet, his father's mobile hostspot.

In the first round of Freestyle Friday, he was pitted against world no.7 Vincent Keymer (2759). Not only is Vincent an amazing player he is well known for his Freestyle Chess. It was absolutely stunning how Tamizh Amudhan outwitted him!

This youngster who trains at Hatsun Chess Academy near Sivakasi is already a CM and rated close to 2000 Elo. A huge congrats to the youngster and his grit! 😍

Read more: www.chessbase.in/news/tamizh-amudhan-defeats-vince…

#chess #chessbaseindia Freestyle-Chess

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 8,295