Arjun Erigaisi won the rapid section of the Satty Zhuldyz tournament in Astana with a 9½/11 score. The youngster kicked off the day with a win over Vladimir Kramnik. He then he drew Levon Aronian, before finishing the rapid event with a victory over Kateryna Lagno. Aronian finished the rapid in second place with 8/11, while Alexander Grischuk was third with 7/11. The tournament is not over, as the final standings will be decided based on the cumulative score of the rapid and blitz events. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2022-23 is into its third leg, and it is a huge moment for Indian chess. The start to the event has been rocky. One of the participants, Zhansaya Abdumalik, has withdrawn from the tournament after reaching New Delhi and spending a day at the venue. The players wrote an official letter to the FIDE President, and FIDE responded back with an official statement. Meanwhile, Zhansaya’s compatriot Bibisara Assaubayeva, who is present at the venue, wrote a post on social media voicing her opinions. We try to put it all together in this article. | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy
It calls for a celebration: ChessBase India turned seven years old on 18th of January 2023. In the second part of his article, the CEO and co-founder of ChessBase India, IM Sagar Shah, writes about the work done by the ChessBase India team in the last 365 days. There is so much to tell – it is a wonderful success story.
Arjun Erigaisi has had an amazing year 2022 for his chess! In spite of his powerpacked recent performances, one question that always lingered around was, why does Arjun not have a permanent sponsor yet? Now he has landed a long term deal with Quantbox research. It might well be the biggest ever sponsorship deal in the history of Indian chess! In our report there is quite a bit of interesting video to watch.
After the closing ceremony, well past midnight, IM Sagar Shah made his way to the Grand Sheraton hotel where the Uzbekistan team was staying. Youngsters - Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Javokhir Sindarov, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, and Jakhongir Vakhidov had just won the gold medal at the Chess Olympiad 2022. The Uzbek team was kind enough to give their time for an interview where all five of them sat together. We asked them about their best moves, and best games, and also spoke about what this victory means to them and their country.