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From the CEO

An interesting episode happened at the World Rapid Championships 2025 held in Qatar, Doha. Vladislav Artemiev started day 2 as one of the co-leaders with 4.5/5. And then he beat Arjun Erigaisi with some absolutely stunning and bold play under time pressure to reach 5.5/6. He then faced off against Magnus Carlsen and in what was an absolutely crazy encounter he emerged victorious to reach 6.5/7. At this point, Artemiev had a full one point lead over the field. With 6 rounds to go, he was definitely a huge favourite to become the World Rapid Champion. And then something quite surprising happened. Vladislav drew 6 games in a row. A couple of them were also draws with white pieces under 10 moves - against Sarana and Sindarov. With this he finished 2nd (9.5/13) and got the silver medal. No points for guessing who finished first - Magnus Carlsen with 10.5/13! After losing to Artemiev, Magnus went on a hot streak, winning 5 games in a row and then drawing his final round to become the World Rapid Champion 2025. 

An elated Magnus Carlsen after becoming World Rapid Champion 2025! | Photo: FIDE/Anna Shtourman

I was very curious about Artemiev's strategy - why would a player of his skill and calibre not want to push and win the gold medal. So in the interview after the tournament I asked him exactly this question. To which he replied,  "It’s a very individual thing. I wanted to win at least a medal. Bronze was good, silver better. If I took big risks, maybe I could fight for gold, but maybe I would finish 10th as well. So I preferred to secure a medal. I made some quick draws, but I also played some serious battles. I am very happy with silver, because to win this tournament you must be better than Magnus — and that is extremely difficult. He won five games in a row at the end!" 

Vladislav Artemiev in action - watch our full interview with him | Photo: FIDE/ Lennart Ootes

This safety first approach which Vladislav Artemiev took is also an approach that we take for many of the things in our life. While Magnus Carlsen is always gunning for the gold. It's easy to dismiss Magnus as someone who is in a different league altogether having won 18 world titles before that World Rapid Championship! (Now it is 20!). But there was a time when Magnus was also at 0 titles as well and he faced opponents who wanted the gold. Somehow he risked it back then and the result is here for all of us to see. In order to make a huge leap, you need to be ready to fail. You need to think and believe in yourself that if you lose this opportunity now, you will get it back again in future. 

Magnus with his first World title - he became World Blitz Champion in 2009. This was his 20th World title as he won the World Blitz Championship 2025!

They say youngsters are able to do this much more easily. For eg. for youngsters like Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vincent Keymer - this approach of going all in comes much more easily. It seems like they are able to not worry about what they will lose but focus on the bigger picture - self improvement and trying to gain experience. For those who grow older they start taking safer decisions and this has to do with a lot of factors.  One of them is that once you grow older, there are more responsibilities on your shoulders - let's say you have a family or you feel you need to do something for your country. There's also this very interesting thing that once you have burnt your hands in something you don't want to burn them again! :) 

Taking all of this into consideration it might be easy to say that taking risks is a young man's job! However, this is far from the truth. What is extremely important in my opinion is to have this unrelenting drive of becoming the best version of yourself - no matter where you are. And for that you need to have the right attitude within you and the right environment around you. You need to have people in your life - your coach, your family - who is pushing you to take those chances rather than settling for something less. I met an official in Turkish chess, who came to me and said after the World Rapid championships 2025 - "Yagiz (Kaan Erdogmus) just doesn't know how to play for a draw." He played an incredible tournament (beating Arjun, Nihal, van Foreest) and in the last round he wanted to beat Dominguez to get a medal. He lost and finished 15th. What counts is how Yagiz takes this loss and how his coach and family react after he has taken this somewhat bold decision. Words like "you could have made a draw to finish in top 10" have dangerous consequences. On the other hand, a comforting pat on the back can be a much more prudent approach in the long term. Once a player loses a key game, the first feeling that he/she gets is that of regret. How quickly can one overcome that? How can your team ensure that you never remain in this regret zone for too long, but come back to the moment where you have the ability to work on yourself again. 

Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus displayed amazing fight spirit at the World Rapid and Blitz 2025! | Photo: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Becoming the best version of yourself in any domain is an unrelenting task. It makes your question every single dogma that you have. It makes you prioritize your self improvement over everything else. Very few people in the world are able to shut out all the noise and are able to focus on that. Very few people are able to build support teams who think this way. Very few people can digest failure, not feel the regret and bounce back on the horse rapidly. Are you one of them? If not, then you can question yourself - Why not? - Sagar Shah

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HEADLINE OF THE WEEK

A recap of Indian chess in 2025

When we look back at Indian chess in 2025, what stands out is how consistent the progress felt. The signs were already there in 2024, but this year, the results kept coming consistently. Indian players made their mark in the world’s biggest tournaments. It was impressive to see great and consistent results month after month. There was always something to talk about! It was a year that felt alive, steady, and exciting for Indian chess. In this article, we revisit some of the most memorable wins and moments that made 2025 such a remarkable year for Indian chess.

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PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

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Some of the new features on ChessBase '26:

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 Monte Carlo Analysis - An engine evaluation is a single number. Monte Carlo provides additional insights into a position. Practical chances, drawing width, typical manoeuvres!

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Today, we have a special offer on ChessBase '26 - use the coupon code "10CHESSBASE26" to avail a 10% discount. This offer is valid until 12th January 2026 - hurry up and get it now!

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LATEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

Carlsen bests Abdusattorov in the Finals to clinch World Blitz 2025, Bronze for Arjun Erigaisi

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) 2.5-1.5 in the Finals to retain his World Blitz title. This was his ninth FIDE World Blitz crown, making it his overall 20th World title. Arjun Erigaisi topped Stage 1, also known as Swiss-League stage, scoring 15/19 and finishing a full point ahead of the rest. Arjun lost to Abdusattorov in the Semifinals by 0.5-2.5. Fabiano Caruana (USA) suffered 1-3 loss against the eventual champion, Carlsen. Thus, both Arjun and Caruana won a Bronze each. Arjun became only the second Indian after Vishy Anand to win a medal in both World Rapid and Blitz events of the same year. GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (KAZ) defeated GM Anna Muzychuk (UKR) by 2.5-1.5 to clinch Gold in the Women's. Thus, she became FIDE World Blitz Women's champion for the third time. The reigning World Junior Girls Blitz 2025 champion, IM Eline Roebers (NED) lost to Anna in the Semifinals. Eline and GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) won a Bronze medal each. This marked Eline's impressive debut at the event as she was the only IM to win a medal at this year's World Blitz Rapid and Blitz events combining Open and Women. Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

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Carlsen and Goryachkina are World Rapid 2025 Open and Women Champions, Bronze for Arjun and Humpy

Magnus Carlsen won his sixth World Rapid title scoring 10.5/13 at FIDE World Rapid Championship 2025 Open. He needed just a draw in the final round to become a clear champion. In the penultimate round, he defeated Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (TUR) whom the World no.1 touted as the strongest 14-year-old he has ever known. Vladislav Artemiev drew all four of his games to finish second 9.5/11. Arjun Erigaisi defeated Aleksandr Shimanov to score 9.5/11 and finish third on tie-breaks. Arjun became the second Indian after Vishy Anand to win a medal at a World Rapid Championship. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina defeated GM Jiner Zhu (CHN) 1.5-0.5 in the Playoffs to win the Women's event. Jiner secured second place. GM Humpy Koneru secured a Bronze medal scoring 8.5/11. She missed a win in the endgame in the last game of the day, for two days in-a-row. This time against IM Savitha Shri B. A total of 13 rounds in Open and 10 rounds in Women Blitz games will be played today. Round 1 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

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Ethan Vaz and Shubhi Gupta are National Junior Open and Girls 2025 Champions

IM Ethan Vaz (Goa) and WFM Shubhi Gupta (UP) are 54th National Junior Open and 41st National Junior Girls 2025 champions. Ethan scored an unbeaten 10.5/11 and finished a whopping 1.5 points ahead of the competition. IM Mayank Chakraborty (ASM) scored 9/11 to secure second place. IM Vignesh Advaith Vemula (TEL) and IM Akshay Borgaonkar (MAH) scored 8.5/11 each. They secured third and fourth place respectively according to tie-breaks. Shubhi scored an unbeaten 9.5/11 and finished ahead of the rest. WFM Nivedita V C (TN) scored sole 9/11 to finish second. WCM Pratitee Bordoloi (KAR) claimed third place scoring 8.5/11. The total prize fund combining Open and Girls section was ₹1000000. The top three prizes in both Open and Girls sections were ₹100000, ₹72000 and ₹60000 along with a trophy each respectively. This was Ethan's first and Shubhi's second National Junior tournament triumph. Photo: IA Jayant Kumar Bhuyan

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Deepan Chakkravarthy Wins 5th Athens of East, Fedorov Alexei Second and Srihari L Third

After fighting for 10 rounds and 8 days, the Athens of East Grandmaster tournament is finally over, and Deepan Chakkravarthy of ICF won the 5th Edition of the Athens of East Grandmaster Open Chess tournament, which concluded at Hotel Amika, Madurai. Deepan secured the first place with 8.5 points by drawing his final round against 2nd placed GM Alexei Fedorov of Belarus. He scored 7.5/10, and it was the same as 3rd placed IM Srihari L, but because of better Tie-Breaks, Fedorov secured the second place while Srihari L secured the third place. In the last round, IM L Srihari drew his game against GM Rohith Krishna, and Rohith secured 4th place. Though the top 8 boards all drew their games, most of the games were well fought to the end. The prizes were distributed by Shri Velmurugan, Regional Sports Manager, Shri Raja, District Sports Officer, Shri Arun Vallapan, Correspondent, Vallabha Vidyalaya CBSE School, Madurai, and in the presence of State and District Officials. Photo credit: IA Vijayaraghavan V/Ananthi Chess Academy.

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