The beauty of the Prague Chess Festival 2024!

Hi everyone, I'm in Prague right now! I'm at the Prague International Chess Festival, commentating with Amruta on the Prague Masters 2024. There are so many things that I could write about in this newsletter, but after spending a few days here I definitely feel that India needs it's own Chess Festival - like the Prague International Chess Festival.

What is so unique about this festival? Firstly, the Masters tournament. It has some of the best players in the world, and it didn't start out of the blue. It all began years ago when the Novy Bor Chess Club started this event! Team Novy Bor is the reason these matches between elite players took place at Prague a few years ago, and they are the reason the Prague International Chess Festival is taking place - it's funded by the chess club. But year after year, they have kept on building it. Now they have reached a level where the Don Giovanni Hotel is bumbling with energy!

There is the Masters, Challengers, futures section, and an Open event. But every morning, you will see there are Rapid events, Blitz events, Basque Chess, Children's Festival, Fischer Random chess, and much more! All of this creates such a beautiful atmosphere. I've been to many chess festivals, many top tournaments, but somehow here I feel that everything runs so smoothly. Everything is done with so much care! There is a lot of attention to detail, but there's also a kind of feeling that it's not overwhelming on anyone.

All the people in the organizing committee are pleasant, kind, and it's fantastic to be here. The reason why I feel that a festival of this nature is required in India, is because it brings together the chess community. The Open event brings together all the people, the Masters show the best in action, the children's event show how chess can be promoted to young kids on a big scale. I think it's a golden opportunity for someone out there, including ourselves at ChessBase India, to create this beautiful Indian Chess Festival and do it in the best possible way! - Sagar Shah

Prague Masters 2024 R4: Five draws

All five games ended in draws at the fourth round of Prague International Chess Festival 2024 Masters. They were all well-contested draws. The most important result was for Praggnanandhaa as he lost the last two rounds. So any result apart from a loss, was a good result for him against the Czech Republic no.2 - Thai Dai Van Nguyen. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) and Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) are still the coleaders 3/4, followed by D Gukesh and Richard Rapport (ROU) at 2.5/4 each. GM Vaishali R scored her second win in-a-row in the Challengers section. Aansh Nandan Nerurkar drew to maintain his sole lead 3.5/4 in the Futures section. Round 5 for Masters, Challengers and Futures start today at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

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LATEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

5th Shenzhen Masters 2024 R2: Giri still cannot overcome Dubov

The second round of 5th Shenzhen Masters 2024 witnessed four decisive results. The previous round winners - Anish Giri (NED) and Arjun Erigaisi lost their games. Giri lost against the former World Rapid champion - Daniil Dubov. The world no.5 has always struggled against Dubov. In a queen, rook and bishop endgame, Giri missed a forced sequence which his opponent spotted and won the game. Arjun made an incorrect decision against Xiangzhi Bu (CHN) at a critical moment which turned things in his opponent's favor. Yangyi Yu (CHN) and Vladislav Artemiev are the two other victors of the round. Round 3 starts today at 2 p.m. local time, 11:30 a.m. IST. Photos: Organizer/Liang Ziming

Srihari L dominates 17th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit 2024, Sai Vishwesh third

Srihari L scored an unbeaten 8/9 to win 17th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament 2024. He also earned his third IM-norm in the process and became India's latest International Master. The teenager performed at 2584, gained 40.2 Elo rating points and finished a staggering 2.5 points ahead of others. Winner of the last two editions - IM Anton Sitnikov (UKR) and Sai Vishwesh C scored 5.5/9 each. They secured second and third place respectively according to tie-breaks. The six-day ten-player round-robin tournament was organized by and at Chettinadu Public School and Sivagangai District Chess Association in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu from 6th to 11th February 2024. Tournament Coordinator - IA FI M Ephrame writes the tournament report. Photos: IA FI M Ephrame

P Shyam Nikhil wins 18th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit 2024, Aakash G third

IM P Shyam Nikhil, IM Anton Sitnikov (UKR) and Aakash G scored 6/9 each at 16th Tamil Nadu IM-norm Closed Circuit Chess Tournament 2024. Shyam won the tournament as he had beaten Anton in the very first round and drew against Aakash in the fifth. Anton and Aakash were placed second and third according to tie-breaks. Only Shyam remained undefeated. The six-day ten-player round-robin tournament was organized by Tamil Nadu Chess Association at Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu from 13th to 18th February 2024. Tournament Coordinator - IA R Srivatsan writes the tournament report. Photos: IA R Srivatsan

Dama Negra Chess Club invites you to VIII Semana Santa Open 2024

Club de Ajedrez Dama Negra and IO Patricia Claros Aguilar invite you to VIII Semana Santa International Open 2024. The eighth edition of this tournament is offering a total prize fund of €20050. The top three prizes are €4000, €2000 and €1500 along with a trophy each. The winner also gets invitation to XXI Gran Hotel Bali International Chess Festival 2024 which will take place in November. There are two categories - Group A (Open) and Group B (<1900). There are 11 main prizes in Group A and many category prizes. Entry is FREE for GMs and IMs. For everyone else, entry fee is €65, €50 for Dama Negra Club players. Total 366 players including 24 GMs, 54 IMs, 3 WGMs and 4 WIMs from 49 countries in Group A and 155 players have already confirmed their participation in Group B. Check out the article for all information. Photos: Official site