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From the CEO

An extremely eventful week in my life comes to an end in USA. I cannot believe that for 34 years I hadn't travelled to the US, and then in just 1 year I got to travel to the country already 3 times - New York, Las Vegas and Texas! The first stop for me this time was Arlington in Texas. I played the USA vs India match-up for which I had prepared quite a bit. My opponent was Levy Rozman. The event was very well organized and was a very different experience. The crowd was cheering hard and there was so much energy in the esports arena.

I was thrilled to enter into the premises making my way in as the crowd applauded and gave me high fives! The first game between Arjun and Caruana didn't go India's way. Arjun fought hard, but Fabi managed to outwit him. Ethan played an amazing game against Tani, but the US youngster held his nerves better. We were at 0-2 as Divya Deshmukh entered! She was up against Carissa Yip. The opening didn't go Divya's way and Carissa managed to score a powerful win. It was 3-0 already.

At this point USA had already won the match. My game against Levy and Gukesh's game against Nakamura were not important from the final result stand point but for sure held a lot of excitement! Levy and Hikaru played in a way so that the crowd could enjoy. I tried my best and so did Gukesh but it all came down to those final few seconds. The crowd erupted, kings went flying - we discussed some of this in the last newsletter. The scoreline 5-0. We hope that the rematch happens and we get a chance to beat the strong US team. It's been a week since the game and while the amount of practice I am doing has reduced, I am keen to get back to solving tactics, playing online and working on my openings. One thing is for sure I didn't feel the nerves while playing and had an amazing time on the board. 

Sagar breaks down the full India vs USA match

The last 5 days have been extremely magical for me. From Texas, my team member Aditya and I, we went to Saint Louis - the chess capital of USA, arguably also the chess capital of the world. I was curious to see what is it exactly that they have built. And boy, was I impressed! The newly renovated chess club is absolutely stunning. 30,000 square feet, the world chess hall of fame with a museum and shop right opposite the club, the kingside diner - an amazing chess themed restaurant. Everything so tastefully done, I hope something like this can be created in India as well. All the people at the Saint Louis Chess Club were so kind and receptive. We got a studio space to stream the Clutch Chess Legends event between Kasparov vs Anand LIVE. I tried to understand from Rex Sinquefield, the sponsor of the chess club, the secret behind creating such an amazing space. He just gave all of the credit to his amazing team! Maybe this is the secret. Everyone does their job and no one takes the credit for it! 

Full Vlog of the Saint Louis Chess Club

We got to stay in the chess house just a few meters away from the club. It was the same house in which Levon Aronian had stayed for over a year when he came to the US. Such a beautiful place. I would sit in the living room working and also would sleep there! "Chess is Life!" The clash between Garry and Vishy was so exciting. I was just 5 years old when they had faced off against each other in 1995. Chess didn't feature in my life back then. But I had read so much about that match! In 2025, I got a glimpse of how it felt to see these two legends in action.

Vishy lost with a score of 13-11 which was a bit surprising for the chess world as they considered him to be the more active player. Kasparov on the other hand showed flashes of genius and Game 10 was my favourite of the match. The good news for Indian chess fans is that Vishy will be back in action soon and I am pretty sure this result is going to spur him to do well in Jerusalem Rapid and at the Global Chess League.

As I write this, I am now in a cab going to my hotel from the airport in San Francisco. In around 15 hours from now Amruta and I will be doing a meetup in Stanford. We hope to meet people who have been dedicatedly following chess in the US and spend some good time with them!

What's next? I am excited for the European Club Cup in Greece where almost all of the top Indian players will play for different clubs, Clutch chess champions showdown in the US where Magnus, Fabi, Hikaru and Gukesh will fight against each other at the end of October and finally the FIDE World Cup in Goa, India which will have 3 spots in the Candidates! There is so much more to share but for now, I will let this newsletter end. Thank you all for patiently reading through it and I will be back with an update in a week from now! - Sagar Shah

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HEADLINE OF THE WEEK

Garry Kasparov wins Clutch Chess Legends 2025 by 13-11

Garry Kasparov won Clutch Chess Legends 2025 by 13-11. The final day of the match started with a draw. Kasparov won the second Rapid game after Vishy Anand made an incorrect rook trade offer in the endgame. 'The Lightning Kid' bounced back with two wins in the Blitz game to finish the event on a winning note and reduce the gap. Kasparov won US$ 70000 + bonus, Anand $50000 + $13000 bonus. Starting position of the final day was #294. The loss in the final Rapid game of the event, abandoned Anand's chances of winning the match. Still, he managed to make a comeback in the Blitz games and finish with a good score. Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

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POSITION OF THE WEEK

White to play and Mate in 2

Solution can be found in this article!

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PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

GELFAND TEACHES DECISION MAKING!

GELFAND10

In Dynamic Decision Making in Chess former World Championship Challenger Boris Gelfand continues his investigation into decision-making at the top level, discussing some of his best games as well as his worst slips, giving the reader a unique insight into the mind of a world-class grandmaster.

Grandmaster Boris Gelfand has been an elite player for 30 years, winning the World Cup, Olympiad Gold, Candidates and many other top tournaments. In 2015, Positional Decision Making in Chess won the ECF Book of the Year award. Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard is the only chess writer to win all the major awards for chess writing!

Today, we have a special offer on Dynamic Decision making in Chess - use the coupon code "GELFAND10" to avail a 10% discount. This offer is valid until 19th October 2025 - hurry up and get it now!

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LATEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

How Sandip Upadhyay is creating chess champions in rural Gujarat

Sandip Upadhyay, a teacher at Ratusinh na Muvada Government School in Mahisagar District, Gujarat, has taught chess to over a hundred students and created six rated chess players, all through his own effort and resources. Yet, very few know his story. His idea was simple: teach his students chess because he knew it. But that simple thought sparked something extraordinary. Today, it has transformed the entire school. His students dominate nearly every tournament they enter, and six of his students are now supported by the state government. After seeing their dedication, we organized a chess camp at their school on 9th–10th September to help them improve and give them an extra push. Check out this article to see what we experienced at this truly unique chess school in Gujarat. Photo: Neeraj Dwivedi

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Kavin Mohan clear first at 20th Dato Arthur Tan Malaysian Open 2025

FM Kavin Mohan (MAS) scored an unbeaten 7/9 to win 20th Dato Arthur Tan Open, part of the 20th Malaysian Chess Festival 2025. He finished a half point ahead of the rest. Seven players scored 6.5/9 each. Out of them, IM Chen Zou (CHN) and GM Van Huy Nguyen (VIE) secured second and third place respectively according to tie-breaks. The top three prizes were - US$ 3000, $2000 and $1000. Andrew Ooi (Gila Chess), blogger who covered all 20 editions of this festival, writes about this event along with the photographs shot by him.  Photo: Andrew Ooi

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DreamHack Rapid & Blitz 2025: Play Rapid Chess for a ₹5,00,000 Prize Pool!

Dreamhack Rapid and Blitz 2025 will take place from 31st Oct to 2nd Nov in Hyderabad, Telangana. Total ₹500000 prize fund is up for grabs, ₹300000 for Rapid and ₹200000 for Blitz. Entry is FREE for GM, IM, WGM and WIM. For everyone else, entry fee is ₹1391 for both events. This tournament is unlike any other as it takes place inside a gaming convention, which means loud music and noise will be there throughout the day. So if you haven't registered yet, do it right away. Whoever can block out the noise, focus on their game, will win big and become the champion.

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Deceptive simplicity

A common mistake, which is often done, is endgame positions are considered simple. The reality is far from it. Pieces get fewer in the endgame, yet the options increase by a lot. One tiny mistake can have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. GM Sundararajan Kidambi explores few rook endgames which at a first glance might look simple but they are deceptive. He saw a position on Critically acclaimed and award-winning author, GM Jacob Aagaard's book, Conceptual Rook Endgames. Check out the detailed analysis by Kidambi and enrich your understanding in these rook endgames. If you like his explanations, do mention in the comments, so that it inspires Kidambi to share more from his fountain of knowledge. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

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