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The Madman can smell the victory 💀🥶

Arjun can smell the win 💀🔥🔥 edit: Tushar @chess_holic #chess #chessbaseindia #arjunerigaisi

14-year-old Apaar Saxena has become the latest International Master of Indian chess. Born in 2012, Apaar made quite the waves by achieving all his IM norms in just 5 weeks! The youngster from Bangalore, Karnataka, scored his first IM norm at IM Renome 2 (Bosnia on 30th March 2026), scoring 7/9 and winning the tournament outright. He followed this immediately with his second IM norm at the San Vicente Open 2026 (Spain, 6th April 2026), achieving back-to-back norms in consecutive tournaments. He scored 7/9, finishing 12th overall and tied for 4th place. This was in a field of 520 players from 54 countries. He secured his IM norm with two rounds to spare. At the Menorca Open (Spain, April 2026), Apaar continued his strong form, scoring a performance rating of 2404, gaining 44 rating points. He was in contention for a third consecutive norm performance, but missed it by a small margin. The final IM norm came at IM Putnik 114 (Serbia, 3rd May 2026), where he once again scored 7/9 to officially secure the International Master title. In this event, Apaar achieved a live rating of 2450! All three IM norms and the required rating gains were achieved within 5 week time frame, which is absolutely mind boggling. From a rating of 2185, he is now rated 2362 on 1st May 2026 and hislive rating is 2450+! Speaking to ChessBase India, Apaar's father Prashant says, "His development has been strongly supported by his school Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education, Bangalore, with encouragement from Principal Sumalini Mam and School Coordinator Shenoy Mam. Apaar did not have any personal coach in the last two years. Prior to that, his coach was Jayaram Ramana. He was taking some courses assistance from different academies like Killer Chess Training and Yuri Vovk courses." Prashant has guided Apaar's preparation, strategy, planning and training, while his mother, Ruchi Saxena, has provided continuous support and assistance all over this journey. We congratulate the youngster for such a rapid rise in the world of chess and wish him the best in becoming a GM soon! #chess #chessbaseindia #apaarsaxena

Nepo plays the King's Gambit in Sardinia @unichess_italy! Created by: Niklesh Jain/ ChessBase India #chess #chessbaseindia #kingsgambit #nepo #Sardinia

Arjun Erigaisi is back in the World Top 10 after beating Nils Grandelius at TePe Sigeman 2026 In the 3rd round of the TePe Sigeman & Co 2026, there were two decisive results. Arjun Erigaisi scored his first win of the tournament against Nils Grandelius, moving into a joint lead with 4 others. In other decisive games, Turkish Phenom Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus scored a win over Chinese Zhu Jiner. The top-rated clash between Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov ends in a draw. In another game, Andy Woodward drew against Jorden van Foreest. With the win over Nils Grandelius, Arjun Erigaisi is now back in the World Top 10. Arjun is now World No. 9 with a live rating of 2755.4, and in the 4th round, Arjun is paired up against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Round 4 starts from 6:30 PM IST today, as usual - follow all the action live on the ChessBase India YouTube channel #chessbaseindia #chess #arjunerigaisi Photo: @peterdoggers / @tepesigeman chessbase.in/news/31st-tepe…

The Sardinia Chess Festival 2026 started yesterday, with Ian Nepomniachtchi being the top-seeded player. In the first round itself, there was a surprising result when the 2nd-seeded Parham Maghsoodloo drew with the 2270-rated FM Massimiliano Botta of Italy. Ian started the event with a win over Kavin Vijaykumar of India. In other Indian results, Murali Karthikeyan, Aditya Mittal, Leon Luke Mendonca, and Abhimanyu Puranik started the event with a win. Harika Dronavalli drew her first game with the black pieces. Round 2 will start at 3:30 PM CET/ 7 PM IST. Photos: @nikchess chessbase.in/news/sardinia-…

Arjun Erigaisi is back to World top 10! Scoring his first win at the Tepe Sigeman and Co Chess Tournament 2026, Arjun is now World no.9 with a live rating of 2755.4. Arjun is now on 2/3 points, one of the five players leading with this score! Arjun scored a convincing win with the White pieces over Nils Grandelius, outplaying him in a Rook and Bishop ending. Up next for Arjun is Nodirbek Abdusattorov - in Round 4 today, from 6:30 PM IST! Photos: Peter Doggers/ Tepe Sigeman Chess 2026 #chess #chessbaseindia #arjunerigaisi #tepesigeman

Who listens most to parents advice 😭🤣🤣 @rpraggnachess Edit: Tushar @chess_holic #chess #chessbaseindia #vaishalirameshbabu #praggnanandhaa

A fire alarm went off last night at 1:30 AM at the venue of the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament in Malmo. All the chess stars had to evacuate the hotel before it was confirmed to be a false alarm. @ChessbaseIndia

Peter Svidler: "It's gonna be a great season, and I'm very happy to be part of it!" GM Peter Svidler shares his thoughts on the upcoming Grand Chess Tour 2026 as it all starts right here 👇 📍 Warsaw - Super Rapid & Blitz 📍 Bucharest - Super Chess Classic The action kicks off in Warsaw with fast time controls before shifting to classical battles in Bucharest just a few days later. #GrandChessTour #Chess #Warsaw #Bucharest

The most BEAUTIFUL Chess Tournament? The amazing venue of Sardinia @unichess_italy World Chess Festival! Created by: Niklesh Jain/ ChessBase India #chess #chessbaseindia #Sardinia #chesstournament

When Praggnanandhaa R. visited IIT-Delhi on the 24th of April 2026 he spread the love of chess in the entire campus. He played a 1 min vs 5 min handicap against the IIT Delhi Chess Team and won 7-0. He met the director of IIT Delhi and gifted him a chess board. He played a simultaneous exhibition against 12 players with 45 minutes on clock and won 12-0! More than 700 students enjoyed this spectacle live in the Dogra hall. This entire event was made possible thanks to IMC Trading and Team Liquid. Check out these amazing photos from the event! Read more: chessbase.in/news/praggnana…

The Sardinia World Chess Festival 2026 kicked off today at the Beautiful ITI Marina Resort in Orosei! This is the 3rd edition of this tournament, and the strongest edition yet - the top seed is 2-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi! Parham Maghsoodloo, Ivan Saric, Leon Mendonca, Abhimanyu Puranik, Karthikeyan Murali, Harika Dronavalli are just some of the top players in this event- and we cannot forget the Wonderkid Faustino Oro who will be hunting for his final GM norm here! Who do you think this very strong tournament? Let us know in the comments! Photos: FT @nikchess/ ChessBase India #chess #chessbaseindia #sardiniaworldchess

Magnus in Stockfish Mode 🔥😎 Edit: @ram_abhyudaya #chess #chessbaseindia #magnuscarlsen

Young Prodigy🧿🚀

Heart-warming, must-watch: 8-year-old chess prodigy Tamizh Amudan, playing w/o electricity, stuns World no.7 Vincent Keymer @sagarchess1’s lovely sensibility shines Kudos to R.G Chandramogan for setting up Hatsun Chess Academy & sponsoring such talent youtu.be/9vv_xqYl2qI?si…

He has to come home tonight 😭🤣🤣 @vishy64theking Edit: Tushar @chess_holic #chess #chessbaseindia #vishyanand

Today, the Sardinia World Chess Festival begins its third and strongest edition. This FIDE Circuit event features top seed Ian Nepomniachtchi and Parham Maghsoodloo as the two highest-rated players. With many 2600+ rated players, the average rating of the top 10 participants has reached 2645. @unichess_italy 📸 @nikchess

Magnus Carlsen scored his first win of the 31st TePe Sigeman & Co 2026 in the second round after beating Sweden's No.1 Nils Grandelius with black pieces. There was only one decisive result, and the other 3 games ended in a draw. It was a long fight between Arjun Erigaisi and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, which ended in peace, and the players agreed to draw. Nodirbek Abdusattorov was clearly winning against Andy Woodward and missed some crucial chances, and somehow Andy held him for a draw. Jorden van Foreest also missed his winning chances against Zhu Jiner The 3rd round starts from 6:30 PM IST today as usual - follow all the action live on the ChessBase India YouTube channel! Here are the Round 3 pairings: Arjun Erigaisi vs Nils Grandelius Andy Woodward vs Jorden van Foreest Magnus Carlsen vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov Zhu Jiner vs Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus Photos: @peterdoggers @tepesigeman Read the full report: chessbase.in/news/31st-tepe…

Magnus Carlsen wins his first game at the Tepe Sigeman Chess tournament 2026! In the 2nd round, Magnus played a brilliant game with the Black pieces to outplay and defeat Nils Grandelius. While the other 3 games ended in a draw, all of them featured huge fights and very well could've been decisive! Arjun Erigaisi and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus made a draw in a most complex encounter where both players had small chances. It was the longest game of the round, and the players had a long and intense post-game analysis session! Nodirbek Abdusattorov was completely winning against Andy Woodward, but slipped in a crucial moment - Andy found a nice defensive resource and went on to hold a draw. Jorden van Foreest also couldn't make the most of his close to winning advantage - Zhu Jiner defended staunchly to hold the draw. The 3rd round starts from 6:30 PM IST today as usual - follow all the action live on the ChessBase India YouTube channel! Here are the Round 3 pairings: Arjun Erigaisi vs Nils Grandelius Andy Woodward vs Jorden van Foreest Magnus Carlsen vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov Zhu Jiner vs Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus Photos: @peterdoggers/ @tepesigeman #chess #ChessBaseIndia #magnuscarlsen #tepesigeman