Grandmasters Pravin Mahadeo Thipsay and Vidit Gujrathi, on Saturday, launched the official website of Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA), the official chess body of All India Chess Federation (AICF) for Maharashtra.

The website has been launched by MCA to bring Chess enthusiasts across the country closer on a digital platform, in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic. On the website one can not only find all relative information about MCA, the office bearers, registration procedure, future initiatives but also interact and play the game.

The MCA has sprung into action ever since the AICF restored their affiliation after a protracted legal dispute was resolved. The dispute had originally stemmed from a factional tussle within the MCA, which was registered as a society in 1975, by amalgamation of the then five regional chess bodies in the state. The association was then granted affiliation by the AICF in 1978.

In 2012, the AICF asked all its affiliates to amend bye laws to adapt with the one nation, one federation norm. But the tussle within MCA factions, however, resulted in delay of the completion of the entire process. In December 2016, the AICF disaffiliated the MCA for not amending their bye laws in time.

Finally, in April this year, in a Special General Body Meeting (SGM), a five-member panel decided to restore the affiliation of MCA along with Rajasthan Chess Association. Earlier this month, the Pune-based chess body hosted a unique Blitz Grand Prix tournament, brought by LetsUp.

The Blitz tournaments, which have a total prize fund of INR 155000, are being held every Wednesday from June 3 to July 1. Each tournament has a total prize fund of INR 25000 and top five GP finishers get a total of INR 30000. The event has been sponsored by Nasik District and Novel, Ahmednagar District and Narendra Firodia Unicorp, Pune District and Amanora, Jalgaon District and Jain Irrigation and h2e, and lastly, the Sangali District and Chitale Bandhu.

Also read: Maharashtra Chess Association hosts grand five-day Blitz Grand Prix

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GMs Pravin Thipsay, Vidit Gujrathi launch Maharashtra Chess Associations official website - The Bridge

Published Jun 13, 2020 at 8:00 am (Updated Jun 13, 2020 at 10:42 pm)

People often compare, and confuse, chess and bridge and there are endless discussions on which is the better game.

For me there is no better they are both brilliant mind games, but they are really different.

In terms of pure brain-crunching analysis there is no doubt in my mind that the top chess players would outdo the top bridge players, but once you get beyond that, bridge requires a wider variety of skills beyond memory and the power to analyse.

I grew up on chess, played it a lot and was fortunate enough to win a few things at it. But once bridge came on the scene it was as if my obsession with chess had never happened.

I still read the occasional chess column and did make a brief appearance at the local chess club some years ago, but that is the extent of my involvement.

In bridge, there is a lot of history to be taken into account before making the right play what was the bidding, what was led, what cards have been played, who are the opponents, etc, whereas in chess, the board is the board and what went before is just not as important as it is in bridge.

For that reason, the top chess players can play 40 opponents at the same time and beat them all.

Chess computers have now mastered the game and, at this time, I believe the top chess computer is virtually unbeatable.

But bridge declarer play programs are not there yet relative to the top players, but they are getting there.

One aspect that both games have in common is the need to analyse the opponents actions and figure out what is behind them, and that leads me to todays hand.

Dealer East

E/W Vulnerable

North

S A107

H A42

D AQJ10

C QJ103

West

S 3

H QJ106

D 76432

C 876

East

S K62

H AK987

D 8

C K942

South

S QJ985

H 453

D K95

C A5

The bidding:

East South West North

1H 1S 3H 4S

West led the Queen of Hearts against four Spades. East overtook this with the King and returned the 8 of Diamonds. Declarer deduced that this had to be a singleton and that the only reason East could make that play was if he had control of the Trump suit, so both the opening bid and the play market him with the Trump King, and if the Diamond was a singleton, East probably had Kxx in Spades as opposed to Kx.

So he decided that it would be pointless, and dangerous, to take the Trump finesse East could win, return a low Heart to partner and get a Diamond ruff for down one.

To cater for this, as it was almost certain that East had the King of Clubs, declarer decided to attempt to cut the defenders communication in Hearts.

Declarer took the Diamond shift in dummy and ran the Queen of Clubs. After playing a second Club to his Ace, declarer crossed to dummy with a trump to the Ace and led the Jack of Clubs. East covered with the King and, rather than ruffing this trick, declarer discarded his remaining Heart.

This loser-on-loser play gained nothing directly, but it prevented a Diamond ruff by severing the Heart link between the defensive hands. East now tried a fourth round of Clubs, but declarer ruffed high and, as West could not overruff, declarer was home. He was then able to claim his contract, conceding a trick to the King of Trumps, losing only one Heart, one Club and the Trump King.

Wonderful analysis and execution by declarer in the face of a really thoughtful defence by East.

Bridge Results

Thursday, June 4

1, Linda Pollett/William Pollett

2=Claude Guay/

Sharon Shanahan

2=Miodrag Novakovic/

Margaret Way

Friday, June 5

North/South

1, Clifford Alison/Craig Hutton

2, Charles Hall/William Pollett

3, Patricia Siddle/

Marilynn Simmons

East/West

1, Joyce Pearson/

Lorna Anderson

2, Inger Mesna/John Rayner

3, Edward Betteto/

Sancia Garrison

Saturday, June 6

1, Linda Abend/Julia Patton

2= Marion Silver/

Duncan Silver

2= Claude Guay/

Sharon Shanahan

2= Judith Kitson/

Gill Butterfield

Monday, June 8

1, Richard Gray/Wendy Gray

2, Lynanne Bolton/

Peter Donnellan

3, Gertrude Barker/

Jane Smith

Wednesday, June 9

<149

1, Marion Silver/Duncan Silver

2, Joann Dawson/

Michael Dawson

3, James Mulderig/

Robert Mulderig

North/South

1, Patricia Siddle/Diana Diel

2, Marilynn Simmons/

Margaret Way

3, Linda Pollett/William Pollett

East/West

1, Magda Farag/

Sheena Rayner

2, Lorna Anderson/

Heather Woolf

3, Julia Beach/

Sancia Garrison

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There is no 'better' game when comparing chess with bridge - Royal Gazette

Grand Chess Master and member of Iran's national chess team Ghazal Hakimi has forsaken her Iranian nationality and will compete under the Swiss flag in international chess tournaments.

The twenty-six-year-old chess champion who is currently a student in Zurich, Switzerland, achieved the rank of Grand Master (WGM) in 2016. Her sister Raana Hakimifard also was granted the FIDE Master (WFM) title in 2015.

In a tweet in February Nigel Short, the Vice President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), had said that Hakimifard had applied to switch to the Swiss Chess Federation. "She most certainly will not be the last," he maintained.

The website of FIDE now shows her profile as a member of the Swiss team.

Several female Iranian chess players have switched nationality to play for other countries over the past few years. Expulsion for not complying with the compulsory Islamic dress code (hijab), or not wishing to do so is often a reason for Iranian female athletes switching to other nationalities.

In 2017 the nineteen-year-old Dorsa Derakhshani who had been expelled from the national team for attending an international competition without wearing hijab joined the U.S. team.

On January 2, the Iranian Chess Federation expelled another veteran chess grand master, Mitra Hejazipour, for boldly removing her scarf during the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow.

More recently, in February 2020, international chess arbiter and the former Secretary-General of the Iranian Chess Federation Shohreh Bayat decided not to go back to Iran after photos showing her not wearing the compulsory headscarf during Shanghai Women's World Championship 2020 games were published.

Punishment for not wearing the compulsory headscarf can even be extended to the families of players. Earlier this month, Bayat's father said he had been pressured by the Sports Ministry to resign from all his sports activities because his daughter "had not respected the so-called Islamic dress code".

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Another Female Chess Grand Master Forsakes Iranian Nationality To Join Swiss Team - Iran News By Radio Farda

GM Elmars Zemgalis was born in 1923 in Riga, Latvia. In 1951, Zemgalis emigrated to the United States where he became a mathematics professor, and in 1952, he was sponsored as part of a program to bring European sportsmen to the state of Washington. Shortly after, he permanently settled in Seattle.

Zemgalis continued to play chess, beating Olaf Ulvestad in a match (Zemgalis won 3-1.), won the Washington State championship twice (winning 9-0 in 1953 and 6-0 in 1959) and continued playing for another fifteen years. He received an honorary grandmaster title from FIDE in 2003, and he died in 2014 (aged 91).

IM Jeremy Silman's Final Article

We encourage our readers to share comments with IM Silman in the comments below, or better yet, purchase one of his incredible and acclaimed books!

You might say, All and well, but was he really grandmaster strength? Lets take a look:

Zemgalis suffered hard times after Latvia was invaded in 1944 by the Soviet Union (twice!). Fortunately, he managed to flee to Germany as a displaced person. After World War II, he played in twelve international tournaments. Here are a few:

As you see, Zemgalis was getting stronger and stronger, and in 1949, he hit his peak.

Wade, who was in the tournament, wrote this: Elmars Zemgalis, a 25 years old' Latvian, owed his success to a careful style and a faculty for playing according to the needs of the position, not the score. He was unbeaten, in fact, he has been unbeaten for eighteen months.

Zemgalis and Bogoljubow were tied for first. Other players included Rossolimo, Unzicker, OKelly, and Saemisch.

Because of that, I (Silman) looked for something better and found it.

This shows you that there are wonderful ideas hiding, even if it takes decades to find them.

A soothing positional kill, dominating in the middle game and concluding in the endgame.

Perfect play should end with a draw. However, instead of saying, Draw?, Zemgalis decided to toss a trick at Black.

This endgame looks like an easy draw. However, the truth is that White is suffering a bit. Thus, White will try to find the best defense while Black will put as much pressure on his opponent as possible.

If you like endgames, especially this endgame, then you can spend a lot of energy finding out what's really going on.

Zemgalis was a fantastic blitz player. He won this tournament 7-0.

Its very rare to play a perfect game. If you want to see one, look at what Zemgalis did here.

If you wish to know more about this amazing man, look for this book by IM John Donaldson. The name: Elmars Zemgalis: Grandmaster Without The Title.

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The Downs And Ups Of GM Elmars Zemgalis (Silman's Last Article) - Chess.com

During a Twitch stream, xQc was temporarily granted the title of Grandmaster while playing online blitz matches on chess.com.

During a Twitch stream, xQc was granted the title of Grandmaster while playing online blitz matches on chess.com. The promotion was quite shocking as the coveted "GM" rank is only held by an elite few. On that note, xQcwas only sitting at a 589 rating, typical for chess beginners. For perspective, actual chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamurahas a 3214 blitz ranking currently number 1 on the leaderboards.

Overall, the chess community has proventhat they are more than ready to deal with the new attention that Twitch has driven the sport. The streamer's sudden promotion was likely alighthearted prankset upby chess.com admins, especially considering that xQcis fairly new to the sport and only playing for fun. Additionally, chess.com even added xQc to their list of Grandmasterson a separate page only to be eventually removed after the fun died down.

Certain chess personalities emerged as vocal opponents tothe recent attention Hikaru and xQc generated through their collaboration. Nevertheless,many of these "chess elitists" have come around. Ben Finegold recently made amends for his earlier insults, apologizing to xQc fansand showing some respectable sportsmanship. Oh, and the powerhouse known as Magnus Carlsen is starting to warm up to the platform.

Sources: Twitch, Chess.com

NEXT: Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura Is Demolishing Opponents On Twitch

Speedrunner Breaks Super Mario 64 Previous World Record In Emotional Stream With Family

Andrew Penney is a writer for TheGamer. A bit of musical expatriate, he studied musicology and trumpet performance in college, but found his love for writing about gaming and streaming too alluring to stay away from. Some of his favorite games include Homeworld, Warcraft III, Starcraft 2, Apex Legends, Katana Zero, and Bastion. When not hunched over a keyboard furiously typing, you'd likely find him engulfed in anime or Apex avoiding the sun entirely.

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Chess.com Jokingly Promoted xQc To Grandmaster | TheGamer - TheGamer

The Players

The field of eight includes Jos Ral Capablanca, the former World Champion, and Alexander Alekhine, the reigning World Champion who is now reigning again. We remember: In 1935 Dr. Alekhine played a World Championship match against Max Euwe, a Dutch teacher of Mathematics. Alekhine was not in good shape and lost the match and his title.

Alexander Alekhine

Chess was already popular in the Netherlands but after Euwe's win it became a national passion. The last game of the 1935 match, in which Euwe secured the title, was attended by 6000 (!) spectators.

Max Euwe

But the new world champion Euwe granted his predecessor Alekhine a rematch which Alekhine had demanded when agreeing to the match. Alekhine's predecessor Capablanca, who lost the title in 1927, is still waiting for a rematch.

Jos Ral Capablanca

In the second match against Euwe Alekhine took things much more seriously. He changed his unhealthy lifestyle at least for a time and seemed to be focused and concentrated during the rematch. Max Euwe also takes part in the AVRO tournament and therefore three of the eight players are or were world champions. At first, Euwe was afraid that he had to teach in the morning but he managed to get a vacation for the tournament.

Though Alekhine is a tremendous player only a few people would have been willing to bet on him before the rematch against Euwe. But Alekhine's victory in the match makes the old question of determining a challenger to the world champion more complicated again. The world champion has always determined against whom he will play for the title but this often leads to unsatisfying results.

After winning the title Euwe wanted to put the organization of the World Championships into the hands of FIDE, the World Chess Federation and at the FIDE Congress in 1937 a proposal was made to organize a candidates' tournament to determine the challenger. The Dutch radio station AVRO was willing to sponsor such a tournament. However, this proposal did not find a majority and instead the delegates decided that Salo Flohr should be the official candidate for the world championship.

Salo Flohr

Salo Flohr has a tragic family history. He was born in 1908 in Horodenka, which back then was part of Austro-Hungary but now is part of the new Poland. Flohr's parents and six brothers died in an anti-Jewish pogrom in his hometown. Flohr fled to Prague and grew up with a brother at foster parents and later became a naturazlized Czech. He learned chess in the Prague cafs but probably brought his talent with him.

At the Chess Olympiads in Warsaw in 1935 and in Stockholm in 1937 Flohr played on board one for Czechoslovakia and in both Olympiads he was the best player of the whole tournament. Flohr would certainly be a worthy challenger but while he arrangements for a world championship match against Alekhine were discussed Germany's annexation of Czechoslovakia made Flohr a refugee again and brought all plans for a match against Alekhine to a halt.

Unlike Euwe, Alekhine does not want to have anything to do with the FIDE, and prefers to negotiate here and there and with various players. He will also negotiate about the conditions of a possible title match with the winner of the AVRO tournament, but he will not grant the winner the automatic right to play for title. Thus, AVRO is one of the strongest if not the strongest tournaments in the history of chess but it is not a candidates tournament.

A possible contender for the crown is the 27-year old Mikhail Botvinnik from the Soviet Union who also starts in the AVRO tournament. He has had a number of successes in the past and enjoys the reputation of being a formidable theoretician and positional player who also knows how to attack and how to play the endgame.

Mikhail Botvinnik

Another promising young player is the 22-year old Estonian Paul Keres who is not only an outstanding chess talent but also a very good tennis player.

Paul Keres

Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky present the United States. Fine, just turned 24, and is a good friend of Dr. Euwe and at the world championship 1937 Fine was Euwe's second. Fine currently lives in the Netherlands and despite his relatively young age he has already managed to be married twice. After a divorce from his first wife he married the reporter Emma Thea Keesing.

Reuben Fine

Reshevsky also comes from the US but was born in Orzokow which back then was part of Russia and is now in Poland. In 1920 Reshevsky's parents emigrated with their many children to the USA. Reshevsky is a kind of wunderkind and as a child he was already able to defeat strong masters and to give simultaneous performances. But later Reshevsky interrupted his chess career to study business administration and became an accountant by profession. Only at the beginning of this decade he returned to tournament chess.

Samuel Reshevsky

In chess we are facing a generational change. Capablanca is almost 50 years of age, although he has recently rejuvenated himself in a way: three weeks ago he married a Russian princess in the USA, and he is now spending his honeymoon in the Netherlands. Alekhine is also not very far from 50 and at 37 years of age Euwe is no longer young. They have to compete with young players such as Botvinnik and Keres and it is certainly only a matter of time before Alekhine loses his title.

The tournament is not played in one place and one city, but travels from round to round to different cities. At noon, the players travel from their hotel in Amsterdam, the Amstel Hotel, to the respective tournament location. Usually, they will take the train but when the tournament comes to Groningen the players will fly. After the round the players return to Amsterdam but often they will have no time to rest because they will have to play their adjourned games on the next day. A tough schedule that might favour the younger players.

The Amstel Hotel

Sponsor of the tournament is the "Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep" (The General Broadcasting Association), founded in 1923 and the first Dutch radio station. AVRO broadcasts on the Hilversum station and shares the space with the station of the socialist-oriented "Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs" (VARA) and the Protestant station VPRO.

The house of AVRO in Hilversum

Modern technology

The chess tournament's journey through the country will certainly help to promote the AVRO channel. The format has tradition. After all, the World Championship match between Euwe and Alekhine was played in different places, and last year, AVRO organised a simultaneous tour with Lasker and Bogoljubow that visited the major cities of the Netherlands and attracted hundreds of spectators in each city.

More and more households have a radio receiver, a development that has a lot of positive sides but can also be frightening. Last month a man by the name of Orson Welles demonstrated in the USA how easily people can be influenced by false information. In a radio show Welles managed to make his listeners believe that the earth would be attacked by aliens. Many of his listeners took the well-done fictitious account for real and fled their homes in panic.

But you can also use the new media in a different way.

The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) has been regularly broadcasting such recordings for a few years now, even though hardly anyone owns a device to receive the signals yet.

Cinematography seems to be much more real than the radio, at least in some ways but also comes with the danger of propagande. For example, Leni Riefenstahl, a young German dancer, actress and director just released Olympia, a two-part film about the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, in which Riefenstahl shows the Olympic competitions in unique pictures that have never been seen before.

Adolf Hitler himself had invited Riefenstahl to film the Olympics in Berlin and there are sources that indicate that Olympia was secretly funded by the Third Reich and it is certainly no coincidence that Olympia premiered for Hitler's 49th birthday in 1938.

In fact, Riefenstahl has close ties to the National Socialists and is said to be a good friend of Hitler. Hitler gave Riefenstahl the opportunity to direct "The Victory of Faith" (Der Sieg des Glaubens), a propaganda film about the fifth Nuremberg Rally in 1933, and in 1935 Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens) was released, a propaganda film about the 1934 rally in Nuremberg. Riefenstahl then completed this trilogy withDay of Freedom: Our Armed Forces ("Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht"), a propagandistic portrait of the German Wehrmacht.

The opening ceremony of the AVRO Tournament was much less dramatic and spectacular. Girls in the national costumes of the players greeted each player with the exception of Capablanca, who had not yet arrived in their national language with the words: "Dear countryman! You are about to go into battle and fight for the honour of our country. It will be a fight with the noblest weapons imaginable and I wish you victory from my heart. Fight this fight with nobility and courage. I bring you greetings on behalf of all those who will breathlessly watch the battle. May you fare well. We have placed our hopes in you."

Gustaaf de Clercq, president of the AVRO, then drew lots. The tournament of the world's best players can begin.

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

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The eight best players in the world meet at the AVRO Tournament - Chessbase News

Lately, Twitch has served as the primary medium for fans to observe and interact with some of the world's top chess players and it's awesome.

Lately, Twitch has served as the primary medium for fans to observe and interact with some of the world's top chess players and it's been awesome. Sure, this is nothing new, but things are heating up now that top chess personalities have demonstrated renewed interest in showcasing their skills on the platform. It seems that fans are more interested in the sport than ever before with associatedYouTube videos, Twitch streams, and Twitter activity at an all-time high.

One of the most significant game-changers that led to this chess takeover was xQc's collaboration with Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamuraabout two months ago. Fans were eager to see Hikaru run a coaching session with xQc, so the two made it happen. Since then, xQc has continuallyenjoyed chess on stream while Hikaru has rolled with the fresh exposure.

It could be argued that chess is flirting with the danger, slowlygetting sucked into the black hole of Twitch-drama. There has been some light scuffles as of late, but nothing too serious yet. Hopefully, chess manages to avoid the platform's drama trap and remains wholesome. To recap, here are somekey players on the board.

A blitz chess specialist, Hikaru is an infectious personality. He runs a channel that is equal parts entertaining and educational; either way, his streams arehighly-interactive and fun. Hikaru presents as a very open-minded player, willing to attempt some goofy activities and ready to collaborate with anyone.

RELATED:Chess.com Jokingly Promoted xQc To Grandmaster

The Botez sisters bring a huge amount of energy to the game. The eldest, Alexandra Botez, is an Woman FIDE Master and 5-time Canadian National Girls Champion. The youngest, Andrea Botez, is also a competitive chess player (former Team Canada) with a big personality. Their channel also features Woman Grandmaster title-holder Qiyu Zhou, also a former Team Canada player.

BenFinegold is another Grandmaster and veteran increating chess-based media.He has recently been painted as the chess-scene villain due to some edgy remarks directed towards Hikaru and xQc's audience. Regardless, he has a loyal fanbase that vouches for his invaluable contributions to chess education.

Magnus Carlsen is the highest-rated chess player in the world, revered by any and all familiar with the sport. Hailing from Norway, Carlsen does't hide his confidence in playing chessandregularly dominates his competition in tournaments. Although he seems to have vocal disdain for streaming on Twitch, he might just be warming up to it.

Chess has risen on the platform so rapidly that Twitch itself has responded. Currently, a Twitch Rivals event is scheduled in July, adding to the overall hype.Its precursor event,PogChamps, has been scheduled for June. The collaboration will include hosts Alexandra Botez/Hikaru Nakamura, multiple Twitch streamers as competitors, and Chess.com as the medium.

Seeing chess personalities emerge on the platform is fantastic; fans get to see the sport from a more personal perspective. Consequently, many are actively attempting to stir up drama between them, but in reality they are all quite civil even friendly. Sure, chess could just be the flavor of the month on Twitch, but I hope it's here to stay for a while.

Sources: Twitch, YouTube

NEXT:Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura Is Demolishing Opponents On Twitch

Call Of Duty: Warzone Should Allow Player Color Preferences

Andrew Penney is a writer for TheGamer. A bit of musical expatriate, he studied musicology and trumpet performance in college, but found his love for writing about gaming and streaming too alluring to stay away from. Some of his favorite games include Homeworld, Warcraft III, Starcraft 2, Apex Legends, Katana Zero, and Bastion. When not hunched over a keyboard furiously typing, you'd likely find him engulfed in anime or Apex avoiding the sun entirely.

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Twitch Is Breathing New Life Into Chess | TheGamer - TheGamer

Tani Adewumi, 9, fled Nigeria with his family and later settled into a New York homeless shelter. Today he dreams of becoming the world's youngest chess grandmaster.

Aishwarya KumarESPN.com

IT'S 9 P.M., and 8-year-old Tani Adewumi is wired, like he'd just swallowed a bag of sugar. He had played chess all day, but he wanted to play more, at least until midnight. The first day of the 2019 New York State Scholastic Chess Championship had just ended, and he finished with three wins in as many matches, surprising a former champion and two other seeded players. He was heading into Day 2 -- the final day of the tournament -- in the lead, and he wanted to keep up the momentum when he returned to the huge Airbnb he was sharing with his family, his coach and a few other coaches in Saratoga Springs.

"If you want to win tomorrow, you better get your butt to sleep like the rest of the champions are right now," his coach, Shawn Martinez, told him. And so, reluctantly, Tani went to bed, and as soon as he closed his eyes, he fell asleep. Already in his young life, Tani had spent nights in fear -- fear for his own life, fear for the lives of his parents. Nerves over a chess match weren't about to cause a single lost z.

The next day, Tani won his fourth match, no sweat. In the semifinal, Tani did something unorthodox: He purposely sacrificed his bishop for a pawn.

Why did you do that? Martinez wondered. I wouldn't have made such a risky move.

It appeared to be a blunder, but Tani knew exactly what he was doing. He remembered studying a 19th-century chess game played by the legendary Paul Morphy, and he knew if he could bait his opponent into taking his bishop, he could win the game.

His opponent gave him a wry smile as he realized -- too late -- why Tani had made that move, the one that would send him to the championship match with a perfect record.

Incredulous, Martinez plugged all of the moves up until the sacrifice of the bishop into an automated chess program on his laptop. After the match, he showed the results to Tani: The strongest move Tani could have made at that point was to sacrifice his bishop. It was aggressive, bold and brave. It was a move most chess players wouldn't even consider.

But Tani is no ordinary chess player. And his journey isn't ordinary, either. Fifteen months earlier, his family had settled into a New York City homeless shelter after fleeing Nigeria. Thirteen months earlier, he couldn't tell a rook from a pawn. That March day, after drawing in the final, he was crowned a state champion. They didn't know it then, but Tani's 8-year-old brain and its ability to think 20 moves ahead on an 8-by-8 chessboard were about to change the Adewumis' lives forever.

"That moment was everything," Martinez says. "I knew then he was meant for greatness."

ON A DREARY December 2016 afternoon, Tani's father, Kayode Adewumi, sat in his dining room chair in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, with his palms on his head, staring at his computer. A poster with the words "No to Western education" and "Kill all Christians" screamed at him from the screen. But what was more terrifying was the logo that accompanied the words -- a logo he could recognize in his sleep. It was Boko Haram.

Four men had come into his printing shop earlier that afternoon and, after handing him a thumb drive, asked him to print 25,000 copies of the poster saved on the drive. Kayode didn't think much about it until this moment, back in his house, with his wife, Oluwatoyin, looking at him, her eyes narrowed and worry smeared across her forehead.

Accepting the business meant he had to work for Boko Haram, a terrorist organization, and that, as a Christian, and a human being, he couldn't bring himself to do. But refusing essentially meant a death sentence for him and his family, especially now that he's seen what the poster says and can identify the four men.

2 Related

He could hear Tani, 6, and his older brother, Austin, playing with friends out in the front yard, arguing about who gets to kick the soccer ball, and a fresh wave of fear went through his body.

What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?

Even before that threat, the Adewumis noticed their country changing under the attack of Boko Haram. Ever since the 2014 abduction of 276 girls from a northern Nigerian high school, Boko Haram's attacks on civilians had only increased. In 2015, a bomb blast occurred so close to Oluwatoyin's office that she could feel the heat as security escorted her out of her office. The day before the Boko Haram men came into Kayode's print shop, Tani and Austin had come home from school early -- they were evacuated after Boko Haram sent a message threatening another attack on a school in Abuja. Tani had peppered his parents with questions. "Why were we let off early?" "Who is Boko Haram?" "What is religious extremism?" All the while, his parents were able to shield him. They didn't know how much longer they could keep doing that.

Kayode came up with a plan. When the men come for their posters the next day, he'll tell them he couldn't do the job because his printing press had broken the previous evening. He'll then hand them the flash drive and tell them he hadn't looked at it because he hadn't needed to. Clean lie. He prayed they'd bite and leave his family alone.

They didn't believe him. A week later, when only Oluwatoyin was home and the children were asleep, they showed up at the Adewumis' house looking for Kayode's laptop. They assumed Kayode had seen the poster and saved it to use against them. Let's use Oluwatoyin to send Kayode a message, Oluwatoyin heard them whisper to each other in Arabic.

What they didn't know was this: Oluwatoyin was raised Muslim and spoke Arabic growing up. When she heard this, she knew they were going to kill her or rape her. So she did the one thing she could still do: She knelt and began to pray. Atuasal iilayk -- I'm begging you. She said the Arabic phrase over and over. "Are you a Muslim?" they asked her. "Yes," she whispered, as tears fell down her cheeks. Silence followed her response. They looked at each other, and without saying another word, they exited the house.

A few weeks later, Kayode asked Oluwatoyin to pack a small bag of necessities. Without informing anybody, the family moved to Akure in rural Nigeria, to a house with a tall fence. They hid there, using their savings to get by, hoping Boko Haram would lose track of them so they could eventually go back to living a normal life in that small town.

A few months into their life in Akure, when they were getting ready to go to bed, they heard a noise -- like somebody was shaking their fence. Boko Haram, they realized, had found them. "You've been escaping us for far too long, but we know you are inside, and we know that today you will go to heaven," they heard the group of men yelling from outside. Kayode asked Oluwatoyin to go to their kids' bedroom and pray hard, because nothing short of a miracle could save them now.

Kayode knew it would take a while for them to knock down the fence, but a back door attached to the fence led directly to the kitchen. If they found the back door, they'd get inside within minutes. He came up with a plan: He would push open the kitchen door and announce himself. They'd follow him and leave his family alone. It worked -- even if by accident. When they heard him, Kayode believes they mistook him for the police and yelled, "It's the police, let's go," and jumped into a car and fled. Kayode stayed outside the kitchen door all night, waiting to see whether they'd come back.

As daylight broke, Kayode wearily walked back into the house to find Oluwatoyin calling him frantically. The kids, who were asleep before, were now awake, fear etched on their faces.

Their faces confirmed the one thing he'd been thinking over and over in his head. They had to leave the country for good -- and they had to do it now.

TANI IS SEATED in his second-grade classroom in PS 116 in Manhattan on a cold February 2018 day. The school dedicated one period a week -- every Thursday -- to a special chess class taught by Martinez. Kids break off into pairs, getting ready to play games monitored by Martinez. That day, Tani sits across from Martinez and learns the rules of chess, asking questions throughout the match. Martinez sees Tani pick up the game at a remarkably fast rate, his eyes twinkling as he moves the pieces. At the end of class, Martinez asks the children to finish 50 puzzles -- online chess matches -- by the next class. He hopes to spend more time with Tani in subsequent weeks to get him up to speed. But at the end of the week, Tani would come to him with 500 puzzles. "I loved it, so I kept going," he said.

Tani loved the challenge. He loved that no two games looked the same. He loved that he had a set number of pieces he could control. He loved that he could attack, and if he did it well, he could win.

"He was in love," Martinez says. "It was like watching a flower sprout in front of my eyes."

Martinez was astonished by Tani's learning curve and invited him to his chess club. But there was one problem: The Adewumis couldn't afford the club fees.

The night Boko Haram tried to break into his family's house in Akure in June 2017 was the night Kayode decided to leave for the United States. They had previously applied for and received visitors visas to see family in Dallas. I just wanted to visit my family, but now I have to flee to the land of the dreams, Kayode thought. The kids were cautiously excited, America was the promised land, according to the movies and TV shows they'd watched. Maybe it is a land of the future too, a future where they're free and not scared to go to sleep.

A few weeks later, Kayode bought their plane tickets and fearfully peered out the window on their ride to the airport, making sure they weren't being followed. All clear. They boarded the plane and within hours were flying across the Atlantic, all the while looking out the window to take one last look at their country, not knowing when they'd return, if ever.

They spent their first few months living with family in Dallas, but things turned sour and they made the painful decision to move again. Oluwatoyin had a childhood friend in the Bronx who said he'd give the Adewumis a jump start in the city. They bought four bus tickets, packed up and headed north. It took them 40 hours to get from Dallas to New York City in December 2017. After hopping from the childhood friend's home to the basement of their church's pastor, Phillip Falayi, they made their way to an intake center run by the Department of Homeless Services. They needed something more stable for Tani and Austin, and getting help from the government seemed like the best plan. Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) offered them accommodation in a shelter in Manhattan.

They didn't have much (Kayode had to go back to Nigeria for a few days to sell his printing machinery and bring back money for his family), but they were thankful for a roof over their heads and three meals a day. Tani and Austin enrolled in schools, and Kayode found a job as a night cleaner in a restaurant in the Bronx, working from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for $6 an hour. He was the CEO of his company in Nigeria, but this would have to do for now. He had a family to take care of.

In less than a year, they'd moved five times, and every time, Tani packed up his bags, not uttering a single word of complaint. Things can only get better from here, right? he thought to himself, every time.

And the sixth time, he was right. Because it was the move that brought chess into his life.

The chess club needed fees that the Adewumis couldn't afford. So Martinez, after a conversation with the club director, had the fees waived. Within weeks, Tani was studying 100-year-old matches, spending hours poring over chess openings and combinations. Martinez recalls Tani memorizing an entire game played by Morphy -- one of Martinez's favorite chess players -- from the 1850s. Tani started playing in local tournaments on Saturdays. On Sundays, he begged his mom to let him out of church early so he could attend more tournaments. Sometimes Martinez accompanied him, other times his mom did. When a tournament required an entry fee -- usually around $50 -- Martinez spoke to the organizers and got it waived. Between February 2018 and March 2019, after promising performances in the New York City Mayor's Cup and the city championship, Tani had risen to 1,200 ratings points (read: He would checkmate you in eight moves) -- a feat that was incredibly hard to achieve even for children playing since they were 3 or 4 years old.

"Most chess players hit a halt in their rankings when they get to that point, and they have to train more intensely to get over that peak," Martinez says. "But Tani kept progressing steadily from the beginning."

For a while, Tani kept chess to himself. Even his class teacher, Kyrie Gilmore, had no idea that he could play, let alone that he was getting so good that people were starting to call him a prodigy. After Martinez told her during a regular chat, she approached Tani and asked him how he felt about the pressure he was suddenly facing from the chess community. "I feel fine. I play because I love chess," he said to her. Even then, "he wasn't scared of losing, and that gave him a level of confidence to become an attacking player," Gilmore says. "Plus, he has a charming personality."

For a lot of children his age, even the ranked ones, chess is fun, chess is engaging. But for Tani, chess represented what he found in America: control.

"Tani used chess as a teddy bear when he first started, you know?" Martinez says. "He found it, and he held on tight."

But who would ever believe that a teddy bear could save his family?

IT'S APRIL 2020, and the Adewumis are sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic. Through FaceTime, they're giving me a virtual tour of their Lower West Side apartment. There's a chessboard in every corner, one on a side table near the living room window, one on the coffee table and one roll-up chess sheet on the living room floor.

"People from all over the world keep sending Tani chessboards," Kayode says.

The walls are adorned with framed awards Tani has received over the past year, and Oluwatoyin points to the wall near the TV, where a picture of a smiling Tani from a New York Times article hangs.

After a full day of online Zoom classes, Tani is in front of his computer in the living room, playing a game of chess before the e-tournament he participates in every evening. His older brother, Austin, is sitting adjacent to him in front of another computer, finishing up his homework for the day. Kayode, a real estate agent now, has been working remotely since mid-March, and Oluwatoyin, a home health care aide, has been asked to stay home.

Oluwatoyin flashes the view outside their apartment. A basketball court sits empty. A lone person, wearing a mask, walks a dog. "That basketball court is usually packed, but I haven't seen a single soul in weeks," Oluwatoyin says.

Tani has been obsessively reading the Pee Wee Scouts series, a children's literary collection by Judy Delton, and will launch into stories every day. Tani misses playing soccer outside and playing chess face-to-face, because the "way you move, the way you react after a piece, says a lot about how you're doing on the board," he says.

Oluwatoyin points out that they've been through worse, now it's all about staying healthy. "We're thankful we can order groceries online and it gets delivered to us."

They moved into the apartment a few days after Tani won the New York championship in March 2019. When Tani woke up the next morning and saw his face in New York Times for Kids, he was tickled. He cut out the article, took it to school and read it in front of his class. His class had been reading NYT Kids all year long, so to see Tani's face on it was exciting. "It was this really tangible thing, like, 'Hey, we read this all the time, now this is happening to our classmate,' so it made it a real-life learning experience in a beautiful way," Gilmore says.

The story was read by millions of people, and a GoFundMe page was established with the hope to raise money -- $10,000 -- to move the Adewumis out of the homeless shelter. Seemingly every time they refreshed the page, they'd received another $1,000. Within the first few days, they'd made $100,000. And then NBC wanted them on the "Today" show and the total soared to nearly $260,000. Then two anonymous donors came forward -- one who offered to pay a year's worth of rent (which has now ended) for their new house, and one who wanted to buy them a car.

The entire family showed up to their leasing agent's office to sign their first lease in America.

The family's story reached the ears of former President Bill Clinton, who sent a note inviting them to meet with him in New York. And Tani, like always, peppered Clinton with questions -- about the presidency and his life afterward. The chess prodigy also was invited to the 2019 U.S. Championships in St. Louis, where he played against world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana during a private event.

"At the end of the day, he is still a 9-year-old kid who smiles a lot, finishes his homework on time and spends time with his friends," Gilmore says. "Fame just became something he was a recipient of. He still was the same curious, happy person that he was before that."

The Adewumis' asylum request is still pending -- the next hearing is scheduled for June 2022 -- but it feels as if they've finally found firm footing. With their rent also taken care of, they wanted to do more with the quarter-million dollars they had received. So they set up the Tanitoluwa Adewumi Foundation, a nonprofit to help immigrant families in need. "Even when they didn't have a lot, they'd come to church every Sunday and give away food they cooked or bags, pencil kits and books for kids -- that's the kind of people they were," Pastor Falayi says.

Soon, Tani will see his story come to life on the big screen. Paramount and South African comedian Trevor Noah are making a movie based on the Adewumis' story and his recently published book, "My Name Is Tani ... And I Believe in Miracles."

"This is all so strange, but it feels wonderfully great to have a movie made out of [my] life," Tani says.

Even through the pandemic, Tani has been improving at chess, and a few weeks ago he reached 2,200 ratings points, pushing him to the master level. He can't go to the club or compete at tournaments, but he's been participating in online tournaments, including one organized by Martinez in which 60 chess players across the city compete for an hour every evening. Martinez admits that Tani beats him more often than he beats Tani.

"Coach, you ready to lose to me today?" Tani says before one of their matches begins. Martinez smiles and says, "Oh, you are on!"

Growing up, fear and upheaval were Tani's constant companions. Chess changed that. With his indefatigable curiosity and his aggressive style of play, he has given his family stable footing. Now he wants more. "I want to become the youngest grandmaster in the world," he says.

He has just under three years to achieve that (the record is held by Russia's Sergey Karjakin at 12 years and 7 months). And if he does -- which he very much is on pace to do -- he would become not only the youngest grandmaster but also the fourth black grandmaster (among a pool of about 1,300 grandmasters) and the second African American to accomplish the feat.

"In chess, it doesn't matter if you're black or white; if you attack and defend well, you have an equal chance of winning -- and that's what's so beautiful about it," Tani says and smiles.

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From homeless refugee to chess prodigy, 9-year-old dreams of becoming youngest grandmaster - ESPN

By: PTI | Mumbai | Published: May 23, 2020 5:09:20 pm Viswanathan Anand is a five-times world champion. (Source: File Photo)

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand feels the advent of computers has changed the way players have approached chess over the years, with the two opponents sitting in front of the board remaining the only constant in the game.

Talking about his journey, the former world champion said he had to work hard to become the player he is today.

I was six years old when my older brother and sister were playing chess, and then I went to my mom and asked her to teach me as well. My progress as a chess player wasnt sudden, it came through lots of hard work over many years, Anand said on Star Sports show Mind Masters.

The chess I learnt in the 80s, we no longer play chess like that. The introduction of computers has changed the approach, the way you study completely. Only the two players in front of the board has not changed, he added.

Anand said chess requires you to constantly study the opponents game and gauge whats going on in their minds.

In chess, you dont beat the board. Its more important to beat the player on the other side. Everyone thinks you make the best moves, but its more about who makes the last mistake on the board, Anand said.

You need to constantly put yourself in the minds of the opponents and study their game along with your own, he added.

The 50-year-old said he hits the gym to release the pent up tension in the body after every game.

You cannot pump your fist and theres no emotional release in a game like chess. After a game I always go to the gym not for fitness but to calm down and the stress goes away.

Anand said the 1987 World Junior chess championship and the 2017 World Rapid Championship are two of the most important tournaments of his career.

Winning the first World Junior in 1987 was a match I will never forget, the feeling of overcoming the Russians gave me great pride.

And, winning the World Rapid Chess Championship in 2017, at a time in my career when I was contemplating retirement, that win came just at the right time and gave me great satisfaction.

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Introduction of computers has changed the approach to chess: V Anand - The Indian Express

Who will be the next world champion? As we witnessed GM Alireza Firouzja beat GM Magnus Carlsen in a very close match a few weeks ago, were starting to consider who will eventually beat Carlsen for the world champion title.

While Firouzja, 2728 as of this month, is a strong candidate to be reckoned with, there are many other strong contenders. Turning 17 later this year, he has already topped the world juniors rating list and is even ranked 21st on the Top 100 Players list. However, I want to bring special attention to other young players as well.

Reaching 2600 is not an easy feat, and a quick glance at the ratings list tells us just three 2600s are in the under-16 category in the world. However, the question remains, who will become the top player in the world, and not just the juniors list, in five years?

Table 1: The Current Under-16 Rankings for the Top 10.

We can see that while the highest rated under-16-year-old is 2627, the 10thhighest rated is 2481. While 2481 is still a very high and respectable rating, it is not quite 2600. Any of these players is extremely promising, but I want to bring attention to three.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan), Nihal Sarin (India), and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (India), who are all above 2600, are names we have seen at top tournaments. By any means, becoming the world champion is not an easy task, and we are not likely to see any of these three players become world champion tomorrow, but if youre looking to place bets with a friend, I would place my bet on any one of these three.

Before I dive into a more detailed analysis of each youngster, I want to also point out that while getting a high rating at a young age (Carlsen) may indicate you can possibly become the world champion in the future, it also does not necessarily mean you will reach the distinguished 2800 (GM Teimour Radjabov). Along similar lines, GM Fabiano Caruana started being considered as a potential top player at just age 19 or 20, when he started to beat a lot of the other top players. He was certainly not 2600 at 14 (he was 2444) and, in fact, only reached 2600 when 16 years old.

One such display of skill was in 2013, when Caruana beat GM Sergey Karjakin, who at that time had already been 2700 for years. Being a child prodigy neither means that you will become a world champion in your 20s, nor does it mean that you won't just because you are not 2600 at 14 years old. Of course, I think it is vital to point out that just because you are not 2600 at age 16 does not mean you should be deterred from playing chess and pursuing your goals in the game.

For the sake of conciseness, in this article I will only be looking at the standard Elo ratings.

I have chosen to look at Praggnanandhaa and Nihals progress together because these two young players spend a lot of time training together. Looking at the progress that Praggnanandhaa, with a rating of 2608 at just 14 currently, tells us a similar trend is experienced by most young players who reach high ratings (2400+): an overall quick rise with the K40 factor, dotted with a few significant rating drops also caused by the K40 factor. The new K40 factor, which was implemented in 2014, simply means that the ratings of all players under the age of 18 with ratings not above 2300 will fluctuate a lot.

Upon reaching 2300 in early 2016, Praggnanandhaa has since had a steady constant rise to 2600. Overall, the line of best fit would make the graph logarithmic, which makes logical sense because young chess players improve rapidly initially, but games become more difficult to win, and opponents become more experienced at higher ratings.

Figure 1: Praggnanandhaas Rating Progress Chart.

Figure 2: Nihals Rating Progress Chart.

Nihals progress chart follows a similar trend, achieving a rating of 2620 in May 2020. Since June 2019, Nihal has gained just 14 rating points in 78 games. While the plateau near the end (after a rather constant but slightly slowing in the rating rise) is in part affected by COVID-19, as tournaments are postponed for the safety of all, not all the plateau can be attributed to the lack of games in recent months. As mentioned, games become more difficult at a higher level, as players become stronger and more comparable to Nihal and Praggnanandhaa.

Sometimes it is difficult to believe such a young kid is already 2600. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Nihal hard at work. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

They also likely have better resources such as coaches and seconds compared to the opponents the young players have faced before, and players need to pay more attention to minute details of the game. While I have no doubt that Nihal and Praggnanandhaa are already seasoned players, most of the opponents in the tournaments theyre playing in will have quite a few more years of experience and knowledge.

Abdusattorov, who is very slightly ahead of Nihal and Praggnanandhaa at 2627, has a rating progress chart that is slightly different. I had played Abdusattorov about a year before his dramatic rating rise, which means I can say I contributed a bit to his 2600 rating! At the time of the game, he was already quite a strong player and quite a few years younger than I was (five to be exact), at only 10 years old.

In context, in 2014 I was 14 and had a rating of 2157, while my nine-year-old opponent had a rating of 2186. Did I predict his meteoric rise to 2600? Quite honestly, not at all, but I am glad to see he has been successful so far in his young career.

Figure 3. Abdusattorovs Rating Progress Chart.

While we can see both Nihal and Praggnanandhaa have had quite significant rating increases in any month, Abdusattorov gained 201.6 points in April 2015 with the help of K40, pushing him above 2400 (and quite significantly as well). Since then, he dipped below 2400 briefly between February and October 2016. However, after a brief spell in the 2300s, his rating since then has been increasing steadily with minor rating losses.

The young Abdusattorov deep in thought. Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.

Because Praggnanandhaa, Nihal and Abdusattorov are already at 2600, the next question to ask is whether they will reach 2700. In my opinion, they will, and its only a matter of time. I know Praggnanandhaa and Nihal (whom I almost met at training camps in Europe) have the talent and resources necessary. Of course, this doesnt leave out Abdusattorovs contention for the world title in a few years, but I am less familiar with his training.

Aside from the clear favorites for the world championship title in a few years, I do believe there are many other strong contenders in future years. Dommaraju Gukesh (India), at almost 14 years old, is the second-youngest person to qualify for grandmaster. At 2563, he is perfectly well on track to become 2600 before his 15thbirthday and aim for 2700. Similarly, Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan), who is currently 15, is a grandmaster at 2557. Another strong Indian talent, GM Raunak Sadhwani is 2545 at 14.

All three players have rating progress charts like either Praggnanandhaa's and Nihals or Abdusattorov's.

Figure 4: Dommaraju Gukeshs Rating Progress Chart.

We can see the plateau near the end that was discussed earlier.

Figure 5: Javokhir Sindarovs Rating Progress Chart.

Sindarovs progress chart is more similar to Abdusattorovs chart. It shows Sindarov has also experienced significant rating increases and decreases.

Figure 6: Raunak Sadhwanis Rating Progress Chart.

Sadhwanis progress chart is very much like Praggnanandhaas chart. Overall we can predict that all three players will experience rating increases.

Next I want to compare these top young players to the world champion and his last challenger.

Figure 7: Magnus Carlsens Rating Progress Chart.

Carlsen turned 15 in November 2005. Since 15 is roughly the average age of Praggnanandhaa, Nihal, and Abdusattorov, a lot of insight can be gathered from comparing their progress charts. At 15, Carlsen had just gone above 2600 in January 2006, and by October 2006 at age 16 was 2698, almost 2700. While, of course, Carlsen is the current world champion and is quite possibly the strongest player in history, in terms of milestones, I would say that the current three youngsters are very much on track to accomplish something similar.

We can see that for both Carlsen and Fabiano, the year or two after reaching 2600 is crucial, as both charts show rating increases. While Carlsens was more explosive, Fabiano steadily climbed to 2700 within two years after reaching 2620 in April 2008, when he was 16.

Figure 8: Caruana Fabianos Rating Progress Chart.

As I mentioned, we don't see Fabiano rise to fame (2800) immediately, but we see a rather gradual increase starting from 2012.

Using the five main players we have discussed so far, Praggnanandhaa, Nihal, and Abdusattorov for the upcoming candidates as world champions and Caruana and Carlsen as the current top two, we can predict what rating patterns we need to see for the three young players.

Figure 9. Rating vs. Age Projection.

In this analysis, I have assumed a logarithmic line of best fit, comparing it with each lines corresponding R2 value. While we predict that Praggnanandhaa, Nihal, and Abdusattorov will reach high ratings, they are not all you need to become the world champion. One can be extremely highly rated but not become a world champion. Also, the analysis is not taking into consideration potential human outliers, such as any player not continuing chess after a certain age, or other possible disturbances to the trend.

Keeping a close eye on Praggnanandhaa, Nihal and Abdusattorov will be important in the upcoming few months as tournaments start up again. Not being able to play chess for a few months is quite challenging for young players who are more used to playing tournaments every month, and I believe we are all excited to see what happens not only with their ratings after lockdowns lift globally, but also what changes in their chess skills we might see.

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Who Will Be The Next Top Chess Player? - Chess.com