From the CEO
This happened in roughly at the middle of 2025. Amruta and I were excited because our good friends Shikhar and Charmie were visiting us from Bangalore. Both of them are excellent at what they do - Charmie - a top notch designer, and Shikhar - an amazing product manager and entrepreneur. We also had super GM Vidit Gujrathi coming home that day. We all met in the afternoon and spent a lot of time discussing about AI. Vidit, who had just learnt about cursor back then, showed it to me, and we even managed to build something very quick in the next few minutes! After spending a few hours, Shikhar's eyes fell on our ChessBase India shop website. He didn't like the look and feel of it. He asked us - "What do you use to manage your shop?" My reply was, "There is a website known as Ecwid and we have been using it since 2016." To which Shikhar's natural question was - "Why do you guys not use Shopify? It's the best website to build a shop." (This newsletter is by no means a promotion of Shopify!). As Shikhar asked me this question, my mind went back in time. It was 2016, and we had just started off ChessBase India. The earliest customers who would buy ChessBase softwares would deposit the money in our bank account and send us an email. We would then check our bank account, and then send them serial keys and setup files! :)
In order to simplify the process back then we had a choice - Shopify or Ecwid. And because we needed certain features which Shopify didn't provide, or because we wanted to save some cost, we had gone for Ecwid. Now in the last 9 years - our entire e-commerce business was built around it. We would put the details of every single transaction into the system. We had customized it in a way that if someone ordered a product then they would immediately get the serial key and setup files. Yes, the front end look and feel wasn't particularly the best, but we had learnt to live with it. After all the amount of time and energy we had spent in nurturing the platform to the liking of not just the ecommerce team, but also our accounting team was huge! And now here comes Shikhar, we are having a fun day together and he is asking us to change the platform. I was not convinced. "We don't have the bandwidth time wise or monetary resources wise to make all the changes", I said. "We also would have to train our team all over again for this." He of course, understood the complexity of the situation, but he still insisted that shifting to Shopify was a no-brainer. Amruta and I decided to take a leap of faith. There are some people in your life who give you advice after due thought and when such people insist, you must take it seriously. Shikhar helped us to find the right person for this transition. His own brother Ujjwal joined ChessBase India and over the next few months immaculately transformed our shop! What you now see on our website - shop.chessbase.in is our new shop powered by Shopify.
I must tell you - the change was not a pleasant one. Every few days we had the question - whether it was worth it? Well, the answer is - it was totally worth. Almost everyone in the company is happy with this transition and the happiest is the customer. They have better searching possibilities, better checkout experience and just overall a positive feeling visiting our shop. Our sales have also risen since the shift. We can already see the limitless potential that lies ahead of us to scale the e-commerce business. A big thanks to Shikhar who insisted that we make the change, and a big thanks to Charmie and Vidit who agreed with him wholeheartedly that day.
If you have read what I have written here, it might be a good idea for you to think about your chess journey. Think about what is that limiting factor that is limiting you in life like Ecwid was for us. There must be Shikhar's in your life as well - people who are recommending you with all their heart to do something new, something different - that would take your game to the next level. But you are not ready to change. Why? Because you have invested a lot of time and energy into your existing openings, systems and style of play. Change is always difficult. But when done right, it frees up your way! A road that had roadblocks everywhere now becomes a highway. But for that you must take that leap of faith. And then you will find an Ujjwal (a chess coach) who will come and guide you along the path. Yes, it might seem that you don't have enough resources/money to afford a chess coach. But sometimes you have to invest before you reap the benefits. Sometimes you investing in upgrading yourself will help you win a tournament and help you recover your expenses. As my grandfather (nanaji) used to say, "Sometimes you have to spend first before you earn!" I hope through this newsletter, all of you find the courage to take that next leap in your life. - Sagar Shah
HEADLINE OF THE WEEK
88th Tata Steel 2026 R10: Gukesh bounces back again
The World Champion, D Gukesh bounced back once again in Round 10 of 88th Tata Steel Masters 2026. Gukesh joked about teaching a lesson to the 14-year-old as he lost few games against the stronger players when he was a 13/14-year-old. He also praised how Yagiz became stronger in the last year. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) drew his game against Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO) to maintain his sole lead 6.5/10. Jorden van Foreest (NED) drew against Javokhir Sindarov (UZB). Both of them maintain their pursuit at 6/10 each. Matthias Bluebaum (GER) scored his second consecutive win to cross 2700 in the live ratings for the first time in his career. Bluebaum crushed Anish Giri who opted for a sharp line. World no.4 Vincent Keymer (GER) got the better of World no.5 Arjun Erigaisi. Aravindh Chithambaram scored his first win of the event against the Czech Republic no.1, Thai Dai Vang Nguyen after the former made a bold practical decision in the endgame. Today is the last rest day. Round 11 starts tomorrow Friday 30th January at 2 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST for both Masters and Challengers section.
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
GARRY KASPAROV ANALYZES HIS GAMES!
Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, part 1 is the first book in a major new three-volume series. This series will be unique by the fact that it will record the greatest chess battles played by the greatest chessplayer of all-time. The series in itself is a continuation of Kasparov’s mammoth history of chess, comprising My Great Predecessors and Modern Chess. Kasparov’s historical volumes have received great critical and public acclaim for their rigorous analysis and comprehensive detail regarding the developments in chess that occurred both on and off the board. This new volume and series continues in this vein with Kasparov scrutinizing his most fascinating encounters from the period 1973-1985 whilst also charting his development away from the board!
It had been known in Russia for some time that Kasparov had an extraordinary talent but the first time that this talent was unleashed on the western world was in 1979.The Russian Chess Federation had received an invitation for a player to participate in a tournament at Banja Luka and, under the impression that this was a junior event, sent along the fifteen year old Kasparov (as yet without even an international rating!). Far from being a junior tournament, Banja Luka was actually a major international event featuring numerous world class grandmasters. Undeterred Kasparov stormed to first place, scoring 11½/15 and finishing two points clear of the field!
Today, we have a special offer on this amazing book - use the coupon code "KASPAROV10" to avail a 10% discount. This offer is valid until 6th Feburary 2026 - hurry up and get it now!
LATEST NEWS OF THE WEEK
A dozen champions crowned at 14th National Schools Chess Championships 2025
The 14th National School Chess Championships 2025 witnessed a participation of 1153 players from 30 different states and union territories across the nation. Kerala bagged the maximum number of medals - six, two Gold, Silver and Bronze medals each. Karnataka won four medals, two Gold and Silver each. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal also got four medals each. The twelve champions are - Nimalan Dharanipathy (KAR), Tanishka Bhandari (MAH), Ilaan Shafeek (KER), Teesha Byadwal (RAJ), Dhyaan Patel (GUJ), Yakshini P (TN), Advik Singh Chauhan (HAR), WCM Pratitee Bordoloi (KAR), Siddhant Salunke (MAH), WCM Shanmathi Sree S (TN), FM Samyak Dharewa (WB) and Ameya A R (KER).
When India's rising star Pranav Anand faced Magnus Carlsen at the World Blitz Championship
19-year-old Grandmaster Pranav Anand was in superb form at the FIDE World Blitz Championship 2025. He scored impressive wins against strong players like Amin Bassem, Robert Hovhannisyan, Richard Rapport, and Murzin Volodar. He finished the tournament with a score of 12/19 and performed at a rating of 2739! In the fifth round, he faced Magnus Carlsen, a dream encounter for any young player. He has annotated his game against the World No. 1 in this article. Check out how the exciting battle unfolded. Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Aaryan Varshney dominates 16th Andranik Margaryan Memorial 2026, becomes the 92nd Grandmaster of India
IM Aaryan Varshney became the 92nd Indian to achieve the Grandmaster title on Friday 16th January 2026. Aaryan drew against GM Jegor Lashkin (MDA) in the final round to become the champion and also earn his final GM-norm. The 20-year-old from Delhi scored his first norm at 34th Vasilis Theoridis Kavala Open 2025 in August. He reached 2500 in FIDE Rating list November. Aaryan scored his second GM-norm at 3rd Leonine GM Round-Robin in the same month. Aaryan has won a lot of tournaments throughout his career. Since November 2023, his rating kept climbing up, thanks to his meticulous planning of tournaments. This year India might just get the highest number of GMs in a calendar year and reach 100 GMs.
Prraneeth Vuppala prevails at 37th Roquetas Chess Festival Open 2026
GM Prraneeth Vuppala scored 7.5/9 to win 37th Roquetas Chess Festival Open 2026. Prraneeth finished a half point ahead of the rest. FM Pau Marin Ferragut (ESP), IM Filip Cukrowski (POL), IM Nico Chasin (USA) and IM Felix-Antonio Illinca (ROU) scored 7/9 each. They secured second to fifth place according to tie-breaks. The top three prizes were €2600 + trophy, €1600 and €1200 each respectively. GM Diptayan Ghosh, GM Raja Rithvik R and GM Vignesh N R scored 6.5/9 each. They were placed seventh, eighth and tenth respectively. IM Aronyak Ghosh scored an unbeaten 8/9 to secure second place in the 7th The Eve of Magi Blitz Rating Open. Nico won that event scoring 8.5/9. The top three prizes in Blitz were €120, €90 and €70.
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