{"id":2981,"date":"2025-03-23T17:16:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T16:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2025-03-24T00:29:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T23:29:57","slug":"the-fourth-musketeer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/en\/ctvrty-musketyr\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fourth Musketeer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Everyone knows that Dumas' Three Musketeers were actually four, and thus as an analogy for the Indian heroes Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi this analogy could not be used. Until recently! However, after the conclusion of the Masters tournament at this year's Prague festival, the situation is different. The fourth musketeer has apparently been found! The 25-year-old Chithambaram Aravindh, until recently not very well known to a wider circle of chess fans, won the tournament with such clarity and performance that there is no doubt. But that is not all. One of his brilliant sacrifices is probably among the most beautiful we have seen on the chessboard so far this year. And since we are talking about sacrifices, why not take a closer look at this beloved ornament of chess. Not only sacrifices and beauty keep a chess player alive! Associations and analogies are admittedly more subtle helpers behind the board, but no less important.<\/p>\n

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The world champion and last year's winner of the Masters tournament Nodirbek Abdusattorov did not travel to Prague this year, but the organisers still managed to secure a diverse and strong line-up led by the winner of the supertournament in Wijk aan Zee and the Chinese number one! Also noteworthy is the participation of the number one Turkish player, the only 16-year-old Ediz Gurel. To avoid listing the top world players and other grandmasters separately, let us immediately look at the final results.<\/p>\n

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The actual ranking changed somewhat due to the primary tiebreak of mutual games or mini-matches. Readers will find it at the end of the article after expanding the Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files. <\/em><\/p>\n

In this article, we will not primarily focus on examples or present too many various tests. We will concentrate first and foremost on the fourth musketeer<\/em> and the game in which perhaps the most unexpected and spectacular move \u2013 manoeuvre \u2013 sacrifice of the year occurred. The game that led to it will then, of course, be thoroughly analysed.<\/p>\n

The theory of sacrifice, methods of early prophylaxis, the use of association, analogy and extensive theoretical knowledge in the opening, which we may not even play ourselves: these will be the themes we will also touch upon in connection with the game.<\/p>\n

Well, of course, we will not deprive the reader of other interesting, instructive and downright curious moments either.<\/p>\n

Out of nowhere<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>But who actually is Aravindh Chithambaram Veerappan<\/strong>? Another super-grandmaster of Tamil origin (like the world champion) was born on 11 September 1999 in Tamil Nadu, one of the south-eastern states of India. Although he attracted attention in his childhood with extraordinary results, undeniable talent and grandmaster norms, by a leap<\/em>, similarly to, for example, Andrej Jesipenko or last year Ivan Zemljanskij, he hovered just above the 2600 rating threshold for a long time. However, a closer look clearly shows that the delay was influenced not only by Covid (similarly to Erigaisi), but also by very modest family circumstances. In Aravindh's childhood, the family was supported only by his mother.<\/p>\n

I admit that while I followed Arjuna Erigaisi for quite a long time before he entered the absolute world elite, I<\/em> quite a long time before he entered the absolute world elite, Aravindha only<\/em> in 2023, and began to follow his games more intensively after his first tournament victory in Chennai in December 2024.<\/em>\u00a0 only in 2023, and started to follow his games more intensively after his first tournament victory in Chennai in December 2024.<\/p>\n

Many interesting facts, dear readers, will be revealed in the following video. Sagar Shah interviews Aravindh's coach, Grandmaster Ramachandran Ramesh.<\/p>\n