One of India&rsquo;s oldest and most scenic golf courses at Naldehra on the outskirts of Shimla was the venue for the first Chalets Naldehra golf tournament attracting the best golfers in Himachal Pradesh.

First Chalets Naldehra golf meet draws Shimla's best golfers

Business Standard

Why does India not produce match-winning spin bowlers any more, Aabhas Sharma asks B S Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan.

Spin theory

Peter Svidler beat Alexander Grischuk to snaffle first place in the World Cup. Svidler took one game and three were drawn. Both players qualify for the Candidates, however. That one decisive game in the final match was a superb example of preparation. Svidler played a provocative line of the Sicilian Paulsen where Grischuk produced a strong novelty. The chess engines assessed it as nearly winning for Grischuk.

Chess (#974)

The hard work, the glamour and the controversies &mdash; no Everest expedition is without these.

Race to the top

Fabiano Caruana has blazed into the lead at the AAI Grandmasters with an unbeaten 6.5 from 8 games. Sasikiran is in second with 5, ahead of Wesley So and Viktor Laznicka who are both on 4. Homeboy Negi is struggling at 2.5 and Hou Yifan is on 2 after starting with four losses. Caruana must be odds-on favourite with just two rounds left at the time of writing.

Chess (#684)

Fabiano Caruana won the AAI despite a late hiccup, when he lost to Viktor Laznicka. The 1992-born Italian-American GM scored 7 points from 10 rounds, and amply deserved the $8000 he received. He is now the highest-rated player under 20, with 2725, on the live list.

Chess (#682)

The match for World Chess Championship Title for 2012 is to be held at Chennai during April-May that year. The state government has given its nod for the conduct of the Championship Title, which would cost around Rs 20 crore.

Nod for chess matches in Chennai

Two Indians will be playing world title matches in the next 12 months. Viswanathan Anand will be defending his title against Boris Gelfand of Israel. Koneru Humpy will be challenging Hou Yifan (PRC). The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has just been awarded the Anand-Gelfand match. It will be hosted in Chennai and backed by the Tamil Nadu government, which has committed Rs 20 crore.

Chess (#683)

With its athletes and coaches at the centre of the doping scandal, Patiala&rsquo;s famed National Institute of Sports has suddenly gone very quiet.

Doping scandal: false lead

Wearing a red T-shirt with Delhi inscribed on it, Harsh Vardhan Sarda lifts a 14-pound ball and focuses on the ten pins facing him.

Bowled over

The 2011 World Teams Championship at Ningbo, China is the year's premier team event. The ten team round robin features only one pushover &mdash; Egypt. The rest &mdash; Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Ukraine, Israel, India, Hungary and USA &mdash; are all capable of medal challenges.

Aabhas Sharma reviews two sports movies that celebrate the never-say-die spirit.

Triumph and tragedy

If Odafe Okolie was playing in a high-profile league, he would have been a household name with his jerseys selling like hot cakes in the local markets of India, Thailand and Hong Kong. With 137 goals scored in 122 games over the past four seasons, Odafe&rsquo;s record is exemplary.

Foreign players get their kicks in India

Fresh from his goalscoring exploits in the World Cup, 31-year-old Uruguayan striker and winner of the FIFA Golden Ball, Diego Forl&aacute;n Corazo, along with elder brother Pablo, arrived in Kolkata on July 30. He was part of a football reality TV show for the newly launched Bengali channel Mahuaa Bangla. As his personal interpreter, I got a chance to interact with the Uruguayan striker. Forl&aacute;n met a group of young Indian footballers, who had been training for the last couple of weeks under Brazilian legend Branco, and who were also coached briefly by another Brazilian great &mdash; Rom&aacute;rio.

On the bench with Forlan

Chinese interest in Liverpool FC shows a need to connect with people.

The softer side

The Pakistan cricket team walks the distance between the sublime and pedestrian.

The good, the bad, the ugly

The Biel Young GM ended in a three-way tie resolved through a slightly unusual process. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana all scored 5.5 from nine games. Son had the best tiebreak score and was seeded through. Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana played a blitz match, which the latter won 2-1. Caruana then beat Son in a second final playoff to win.

CHESS #639

Bulls eye!

Tiger Woods can take a lesson or two from VVS Laxman on mental strength.

It's all in the mind

The Russia China match ended with a 27-23 win for the PRC under a classic time control. This was an upset in terms of average ratings. But the Chinese were dominant and could have won by a higher margin. The Russians may regain some lost pride in the next set, of rapids.

Samir Suhag was only 17 when he first played professional polo. At that time he never imagined he would become the captain of the national polo team. But things were different back then. Polo has always had an elite tag, with celebrity spectators, high tea in fashionable tents and more people watching the players and each other than perhaps the game itself. Now 38, Suhag sees a sport which has been embraced by the rich and famous, but one that he continues to play with the same enthusiasm he had when he started. &ldquo;Historically, it&rsquo;s been a niche sport played and patronized by royalty and even now money and glamour are its defining factors,&rdquo; he says .

Views from the top

Other Sports: Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Other Sports News: Latest News from Olympics Games, Volleyball, Badminton | Business Standard

Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Page 809 - Other Sports News