Eoin Morgan's rapid 89 not out laid the platform for England's 15-run win over arch-rivals Australia in the first one-day international at Lord's here.

Morgan sets up England win over Australia

Business Standard

We are heading towards Satpal Akhada inside the sprawling Chhatrasal Stadium in North Delhi when suddenly the guard comes running, waving his hands frantically from a distance: &ldquo;The pehalwans are sleeping. You cannot go that side.&rdquo; It is 3 pm. The sun is blazing. The wrestlers who have been up since the crack of dawn are resting and no one is allowed to disturb them. They will step out to resume practice only at 4.30 pm, when the heat lets up a bit.

Master of the mat

According to online polls, Anand is the 4-1 favourite to keep his title against Boris Gelfand in the match that begins next Saturday in Moscow. But the perception may be running ahead of reality in considering the Indian titleholder a big favourite.

Chess (#999)

When Steven Gerrard led out his team, Liverpool, at Wembley stadium, a loud roar went up at the Spirit Bar in the inner circle of Connaught Place. A group of 20 fans dressed in their Liverpool jerseys, carrying flags, sang the club&rsquo;s famous anthem, &ldquo;You Will Never Walk Alone&rdquo;. Most of these fans are part of Delhi Kop, a city-based fan club of Liverpool. It is named after the iconic stand in Anfield, where Liverpool play their home games in the English Premier League.

One love, many clubs

London&rsquo;s Olympic venues must impress as well as serve, but Londoners don&rsquo;t want to be left &mdash; like Beijing after 2008 &mdash; with enormous, costly facilities that are hardly ever used.

No more white elephants

The sponsor of the title match, Andrei Filatov, CEO of the N-Trans group, went to college with challenger, Boris Gelfand. Like many Russians, Filatov plays at near-professional levels. He&rsquo;s made previous headlines financing restorations to the grave of Alexander Alekhine in Paris and also by supporting smaller chess events and school chess programmes. Apart from that, he&rsquo;s funded maintenance of World War II era military graveyards in the Baltic republics.

Chess (#1000)

Two relatively bloodless draws left the world championship match evenly poised between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand. There wasn&rsquo;t too much excitement on the board in the opening games at the Tretyakov Art Gallery in the Russian capital. Both players seemed well prepared and in no mood to take risks. The draws were agreed relatively early, but both positions had been played out to sterile equality.

Early draws leave championship evenly poised between grandmasters

The world championship match between champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Boris Gelfand remained deadlocked after four successive draws. The title and the purse of $2.55 million would be decided in rapid tie-breakers if the scoreline is even after 12 games.

Four games old, GMs locked in draws

While Anand and Gelfand remained locked 2.5-2.5 in a heavyweight match, several more entertaining, if less important, events were in progress. Teenaged Indian GM Parimarjan Negi won the Asian Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Negi scored 7 points from nine games to tie with Chinese GM Yu Yangyi (7/9) but Negi had the better tie-break.

Chess (#1001)

So far, 71 Indian athletes have made it to the London Olympics. More could follow. This will be the country&rsquo;s largest-ever contingent &mdash; never before have so many Indians taken part in the Olympics. Experts are hopeful that there will be medals in sports like boxing, wrestling, shooting, badminton, hockey (with some luck) and, maybe, even athletics. Expectations are huge and this could weigh on the minds of some star athletes.

Great expectations

Two more draws left the world chess championship match deadlocked 3-3 after six games. Neither the defending champion Viswanathan Anand, nor challenger Boris Gelfand, have looked to be in serious trouble. Anand has shown the wider repertoire. Gelfand has displayed an impressive depth of preparation in the lines he's played.

Championship deadlocked after six games

The world championship match is tied 4-4 after eight games. However, the deadlock of draws has broken, with Boris Gelfand and Viswanathan Anand trading one win each. A change in the mood is evident, with both willing to take risks.

Deadlock of draws ends, GMs trade one win each

Will Rafa remain king of clay?

It&rsquo;s nice to be able to say &ldquo;I told you so&rdquo; once in a while. The title match has been very close and remains tied going into the last two games. Match play can make a mockery of rating differences which in any event, suggested that the match would be closer than the fans expected.

Chess (#1002)

Defending champion Viswanathan Anand was on Monday stretched to the tie-breaker of the World Chess Championship by his Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand following a draw in the 12th and final game here.

Anand stretched to tie-breaker by Gelfand 

Press Trust of India

The 12th and final game of the world championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand ended in a draw, leaving the match tied at 6-6. There will be tiebreakers, starting Wednesday.

After draw, GMs set for todays tiebreaker 

Indeed, with Tiger having been bested by some of them and dread injury returning to him just three weeks ago, these somewhat iconoclastic notions have gained credence. Yet, like a punch-drunk prize fighter, Tiger rose again to claim the Ahno Pomma (as Arnold Palmer is pronounced by native Augustans) Invitational just two weeks ago.

Tiger, tiger, burning bright

Augusta National did not become the world&rsquo;s most beautiful and cared-for golf course in the world by accident. It took the fame and national popularity of the legendary Bobby Jones (who never turned professional despite being the best player in the world), the hard and disciplined entrepreneurial spirit of Cliff Roberts, a classical and unique golf course design by Alister Mackenzie, the particular attachment of US President Eisenhower to the Augusta National Golf Club and a large dollop of favourable circumstances (usually called luck).

Augusta National, Masters & the rest

Anything that is born has to get older, fall prey to the ravages of time and then decay into eventual renewal in nature&rsquo;s inimitable design. So ,too, with golf courses. Trees grow bigger, grass spreads, unimaginable subterranean activity takes place, roots constantly stretch out in search of stability and sustenance and are affected, sometimes unintentionally, by the human intervention of artificial pesticides and nutrients. At Augusta National, the loblolly pines, whose natural life cycle may be 300 years, can actually mature and die much earlier as a result of such interventions. Their bark becomes thinner as the root system is slowly sapped of some strength and this reduces their natural resistance to pests, etc. It is now known that manicured grass (fairways) and trees do not like each other but must face forced co-existence on golf courses.

Golf course design and Amen Corner

For several months, Lalit Modi&rsquo;s Twitter account had been silent. This was unusual, because Modi used to be an unstoppable tweeter; one intemperate tweet had even caused him legal trouble. But the account revived on Tuesday, April 3, after the inauguration ceremony of the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League in Chennai.

Looking back in  Sanity

Is a draw a legitimate result? Unquestionably. Is an agreed draw legitimate ? Not really. It cheats spectators. The Sofia Rules which ban draw offers is one anti-draw rule. Another method is to ban offers till move 40. Of course, if two players are determined to draw, they can just play out a variation, which ends with triple repetition. There are other nuances. Specific blockaded, drawn positions and endgame fortresses can arise. In such cases, the 50-move rule applies. Players can call in an arbiter to sign them off early.

Chess (#995)

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