Page 3 - Chess Tournament

Gukesh aims to take one game at a time, hopeful for more successful days

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh on Tuesday said he is focussed on taking it one game at a time and is hoping for "many more good days" as he aims to upstage Ding Liren and become the youngest world champion in chess. Playing with black pieces, the 18-year-old Gukesh bounced back to draw the second game against defending champion Liren of China in the World Chess Championship here. This was a day after Liren (black) exploited Gukesh's blunder in a French Defense match to clinch the first game. "Today was a good day, and hopefully, we will have many more good days coming," Gukesh said at the end of the second game. Gukesh has thanked his second, Grzegorz Gajewski, for the manner in which he has been helping the Indian in his endeavour. "'Gaju' (Gajewski) is not only helping me with chess, but also helping me get ready mentally and to keep my well-being. He said a few things which helped me recover quickly," Gukesh said of the Polish GM, who was beaten by the Indian when they met at the

D Gukesh draws with Ding Liren in second game of World Championship

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh drew with defending champion Ding Liren in the second game of the World Chess Championship here on Tuesday. Gukesh, playing with black pieces, had lost to Liren in the opener of the 14-game showdown, on Monday. The first player to reach 7.5 points among the two will claim the coveted crown in the USD 2.5 million prize money event. The 18-year-old Gukesh is the youngest ever challenger to the world crown and is looking to become the first Indian after the iconic Viswanathan Anand to win the title. Anand held the title five times in his illustrious career.

China's Ding Liren beats Gukesh in first game of World Championship

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh paid dearly for unwarranted complications in the middle game, allowing defending champion Ding Liren of China to clinch the opening game of the World Chess Championship here on Monday. The 18-year-old Gukesh, who is the youngest ever challenger for the world championship crown, came up with an early surprise in the opening by pushing his king pawn forward. It's a move that symbolises attacking intentions and the Chinese chose the French defense to combat the situation. The line chosen by Gukesh was similar to what the legendary Viswanathan Anand picked in his first world championship-winning contest against Alexei Shirov of Spain in 2001. The choice of move had enough impact as Liren spent a lot of time in the opening that was probably not expected by any expert of the game. By the 12th move, Gukesh had a half hour advantage on the clock but eight moves later, Liren had a couple of extra minutes to boast off on his clock, giving a clear indication that

Google Doodle celebrates Chess as World Chess Championship starts today

Google Doodle: The FIDE World Championship 2024 final begins today and will conclude on December 13, 2024. Chess is a brain-testing game of 64 black and white squares

All India FIDE Rating Open Chess: Shraddha beats Kirti in third round

Shraddha Padvekar (3 points) defeated Woman Candidate Master Kriti Patel (2 points) in a third-round match of the All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament here on Sunday. The Palghar-based Shraddha (rating 1588) started with the English opening, while Kirti (1829) opted for a neo-Catalan defence in their contest. Shraddha was able to come out on top against Kirti, who had recorded impressive victories earlier, to win in 63 moves on the sixth board. Delhi's Arena International Master Saikat Nath (2 points) and Mumbai's International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2 points) maintained their winning form, recording their third successive wins. AIM Nath (1829) defeated Mumbai's Shravana Agraval (1582) on the seventh board, while IM Vikramaditya (2185) brushed aside the challenge from Agharkar Shriyans (1612) on the top board. Top 10 results (round-3): Agharkar Shriyans (2) lost to IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2) 0-1; Atharv Soni (2) drew with Shubham Baviskar (2) 0.5-0.5; Shubham Kanad

Indian chess needs corporate support: Ideal chance for firms to engage

The inevitable din that is building up after the Olympiad victory is whether we are doing enough for our newly minted chess champions?

Viswanathan Anand believes Olympiad win will elevate women's chess in India

Overjoyed by India's remarkable dual triumph at the Chess Olympiad, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said that while this marks a promising beginning, there is still much work to be done for women's chess in the country. India scripted history on Sunday as both its men's and women's teams secured their first-ever titles, achieving a remarkable clean sweep of gold medals at the Chess Olympiad. But while in recent times, the men's game has surged in popularity with young Indian talents like R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh making waves on the world stage, in contrast, the women's game has struggled to match this trajectory. "It's a very good beginning. I think still a long way to go because we must continuously keep progressing," Anand told PTI, at the sidelines of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. "And more important, get more and more girls to play and I think exactly this result will inspire more girls to play, and that is the hope," he added. The 54-year-old chess icon

PM Modi hosts the Olympiad gold-winning Indian chess teams at his residence

Artificial Intelligence, an upcoming birthday, and the ambition to make India a sporting powerhouse came up for discussion when Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the Olympiad gold-winning Indian chess teams at his residence, seeking to understand their mindset in the high-pressure event. In the interaction that took place on Thursday evening, both the men's and women's teams, who won gold medals in the event for the first time ever, sat with the PM to share their experience and also ask him about his interest in sports. The men's team featured the youngest ever world championship challenger D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and captain Srinath Narayanan. The women's team was made up of R Vaishali, Tania Sachdev, D Harika, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal. They were captained by Abhijit Kunte. Modi asked them about their sensational run during which the men's team won 21 of the 22 points on offer and the women gathered 19 from a total of 2

Advantage India: Quality ecosystem boosts chess, identifies future talent

Success breeds popularity, which, in turn, breeds more success

'Father of Indian chess boom': Anand's impact shaping a 'golden generation'

"If you had to roll the dice, these are pretty good teams to roll them with." Viswanathan Anand had a strong hunch that India would go on to be more than within "smelling" distance of gold at the Chess Olympiad this time. And much to the delight of the revered Grandmaster, who played a key role in shaping some of the brightest youngsters in Indian chess right now, the country swept both the men's and women's gold at the 45th Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary. World Championship challenger D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi, and P Harikrishna decimated competition to clinch the gold in the open section, finishing ahead of top seeds USA and Uzbekistan. Then Harika Dronavalli, R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev claimed the top honours in the women's event ahead of Kazakhstan and USA to complete an Indian sweep. It was a first for the country and it was fitting that Anand, its original superstar of the game, had a role. Both the teams ha

D Gukesh and Co stress on team spirit after Chess Olympiad heroics

A dream come true, a nice feeling. The maiden Chess Olympiad gold meant different things for the members of the five-strong Indian men's team, spearheaded stupendously by the youngest ever challenger to the world title -- D Gukesh. The 18-year-old issued a statement of sorts ahead of his eagerly-anticipated world championship clash in November against Ding Liren of China by registering one of the best ever individual performances in the just-concluded 45th Olympiad. "I am just super happy right now," Gukesh said after winning his final round game against giant-killer Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia on Sunday. It was a sensational display by the teenager on the top board for India as he notched up nine points out of his 10 games conceding just a couple of draws besides eight victories. This phenomenal performance helped the team clinch gold as India scored a dominating 21 points out of a possible 22, winning 10 and drawing just one match against last Olympiad winners Uzbekistan. "It

Chess Olympiad: Indian men, women create history, win maiden gold medals

India on Sunday scripted history as its men's and women's teams clinched their maiden gold medals in the 45th Chess Olympiad after beating their respective opponents in the final round here. The men's team defeated Slovenia after D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanadhaa won their respective matches in the 11th and final round match. The women's team beat Azerbaijan 3.5-0.5 to clinch the title. Indian men had earlier won two bronze -- in 2014 and 2022 -- in the tournament. Indian women had won a bronze in the 2022 edition in Chennai.

45th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2024: What has happened in Budapest so far

Indian men's team are currently favorites to win gold in the open section after continuing their unbeaten streak in round 8

Grand chess tour: R Praggnanandhaa finishes last in rapid section

Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa had a rare bad in the office, finishing at the bottom of the table in the rapid section of Saint Louis Rapid and blitz chess tournament here. Having lost three and drawn three coming into the third and final day of rapid competition, Praggnanadhaa lost to Lenier Dominguez of the United States in the seventh round. Another American Hikaru Nakamura also proved too stronger for the Indian in the final game. In in the eighth round, the Indian played out a draw with Alireza Firouzja of France to finish his event at a disappointing four points out of a possible 18. Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and French duo of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Firouzja were tied for the top spot on 11 points each in what was one of the closely contested rapid section of the Grand Chess tour. The three leaders at this point are followed by Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian, a full point behind, and USA's Wesley So, Dominguez and Nakamura, who share the fifth on nine poin

Chess scandal: Russian champion caught poisoning opponent with mercury

Russian chess champion Amina Abakarova has been suspended after she poisoned her former rival, Umayganat Osmanova, by lacing chess pieces with toxic mercury during a tournament

Joined by Gujarathi, test of time for Gukesh to excel in faster version

World Championship challenger D Gukesh will look to improve his billing in the faster version as Vidit Gujrathi joins him for the Superunited rapid and blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour. Set to meet Chinese Ding Liren in Singapore from November 20th to decide the next world champion, Gukesh has repeatedly proved his superior ability in the Classical format. But when it comes to faster version, the Indian is yet to find his place amongst the world elite. The fact remains that in case of a tied result in the World Championship, there will be games under faster time control of rapid and blitz chess to determine the winner and Gukesh would like to set the record straight like American Fabiano Caruana just did a few days back in Bucharest when he won the tiebreaker by a mile winning his games against Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja of France. Gujrathi, who has got a wildcard, will be the other Indian in the fray in the USD 175000 prize money tournament

Norway Chess: Praggnanandhaa claims maiden classical win over Carlsen

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa crushed world number one Magnus Carlsen for the first time in Classical format to emerge as the sole leader in the Norway chess tournament here. Having beating him a few times in online and faster versions of the game and after losing to him in the finale of the last World Cup, Praggnanandhaa finally got past the home favourite in what would be known as a clear classical triumph. Following the third-round win, the 18-year-old Indian now leads the men's section with 5.5 points in all, half a point clear of USA's Fabiano Caruana who scored his first victory in classical against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China. Carlsen, on three points, looks like a distant third for now in the updated standings but with each classical win worth three points, this might not hold for too long. Hikaru Nakamura of United States, Firouzja Alireza of France and Liren are all joint fourth currently on 2.5 points in the six-player double round-robin contest. "

Playing Carlsen in his home turf not challenge for me, says Praggnanandhaa

Having beaten Magnus Carlsen several times in the last couple of years, young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa feels he will be under no pressure when he takes on the multiple-time world champion in his home turf during the Norway Chess tournament, which gets underway here on May 27. Praggnanandhaa last beat the 33-year-old Carlsen in the Superbet rapid and blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour, in Warsaw earlier this month. "I don't think playing Magnus in his home turf is a challenge for me. Usually, it matters to the player playing in his home but it won't matter so much for me," said Praggnanandhaa, who will also have his sister R. Vaishali playing the Norway Chess Women's Tournament for the first time. The 11-day tournament will see a very strong field including the likes of world champion Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura besides home favourite Carlsen. Reflecting on his contest with Carlsen at last year's FIDE World Cup where Praggnanandhaa gave the Norwegian a .

Win Rae Bareli before challenging for top: Kasparov to Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's favourite chess player Garry Kasparov appears to have taken note of his fondness for the game and has an advice for him -- "first win Rae Bareli before challenging for the top". The Russian legend, who retired from competitive chess in 2005, was responding to a post by a user on X on Friday. Recently, the Congress posted a video of Gandhi playing chess on his mobile phone while on the Lok Sabha election campaign trail. In the video, Gandhi named Kasparov as his favourite chess player and drew parallels between the game and politics. In the video, Gandhi described himself as the best chess player among politicians. "Feel so relieved that @Kasparov63 and @vishy64theking retired early and didn't have to face the greatest chess genius of our times," said the X user, in a cheeky comment on Gandhi. Kasparov, rather unusually, responded to the post. "Traditional (sic) dictates that you should first win from Raebareli before challenging for the top," wrote

FIDE opens bidding process for World Championship, sets budget of $9.6 mn

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) will have to shell out more than Rs 80 crore (USD 9.6 million) if it intends to host the World Championship clash between Indian prodigy D Gukesh and reigning champion Ding Liren of China. The marquee match is tentatively scheduled between November 20 to December 15. Chess' global governing body FIDE on Saturday invited tenders from prospective bidders for the much-anticipated match. AICF's newly-elected secretary Dev Patel on Thursday expressed the national body's willingness to host the grand finale which is garnering a lot of interest due to Gukesh's presence. The 17-year-old Gukesh became the youngest ever challenger for the world title by winning the Candidates Tournament in Toronto on Monday. The basic criteria outlined by FIDE for a prospective bidder is a budget of Rs 8.5 million (Rs 71 crore approx) and a facilitation fee of USD 1.1 million (Rs 9 crore) for the global body. The duration of the tournament is 25 days and approval of ...