Page 3 - Chess

Gukesh overcomes Erigaisi challenge to jump to second spot in Norway Chess

Reigning world champion D Gukesh continued to turn adversity into opportunity as he wriggled out of a virtually intractable position to beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time ever in a classical game and jump to sole second position after round 7 of the Norway Chess. As has been the trend in Gukesh's campaign in this elite six-payer double round-robin tournament, the teenager, playing with white, showed nerves of steel to secure his second consecutive win, without going through the rigmarole of an Armageddon tie-break, to take sweet revenge for his loss to Erigaisi earlier in Round 2. The win, which came after a nerve-wracking victory against defending champion and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, saw Gukesh, 19, overtake the 34-year-old Norwegian on the points table with 11.5 points. This was also Gukesh's first win in three attempts against Erigaisi, who had beaten the world champion at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee to spoil his title-winning chances, and th

Watch: Carlsen bangs table as D Gukesh stuns him with Norway Chess win

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen bangs table in frustration after a shock defeat to reigning World Champion D Gukesh in Round 6 of Norway Chess 2025, reshaping the tournament standings

Gukesh gets even with Carlsen, beats the world No 1 in Norway Chess

Reigning world champion D Gukesh finally got his revenge on Magnus Carlsen, defeating the No.1 player for the first time in a classical game in Round 6 of Norway Chess here on Sunday. Days after Carlsen, the five-time world champion, inflicted a huge blow to Gukesh's chances in the opening round of the tournament, the world champion, who turned 19 only a few days back, struck back, catching the Norwegian by surprise just when it seemed he was on the verge of losing the game to earn three points. The Indian jumped to third spot with 8.5 points and now trails the world No.1 Gukesh and American Fabiano Caruana by just one point. It was a huge comeback for Gukesh, who had looked out of sorts in the opening game against Carlsen. He seemed to be losing Sunday's game as well before he turned things around to win his maiden Classical chess contest in 62 moves and over four hours of nerve-wracking chess. While Gukesh refused to speak to the media, his Polish coach Grzegorz Gajewski said the

Arjun beats Gukesh in Norway Chess; world champ faces second defeat

World champion D Gukesh's disappointing season continued on Tuesday with the teenager losing his second successive match in Norway Chess -- this time to countrymate Arjun Erigaisi and failing to open his account after two rounds of the prestigious tournament here. A day after he lost to Magnus Carlsen in a thriller, Gukesh found himself being troubled by Erigaisi early and committing mistakes as time ran out. Erigaisi finally defeated Gukesh in 62 moves, forcing his opponent to resign after giving him a check with his knight. This is the second time this year that Gukesh, who will be turning 19 on Thursday, has lost to Erigaisi in a major tournament. Erigaisi, on the other hand, has justified the invitation given to him by the Norway Chess organisers by beating China's No.1 Wei Yi in Armageddon in the opening round and then getting the better of Gukesh in over four hours. Erigaisi, who beat Gukesh in Tata Steel Chess earlier this year in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, to spoil his ..

Norway Chess: Carlsen beats world champion Gukesh in Round 1 thriller

World No.1 Magnus Carlsen inflicted a huge blow to reigning World Champion D Gukesh's chances in the opening round of Norway Chess here, showing his endgame expertise to log three full points. In what had been touted as the match of the tournament with the five-time world champion playing against an opponent half his age, Gukesh kept the Norwegian defending champion under pressure for most part of the over four-hour-long game of classical chess before the Indian made a losing mistake and lost in 55 moves. Following the win, Carlsen earned three points and is in joint lead with American Grandmaster and world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura, who beat American GM Fabiano Caruana. The second Indian in the fray, Arjun Erigaisi defeated China's No.1 Wei Yi in an exciting Armageddon game after the classical game had ended in a draw. Erigaisi earned 1.5 points from the win, while Wei secured one. The tournament's scoring system gives three points to the winner in the Classical format. If the Classi

Norway Chess 2025: Carlsen vs Gukesh live match time and live streaming

In their Day 1 encounter, Carlsen will enjoy the white pieces, giving him the opening advantage against Gukesh, who will play with black.

Norway Chess 2025 full schedule, India timings, players, live streaming

Here's a detailed look at the participating players, their match pairings, the complete schedule, prize pool, tournament format, and how to watch Norway Chess 2025 live

SOG Grandmasters championship culminates with stellar wins in Gurugram

Among the many standouts, Mitrabha Guha, Shubhi Gupta, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan, Satya, and Rakesh Kumar took top honours in their respective divisions.

Superbet Rapid and Blitz: India's grandmaster Praggnanandhaa finishes third

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa finished third while Slovenia's Vladimir Fedoseev expectedly won the Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament, an event on the Grand Chess tour. Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram did not see any change in his fortunes in the blitz section and had to be content with a tie for seventh place in his maiden outing in the GCT. Fedoseev, who enjoyed a massive 3.5 points lead coming in to the final day, seemed unstoppable in the blitz section yet again scoring a massive 7.5/9 as he pocketed the winner's purse of USD 40,000. His overall score was 26.5 points out of a possible 36 in the event that offered two points for a win in rapid and one in blitz. A distant second was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, who ended five points behind on 21.5 followed by Praggnanandhaa, who had 20.5 to his credit. In the overall standings of the GCT, Vachier-Lagrave leads ahead of Praggnanandhaa while Fedoseev, a wild card, will have to wait for his turn to become a permanent ...

Women's Day 2025: Meet the 6 achievers who took over PM Modi's social media

International Women's Day: Prime Minister Narendra Modi commended these trailblazing women for their remarkable contributions to society and their role in shaping a developed India

Vanakkam!: Chess Grandmaster Vaishali takes over PM Modi's social media

The 23-year-old Grandmaster sent out a powerful message on women's empowerment and supporting female athletes on the occasion of International Women's Day

Gukesh attains career-best No 3 ranking, Praggnanandhaa back in top 10

India's reigning world champion D Gukesh climbed to a career-high number three ranking, while compatriot R Praggnanandhaa broke back into the top 10 in the latest FIDE classical ratings released on Saturday. The 18-year-old Gukesh, who has been in sublime form ever since he beat China's Ding Liren to clinch the world title in Singapore in December, has gained 10 points and now has a 2787 rating. Gukesh, who lost the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee to Praggnanandhaa on tiebreak, is behind second-placed Hikaru Nakamura (2802) while and Norway's Magnus Carlsen (2833) continues to be the top-ranked chess player in the world. The Indian Grandmaster has overtaken compatriot Arjun Erigiasi and USA's Fabiano Caruana. Erigiasi, who was the highest-ranked Indian for a long time, has moved down to fifth with a rating of 2777. Praggnanandhaa, who is currently competing in the Prague Masters, is back in the top 10 for the first time since July last year thanks to his win at the Tata Steel .

Boris Spassky, Soviet chess champion who lost to Bobby Fischer, dies at 88

Boris Spassky, a Soviet-era world chess champion who lost his title to American Bobby Fischer in a legendary 1972 match that became a proxy for Cold War rivalries, died Thursday in Moscow. He was 88. The death of the one-time chess prodigy was announced by the International Chess Federation, the game's governing body. No cause was given. Spassky was "one of the greatest players of all time," the group said on the social platform X. He left an indelible mark on the game. The televised 1972 match with Fischer, at the height of the Cold War, became an international sensation and was known as the Match of the Century. When Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, the then-29-year-old chess genius from Brooklyn, New York, brought the U.S. its first world chess title. Fischer, known to be testy and difficult, died in 2008. After his victory of Spassky, he later forfeited the title by refusing to defend it. Former world champion Garry Kasparov wrote on X that Spa

Freestyle Grand Slam Chess: D Gukesh knocked out after a loss to Caruna

World champion D Gukesh bowed out of Freestyle Grand Slam chess after losing his second straight quarterfinal game against Fabiano Caruana of the United States here on Monday. Having lost the first game with white pieces, Gukesh did not last long against the American Grandmaster in a must-win tie with Caruana finishing the contest in a mere 18 moves. Gukesh will now fight for the last-four spots. The freestyle chess is built around 960 random positions, shifting the initial position of the pieces from the base rank while the pawns remain intact. The term came from an idea by former great Bobby Fischer who was the first to advocate it. Given the money that has come in to support the new format, it could well be the future of chess. Gukesh blundered a pawn out of the opening. Caruana is someone who has played this variant for a while, and it took the Italian-turned-American 15 moves to find his way into normal chess position, where he was a pawn plus. Gukesh decided not to challen

Freestyle Grand Slam: Gukesh eyes comeback against Caruana after shock loss

World champion D Gukesh will have his task cut out as he looks to stage a comeback against Fabiano Caruana of the USA in the Freestyle Grand Slam chess tournament here. Gukesh suffered a rare setback in normal time control on Sunday, losing to Caruana in the first game of the quarterfinals. The Indian is now under pressure to perform with his black pieces and draw level with Caruana who has been dreaming to be a world champion for a few years now. The freestyle chess is built around 960 random positions shifting the initial position of the pieces from the base rank while the pawns remain intact. The legendary Bobby Fischer was the first to advocate freestyle chess, and given the support the new format has received, it could well be the future of the sport. Gukesh will have to fight hard, as his opening choices have come under scrutiny already while a whole new repertoire needs to be built. Caruana was almost staring at a defeat in the opening game of the quarters but will be looki

Freestyle Grand Slam: World Champion Gukesh qualified for knockout stage

World Champion D Gukesh qualified for the knockout stage in the first event of the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, despite losing to the world's highest-rated player, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, in the ninth and final round of the qualifiers. With a total of 3.5 points, Gukesh finished a rare event without a single win, drawing seven matches and losing two. However, this was enough for him to secure eighth place in the ten-player format, which could be described as one of the strongest chess events, albeit with a twist as the initial piece positions were altered. Playing with white against Carlsen, Gukesh had several opportunities for a draw but, as ambitious as ever, he pushed for more and eventually lost. Carlsen said, He (Gukesh) made seven draws, he was winning some and losing some, and it needs to be studied. Iranian-turned-French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja and Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan topped the table with 6.5 points out of a possible nine in the round-robin rapid format,

Will you resign? Carlsen accuses FIDE chief of coercion, broken promises

World number one Magnus Carlsen has demanded that International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich resign for "coercion of players, misuse of power and broken promises" after talks to thrash out an agreement between the world body and the Freestyle Tour co-founded by him collapsed. The 34-year-old Norwegian superstar was reacting to FIDE's statement on Monday in which it declared that efforts to work out a consensus with the Freestyle Chess Tour, co-founded by Carlsen and German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner, had failed over the use of the term world championship. FIDE also asked players wanting to participate in the Tour's events to sign a waiver to remain eligible for the official World Championship cycle. The Freestyle Tour reacted by lambasting FIDE but at the same time, agreed to postpone the use of term world championship for its grand finale this year. The decision means that players will not be required to sign a FIDE waiver anymore. Sharing a few personal ...

Tata Steel Masters 2025: Praggnanandhaa beats Gukesh to become champion

The Indian juggernaut in international chess remained unstoppable as Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa fought through exhaustion and nerves to defeat world champion D Gukesh in a clash of compatriots to clinch the Tata Steel Masters title for the first time in his prolific career. The bespectacled 19-year-old from Chennai, a city that has become the cradle of Indian chess, came from behind to upstage the 18-year-old world number three 2-1 in the tiebreaker of the event's 87th edition here on Sunday. This was after both players ended up tied on 8.5 points after losing their 13th-round games. While Gukesh lost to fellow Indian Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa went down to Vincent Keymer of Germany. In the tie-breaker, there was huge drama typical of two young players looking to win each and every game they played in the tournament as they played the tie-break. "I am still shaking, it was such a crazy day. I don't know how to express. I didn't really expect to win. Somehow things went my way

Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh in joint lead at Tata Steel Chess Masters

World Champion D Gukesh played out a draw with Jorden van Foreest of Holland, while Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat Alexey Sarana of Serbia as the two Indians shared the lead after a thrilling day at the Tata Steel Masters here. Praggnanandhaa notched up his third consecutive win to take his tally to a commendable 8.5 points, same as his compatriot Gukesh after the 12th and penultimate round. The two Indians are now poised for an exciting finish in the prestigious tournament, with the remarkable prospect of one of them potentially clinching the titlea first in Tata Steel Masters history. Eying the top spot after the 11th round, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan was outdone by Arjun Erigaisi and is all but out of title contention on 7.5 points. Praggnanandhaa was involved in another Queen's gambit declined opening. Only this time he was playing with white pieces. It was quite a contrast from his previous round game against Caruana as Sarana went for an early advance of king sid

Praggnanandhaa crushes Sarana in Tata Steel Masters chess tournament

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat Alexey Sarana of Serbia to register his third straight victory and take his tally to a commendable 8.5 points after the end of the 12th and penultimate round of Tata Steel Masters here on Saturday. On a day when D Gukesh looked poised to retain his sole lead on nine points as he was close to winning against Dutchman Jorden van Foreest, Arjun Erigaisi ended the hopes of Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan by scoring a fine victory with white pieces. If Gukesh wins, he will move to nine points and will stay ahead of Praggnanandhaa while Abdusattorov slipped to third spot on 7.5 points. Praggnanandhaa was involved in another Queen's gambit declined opening. Only this time, he was playing with white pieces. It was quite a contrast from his previous round game against Caruana as Sarana went for an early advance of king side pawns and then castled on the queen side. It was time to launch an attack against the black king and Praggnanandhaa did not