Page 9 - Chess

FIDE Candidates 2024: Gukesh beats Vidit Gujrathi to regain joint lead

India's D Gukesh bounced back with a finely crafted game to outwit compatriot Vidit Gujrathi and regain his joint lead with Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia after the eighth round of the Candidates chess tournament here. On a day when R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Firouza Alireza of France, Hikaru Nakamura sealed his supremacy in the all-American duel against Fabiano Caruana to come back in to reckoning for top honours. Overnight sole leader Nepomniachtchi faltered in the early stages to allow tail ender Nijat Abasov to get away with an easy draw in the other game of the eight-player double round-robin event. With six rounds still to come, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi have 5 points apiece and they are followed by Nakamura and Pragnanandhaa on 4.5 points each. Caruana is now sole fifth on four points. Gujrathi on 3.5 comes in next ahead of Alireza on three points, while Abasov is still at the rear of the tables on 2.5 points. Gukesh had his task cut out and went for a rare varia

Candidates: Gukesh downs Abasov to jump into joint lead with Nepomniachtchi

Grandmaster D Gukesh grabbed a share of the lead alongside Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi by becoming the only Indian to post a win in the fifth round of the FIDE Candidates Chess Tournament, outwitting Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov in a hard-fought contest here. With nine rounds still to come in the double round-robin event, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi share the top spot with 3.5 points and they are followed by top-seeded American Fabio Caruana half a point behind. American Hikaru Nakamura was the other winner on the day against Firouza Alireza of France while Indian teen R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with overnight sole leader Nepomniachtchi. Vidit Gujrathi also put an end to his losses by settling for a draw with Caruana. Praggnanandhaa and Nakamura share the fourth spot with 2.5 points followed closely by Gujrathi on two points. Alireza and Abasov share the last position on 1.5 points apiece. In the Women's competition, nothing changed in terms of standings with all the four games

Indian performance satisfactory at Candidates:GMs Barua and Thipsay

Indian Grandmasters Dibyendu Barua and Pravin Thipsay are quite impressed with how the country's five-strong contingent, led by the prodigal R Praggnanandhaa, has performed so far at the prestigious Candidates Chess Tournament here. The Candidates tournament has a rest day after four rounds of intensive chess with Ian Nepomniachtchit from Russia leading the standings. India's D Gukesh is a joint second on the table with Praggnanandhaa at fourth along with Vidit Gujrathi. With 10 rounds still to go, Barua feels that Koneru Humpy can still strike back in the women's competition after succumbing to her first defeat at the hands of lowest seed and youngest participant Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria, "Vidit can bounce back and Gukesh can score well. I would not rate Humpy out of equations as yet, she has the acumen and a great will to won, we will know in a few days," Barua, a three-time national champion who was second Indian chess player after Viswanathan Anand to become a GM, told PTI.

Candidates: Praggnanandhaa to meet Firouza, Gukesh to clash with Vidit

India's best bet, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will start his campaign against French Alireza Firouza and it will be an all-Indian affair between D Gukesh and Vidit Gujrathi in the first round of the Candidates chess tournament that has begun here. An all-American duel will be fought between two highest-ranked players Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. In the other contest of the day, Nijat Abasov of Azerbaijan will take on the lone Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi. In the women's section too, the two Indians, R Vaishali and Koneru Humpy are pitted against each other and the two Russians Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno will also be battling out in the first round. The two Chinese Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi are also slated to meet each other and Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine will face the youngest participant Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria. While the pairings were announced a few weeks ago, the only thing that might matter is the start for each of the eight participants in the doubl

Musk's Neuralink shows 1st patient playing chess, video game using his mind

Neuralink is not the only company working on brain devices that connect with computers. Modern demonstrations of cursor control by using thoughts have taken place in other humans

All games drawn in final round, Praggnanandhaa finishes joint second

R Praggnanandhaa tried hard but had to settle for a draw with David Navara of Czech Republic in the final round of Prague Masters chess tournament that concluded here on Thursday. Praggnanandhaa can take heart from the fact that he goes in to the candidates as the top rated Indian slated to be held in about four weeks from now in Toronto. It took a mammoth effort from FIDE and various channels to resolve the visa issue for the candidates but as of now everything seems to be in order for one of the biggest events of the year. With five draws happening between 10 players in the final round nothing actually changed. Abdusattarov had won the event with a round to spare clocking 6/8 and he inched up to 6.5 points for probably his career best performance. Praggnanandhaa to his credit ended on a plus score clocking five points alongside Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and surprise packet Ngyen Thai Dai Van of Czech Republic with all three of them tallying five points out of a possible ...

Chess legend Garry Kasparov added in 'terrorist, extremist' list by Russia

Russian financial watchdog responsible for combatting money laundering and terror financing added chess grandmaster and vocal Putin critic Kasparov's name to the list of 'terrorists and extremists'

Praggnanandhaa pips chess legend Viswanathan Anand to become India's No 1

Teenaged Indian chess superstar R Praggnanandhaa defeated world champion Ding Liren of China in the fourth round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament here, a win which also helped him surpass the legendary Viswanathan Anand as the top-rated Indian player. After the victory late on Tuesday night, the 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa has 2748.3 points as against 2748 of five-time world champion Anand in the FIDE live ratings. The world chess body publishes the ratings at the start of each month. With the 62-move win with black pieces, Praggnanandhaa became the second Indian after Anand to defeat a reigning world champion in classical chess. Praggnanandhaa had also beaten Liren at the 2023 Tata Steel tournament. "That feels good!" Praggnanandhaa said after the win. He is now third in the standings with 2.5 points in the Masters event. The teenaged Indian GM has been in good form in recent times, having finished runner-up in the World Cup to Magnus Carlsen last year to qualify for the Candid

Praggnanandhaa's success inspires countless young Indians: Gautam Adani

Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa has got a new admirer in business tycoon Gautam Adani, who on Thursday announced his decision to support the 18-year-old Grandmaster. Adani shared on 'X' a picture of his meeting with Praggnanandhaa as he described the Chennai-based chess star as an inspiration for countless young Indians to bring laurels for the country. "It's a privilege to support Praggnanandhaa as he continues to win laurels in the world of chess and make India proud," Adaniu wrote. "His success is an inspiration to countless young Indians to believe that nothing is more gratifying than standing on the podium to celebrate our nation's greatness. "Praggnanandhaa represents what India can and will be all about. I wish him all the very best." Praggnanandhaa is the fifth youngest Grandmaster ever, having attained the rank at the age of 12 in 2018. He won the Xtracon Chess Open in Denmark in 2019, followed by the World Youth Championships in the U-18 category the same year. In

Third time lucky? Indian chess prodigy Sarin furious with FIDE drug test

The FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2023 being held in Uzbekistan is under fire for the wrong issues

Vaishali Rameshbabu becomes India's third female Chess grandmaster

Vaishali is also the sister of young 18-year-old chess sensation Praggnanandhaa, making them the first-ever grandmaster siblings pair in the game's history

Chess fraternity confident its players will get TOPS support from govt

The chess fraternity, following a host of top-notch performances in recent years, is foreseeing the government extending the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) to its players despite the sport not being a part of the Games curriculum. R Vaishali and Vidit Gujrathi who recently won the FIDE Grand Swiss women's and open titles in a rare double for India in Isle of Man to qualify for the the prestigious Candidates tournament in Toronto next year, felt that it's a matter of time before the government extends the scheme to chess, while All India Chess Federation vice-president Bharat Singh Chauhan said that the sports ministry had "told us we can apply" for TOPS. TOPS is the sports ministry's flagship programme that attempts to assist India's premier athletes in Olympic disciplines. The scheme aims to improve the athletes' training so they can compete for medals in the global showpiece. "TOPS are going to support us. They have told us we can apply and they will support. This discussion

Why India's startup founders aren't gamers, or won't admit to it

Why India's startup founders are not known to spend much time playing video games, or won't admit to it. Chess, however, has a bit of a following

Asian Games 2023: Indian men and women's chess teams clinch silver medals

The Indian men's and women's chess teams won silver medals at the Asian Games here on Saturday. GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu, IM Vantika Agrawal, and WGM Savitha Shri Baskar all won their games in a dominating fashion to beat South Korea 4-0 in the final round to finish with 15 match points. The top-seeded Chinese team won its last round match against the UAE with a 4-0 margin to take the gold with 17/18 match points. The Indian men finished their campaign with a 3.5-0.5 win against the Philippines. Top seeds Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, and Harikrishna Pentala all won their matches against their Filipino counterparts while R Praggnanandhaa drew his game to finish second behind gold winners Iran.

Asian Games 2023: India men, women teams remain in second spot in Chess

Indian men and women's teams put up a strong show, posting convincing wins in the eighth round of the chess team competition at the Asian Games here on Friday. The men outplayed South Korea 3.5-0.5 while the women thrashed Hong Kong 4-0. After eight rounds, both the teams are in second spot with a round to play. In the India-South Korea match, D Gukesh went past Junhyeok Lee on the top board, while Praggnanandhaa got the better of Se Hyun Kwan. Arjun Erigaisi's win over In-Jung Gu came after a stiff fight with the Korean having gained an advantage before slipping up. The experienced P Harikrishna salvaged a draw against Ahn Hongjin on the fourth board from what seemed a lost position. The top-seeded men's team meets the Philippines on Saturday in the final round while Iran comes up against South Korea. In the women's match, India did not have any trouble with the quartet of D Harika, R Vaishali, Vantika Agarwal and B Savitha Shri winning easily. With none of the Hong Kong playe

Asian Games 2023 October 02 schedule: India event timings, streaming

India will hope for medals from the athletics field once again on October 02, 2023, which also be the ninth day of the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China

Asian Games 2023 October 01 schedule: India event timings, streaming

India will hope for medals from the Shooting range and athletics field on Sunday, October 01, 2023, which will also be the eighth day of the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China

Asian Games 2023 September 29 schedule: India event timings, streaming

India will hope for a rich medal haul from the athletics contingent who will begin their campaign on Friday, Day 6 of the Asian Games 2023. Saketh Myeneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan will play for gold

Asian Games 2023 September 26 schedule: India event timings, streaming

Indian shooters will once again be the main source of medal hopes on Tuesday, September 26, the third Day of the Asian Games 2023 competition. Indian men's hockey team will also play

Asian Games 2023 Day 2 Highlights: With 2 Golds, India 6th in medals tally

Asian Games 2023 Day 2 Highlights: Women won gold in cricket while Shooters won gold in the 10m Air Rifle Team event as Indian contingent ended day two with 11 medals to be placed 6th in medals tally