Page 9 - Chess

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

Asian Games: Arjun, Vidit secure wins in men's individual chess tournament

On the other hand, Arjun defeated Vietnam's Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen by 1-0. While Vidit clinched a win against Thiland's Laohawirapap Prin by 1-0

Asian Games 2023 Day 1 Highlights: India bag 5 medals in rowing, shooting

Asian Games 2023 Day 1 Highlights: The Indian team won five medals in rowing and shooting while it secured a medal by qualifying for final in women's cricket

Asian Games: India chess team shines in round 1 of Chess tournament

In the Men's round, Santosh beat Bangladesh's Rahman Mohammad Fahad by 1-0. On the other hand, Arjun defeated the Philippines' Bersamina Paulo by 1-0

Asian Games 2023 September 25 schedule: India event timings, live streaming

The Indian contingent will vie for medals in Rowing, Shooting and gold in women's cricket

Asiad 2023: Watch out for the Indian 'Super moms' competing at Hangzhou

Returning to work after giving birth to a child is a difficult task but an increasing number of Indian athletes are now smashing stereotypes by continuing to compete. Perhaps the most well-known sporting moms in the country are legendary boxer Mary Kom and six-time Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza. PTI takes a look at the Indian mothers who will be competing at the Hangzhou Asian Games beginning on September 23. Dipika Pallikal (Squash) =============== The poster girl of Indian squash, Dipika Pallikal has been a consistent performer for the country. She paired up with Joshna Chinappa to win India's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in squash in the Glasgow edition of CWG in 2014. Her other accomplishments include several medals in World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, besides becoming the first Indian woman to be ranked in the top 10. In October 2021, she and her husband Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik were blessed with twin boys -- Kabir and Zian. A few months

Couldn't have asked for a better Indian chess team for Asian Games: Anand

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Tuesday said he could not have asked for a stronger Indian chess lineup in the upcoming Asian Games. Indian chess has been on a stunning upswing, and in the recently-concluded Baku World Cup, an unprecedented four Indian players advanced to the quarterfinals, with R Praggnanandhaa making history by becoming the youngest to win a silver medal. Adding to this wave of success, last week saw Anand's 17-year-old protege, D Gukesh, ending his mentor's 37-year-long reign as India's No. 1 player. Gukesh achieved an impressive Elo rating of 2758, surpassing the Indian legend by four points and marking a significant milestone in the country's chess history. "I'm always nervous to just look at the rankings and think, oh, we're going to win this, we're going to win that," Anand said during a media interaction on the sidelines of Tata Steel Chess India here. "There are other very good teams. Uzbekistan is good. Vietnam is good. China will field a g

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