Reigning classical World champion D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen were among the leaders after the first five rounds on the opening day of the FIDE World Rapid Championships in Doha on Thursday.
Reigning champion Koneru Humpy displayed her trademark composure and tenacity to remain in joint lead in the women's section.
With just 16 players out of 206 participants that started the event remaining in the fray, most of the players decided against taking undue risk and decided to wait for the next game.
FIDE World Cup: Arjun storms into quarterfinals of the World Cup
Arjun Erigaisi will start as the favourite against veteran Hungarian Peter Leko, while R Praggnanandhaa faces the inventive Daniil Dubov.
The wife of an Indian doctor, allegedly detained in Sochi, Russia, appeals to the Indian government for help in securing his release and safe return to India.
Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and P Harikrishna had another good day as they sent veteran Peter Leko of Hungary and Swede Nils Grandelius packing in the fourth-round tiebreaker at the Chess World Cup, in Panaji on Thursday.
World champion D Gukesh bowed out of the Chess World Cup, losing the third-round match to Frederik Svane of Germany, while Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa made it to the last-32 stage, in Panjim on Saturday.
Without Carlsen, the GCT was announced and this is the culmination point wherein the players would qualify for the grand finale slated later this year.
World champion D Gukesh was held to a draw by the lone wild card Samuel Sevian, while fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa also split the point with Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
India on Monday evacuated 290 Indian nationals and one Sri Lankan citizen from Iran amid an escalation in hostilities between the Persian Gulf nation and Israel following the United States bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites.
World champion D Gukesh overcame a loss against Leinier Dominguez Perez to beat the American duo of Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana to stand at fourth spot.
Like Gukesh, Aronian was just able to draw two games and lost one.
India on Tuesday evacuated over 1,100 citizens from Iran and Israel amid ongoing tensions between the two countries, taking the number of evacuees under Operation Sindhu to 3,170.
One Iranian woman, who is the wife of an Indian national has also been evacuated, he added.
Iranian embassy officials in Delhi said the Iranian foreign ministry was in close touch with the Indian mission in Tehran after some students were injured.
The first flight carrying 110 Indian students, who were evacuated to Armenia from war-torn Iran, landed in Delhi in the early hours on Thursday.
"We saw missiles in the sky and heard bombs in our neighbourhood... We were petrified," said MBBS student Mir Khalif, his voice still trembling with fear, as he stepped out of the Delhi airport after being evacuated from war-hit Iran under Operation Sindhu.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won the Superbet Chess Classic after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with white pieces in the final Blitz play-off game on Friday.
World leaders and tens of thousands of faithful gathered at St Peter's Square in the Vatican City on Saturday to honor Pope Francis in a poignant farewell.
The Azeri organisers of the European Games are prepared for anti-Armenian sentiment.
Armenian GM Robert Hovhannisyan halted giant-killer Girish Koushik's winning spree in the ninth round on a day when Fide Masters VAV Rajesh of Chennai Kerala's SL Narayanan and local lass Michelle Catherina obtained their International Master norms with strong positive performances in the ongoing World Junior Chess Championships.
Djokovic tamed local favourite Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-3 in what was the top seeded Serbian's first tour-level singles match since October.
The Vice President will be addressing the national assembly of Armenia.
Nakamura, who started off as the favourite in the blitz section, is in sixth spot on 13.5 points, ahead of tour leader and compatriot Fabiano Caruana who has 13 points.
The win leaves United in 15th place in the Europa League standings on six points from four games.
Having lost three and drawn three coming into the third and final day of rapid, Praggnanadhaa lost to Lenier Dominguez of the US in the seventh round.
The star-studded TPL auction saw the presence of the tennis icons Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, who gathered together after many years to promote the sport, along with Bollywood celebs Rakul Preet Singh and Sonali Bendre.
Erigaisi may have had to work harder but the Indian youngster, who is currently World number four, was never quite away from winning his game.
The range of food at banquets at the Mughal court consisted of delicacies that commoners could not ever dream of.
UEFA opened an investigation into a "wolf salute" goal celebration by Turkey centre back Merih Demiral which Germany condemned as racist due to its far right associations.
Divya Deshmukh of India outclassed Bulgaria's Beloslava Krasteva to clinch the title in the World Junior Girls' chess championship
Abhimanyu entered the bronze-medal playoff but other Indian free-style wrestlers had a disappointing day at the World Championships in Belgrade on Sunday.
Azerbaijan said on Thursday that it is open to dialogue with Armenia and if India comes up with some proposal to bring stability in the region, Baku will welcome such initiatives, hours after the two arch-rivals believed to have negotiated a cease-fire to end the recent hostilities between them.
'I was faced with a choice: quit my job or move to where I am valued.'
Ever since my childhood I have been fascinated with Kolkata and its trams.
Poet Ashok Vajpeyi on Friday said he won't participate in a cultural festival as he was scheduled to because the organisers asked him not to read poems critical of the government. A spokesperson from the Rekhta Foundation, which is co-organiser of the session, denied his claim that he was being censored.
Inter Milan scored two early goals to secure an impressive 2-0 win over AC Milan in the Champions League semi-final first leg
NMDC Spice International, a proposed 50:50 joint venture between state-owned miner NMDC and Spice Minerals and Metals, a part of the Spice Energy group, is close to acquiring two iron ore deposits in Armenia. The acquisition is likely to entail an investment of $500 million (Rs 2,173 crore).
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