Former women's World champion Susan Polgar feels that the rising strength of Indian players makes them favourites to grab three out of the six medals at stake.
Indian GM S L Narayanan finishes second in chess tourney in Armenia
India 'B' defeated Germany 3-1 in their final round match to end at third position.
In the Open section, the India 'B' team, which has been in sparkling form, had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan as the in-form D Gukesh lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the reigning world rapid chess champion.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna and teen prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa took a big step towards a spot in the fourth round of FIDE Chess World Cup in Sochi
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh shocked world number 5 Fabiano Caruana as India 'B' pulled off a superb 3-1 win over number 2 seeds USA in the eighth round of the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai on Saturday.
Four draws and two wins on Under-20 boards helped India pull off the victory against the Chinese.
While Sharath is the lone Khel Ratna award recipient, a total of 25 athletes including shuttlers Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, athletes Eldhose Paul, Avinash Sable have been nominated for the Arjuna Award this year.
India will be fielding three teams each in the Open and women's sections respectively.
Any player with a Chess.com blitz or FIDE standard rating of under 2000 could play with former world champion Anand by donating US$150 and with the other four GMs by paying US$25 as registration amount.
Anand firmly believes that India has enough talent to produce the next Chess World Champion
Sankalp Gupta becomes India's 71st GM.
China would have been among the top medal contenders in the Olympiad and their absence would brighten India's chances.
In the women's event, Padmini Rout, R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni posted wins in the first round. D Harika will be joining them in the second round, courtesy a bye in the first round.
Legendary Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand has joined hands with WestBridge Capital to launch an academy, through which the five-time world champion will train youngsters.
Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has also expressed his willingness to partner the company in helping the youngsters.
'It will be special. Looking forward to going to a world championship match without the tension of playing. I am a chess fan too and hope it will be a good match'
India's chess maestro Viswanathan Anand along with Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Nihal Sarin and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa will be offering simultaneous exhibitions on Chess.com to support COVID-19 relief in India on Thursday.
The US team fought back brilliantly after being trounced in Round 1 by India to win the second and the Blitz tie-break 4.5-1.5, emerging victorious in an exciting semi-final in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad on Tuesday.
Sharath is the lone Khel Ratna award recipient, 25 sportspersons, including shuttlers Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, track and field athletes Eldhose Paul and Avinash Sable, were conferred with the Arjuna Award.
In 2019, World Champion Magnus Carlsen was asked to guess the nationality of the reigning world champion in 2050. He responded: 'India will have had many by then!'
In the women's event, India's D Harika drew with Nino Bastiashvili (Georgia) to move up to four points. She is in joint third place with six others.
'It was a big relief to get it out of the way. Now he can concentrate on future progress.'
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
With the Indian teams doing well so far, they can run into one another in the competition.
The Indian teams made winning starts in the Open and women's sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Friday.
India's Dronavalli Harika defeated former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga to grab a share of the lead.
The game incidentally was an old Sicilian where Shirov tried an unconventional ninth move.
India 'B' blanked Estonia 4-0 in the second round of the Open section in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai, on Saturday while the second-seeded India 'A' team defeated Moldova 3.5-0.5 to make it two wins from as many matches.
India was held to a 3-3 draw by lower-ranked Mongolia in the sixth round as favourites China grabbed the top spot in Pool A in the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad on Saturday.
India and Russia were on Sunday declared joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection and server malfunction. This was the first time FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad in an online format, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
14 young Indian chess players including D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master, and R Praggnanandhaa will be coached by former World champion Vladimir Kramnik at a 10-day camp, in Chennai, from January 8. The camp, the second organised by Microsense, will also see Boris Gelfand, a former World title challenger, impart training to the Indian players.
World No 6 and former World Chess champion, V Anand w
Vaishali, sister of the Indian chess prodigy and GM R Praggnanandhaa, scored impressive victories over Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Russia's Valentina Gunina on the opening day of the Blitz championship.
He is the youngest Indian to achieve the feat at 12 years, seven months and 17 days, erasing the mark set by his state-mate R Praggnanandhaa in June last year.
The forum president IM Varugeese Koshy, in a letter appealed to Rijiju that chess players be recognised by the government.
Young Indian Grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu's fine run in the first leg of FIDE chess.com Women Speed Chess Championships ended on Friday with a defeat in the semi-finals at the hands of Anna Ushenina of Ukraine. The 19-year-old Chennai player went down 4.5-5.5 to the experienced Ukrainian GM in an exciting last four clash of the online tournament.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand came into his own with a much-needed win over Jan-Krzystof Duda in 78 moves in the second round after losing to his opponent in the first round.
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