The American Gambits scored a crucial victory against the Ganges Grandmasters in the opening round of day four of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League on Sunday. Hikaru Nakamura and Elisabeth Paehtz lead the winning charge for the American Gambits.
'The Indian Open team was extremely well prepared and motivated to win the gold medal.' 'With two players in the world top 10 club, and four players with over 2,700 ELO points (GMs Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, all below 20) and Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna, it was a solid team.'
Gujrathi faced a reverse at the hands of his Kazakh opponent.
Gukesh will have to carry with him the tag of world champion and along with it loads of expectations and increased scrutiny. But the 19-year-old is prepared to stand in the limelight.
Gujrathi won the match with black pieces as he exploited a tactical oversight from his famous opponent.
Team MGD1, with Grandmaster Arjun Erigiaisi playing on the top board, had earlier made it to the 16-team knockout and beaten Generation XYZA 4-0 in the first round.
R Praggnanandhaa was the best Indian with an overall third place finish
In round 3, the Indian defeated German GM Vincent Keymar with the game decided in the rook endgame after Praggnanandhaa managed to win two pawns, following which Keymar resigned.
'The championship was well fought this year.' 'Ding played better than expected. Gukesh was below his level, but good enough to beat Ding.'
Gukesh secured a decisive victory in just 37 moves, showcasing his exceptional tactical prowess and strategic acumen.
'It is not just D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi.' 'There are another 20 players just behind them. Nobody imagined this was possible 5 years ago.'
Indian men and women opened their campaign in the chess team event at the Asian Games with easy wins over Mongolia and Philippines respectively, in Hangzhou on Friday.
After six draws in a row, Praggnanandhaa was relieved after the victory, a result of Gupta's blunder under time pressure.
Norway's Magnus Carlsen continues to be the undisputed world No.1 with 2832.5 points, followed by United States' Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (2802) and country-mate Fabiano Caruana (2798).
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa wrote a golden chapter in Indian chess history by becoming only the second player from the country after Viswanathan Anand -- and the youngest -- to play in the FIDE World Cup final.
In the women's event, Koneru Humpy and D Harika posted wins in the fifth round after a below par showing on the second day of the competition on Monday.
Young GM R Praggnanandhaa on Friday won both rapid games to eliminate second-seeded Hikaru Nakamura to enter the last 16 of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament in Baku.
The 44th edition of the prestigious event will witness a record 188 teams in the Open section and 162 in the women's side.
Anish's emergence comes as India witnesses an exciting era in chess, with young talents like Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, and D Gukesh shine internationally.
Arjun Erigaisi's win over In-Jung Gu came after a stiff fight with the Korean having gained an advantage before slipping up.
Divith, who has a FIDE rating of 1784 points currently, won four matches on the trot, including the last two against higher-rated opponents
Gukesh never got a chance against Mamedov who is known as a theoretician.
Indian chess players failed to finish on the podium in the individual events
Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Erigaisi and Vaishali have trained at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) that the bespectacled chess wizard set up four years ago in Chennai. The 18-year-old Gukesh and the 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa have often stated that they would not be where they are without "Vishy sir".
India 'B' played out a 2-2 draw against Azerbaijan in the 9th round of the open section, while India 'A' and 'C' teams registered identical 3-1 wins in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai, on Sunday.
Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram emerged champion in the 22nd Dubai Open chess tournament in Dubai on Sunday, with 7.5 points as seven Indians finished in the top 10 with R Praggnanandhaa sharing second spot with five others.
Defending champion Ding Liren says the in-form Dommaraju Gukesh is the big favourite to win their World Chess title showdown in November.
R Praggnanandhaa's ability to defend seamlessly in pressure situations and the deductive mind to quickly gauge his opponent's weakness is the hallmark of a world class player, national coach GM M Shyam Sundar said on Tuesday.
Apart from a place in the Candidates to be played in April next year in Canada, Vaishali got richer by US$25000 (Over Rs 20 Lakhs) while Vidit took home a whopping prize purse of US$80000 (Over Rs 66 Lakhs).
The Indian men's and women's chess teams won silver medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.
Viswanathan Anand is the third Indian in the top 10, occupying the 10th spot with an ELO rating of 2750.
Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu Vaishali and men's team captain Srinath Narayanan landed Chennai on Tuesday morning.
Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States to join the leaders' pack on 4.5 points.
India's R Vaishali crashed through the defenses of former World champion Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine to move to 3.5 points after the fourth round of FIDE women's Grand Swiss, a part of the World Chess Championship cycle.
Following is the schedule of Indian contingent on Day 7 of the Asian Games:
Teen chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa's mother, R Nagalakshmi said on Friday she was elated to see her son seal a berth in the Candidates Tournament, adding the 18-year-old has a "long way to go" in the sport.
Former World Rapid Chess champion Koneru Humpy wants the All India Chess Federation to increase women's tournaments.
Praggnanandhaa blundered for the second day running and lost to Richard Rapport of Romania in the third round
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
Humpy excited about young Indian chess brigade, says 'can be worthy successor to Anand'
