'The Indian earthquake in Toronto is the culmination of the shifting tectonic plates in the chess world.'
First-time challenger D. Gukesh on Tuesday insisted he is not weighed down by the favourite's tag heading into the World Championship clash against China's Ding Liren, having enjoyed a purple patch after overcoming a rough phase.
'It is truly unfathomable how this kid would come from a country with no chess culture and not only become World Champion, but inspire generations of Indian kids to push chess forward. The legend, @vishy64theking!'
Teenaged Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa drew the second game of the FIDE World Cup semifinal against American GM Fabiano Caruana on Sunday to push the contest into a tie-break.
With five points in his kitty from eight games, D Gukesh jointly leads the standings with Anish Giri of Holland.
Men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet, under whose leadership India won a second successive bronze medal at the Olympics, said the honour is a recognition of his "fascinating" journey in which he still has plenty more to achieve.
Grandmaster D Gukesh will face his first major challenge since becoming world champion when he begins his campaign in the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which starts on Friday in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
'This introduction that has now been in place for sometime could well give that additional flavour for the chess players as they will be able to guess the pressure that a certain player is feeling during the course of a game.'
The 18-year-old Gukesh's triumph was celebrated far and wide across the country with the PM joining the sports fraternity and others in lauding his incredible achievement.
China won the top prize on the basis of having won the round-robin stage.
At the world championship, players have two hours each to play the first 40 moves, with 30 minutes being added to reach move 60, before 15 minutes are added with a 30-second increment per move being then granted.
Having lost to Russian Sergey Karjakin in the previous round, Anand's chances to catch up with Carlsen at the top have now almost evaporated as the reigning world champion is now 1.5 points ahead of the Indian with just two rounds to go in the category-22 event.
Going into the match against the Chinese after ending his six-match losing streak, Anand surrendered the first game in just 22 moves late on Tuesday.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated the reigning and four-time women's world champion Wenjun Ju from China in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
The tournament is part of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The winner of this event will qualify for the $US300,000 Grand Final scheduled from August 9 to 20.
After six straight losses, Anand won his first game of the tournament despite conceding early advantage on Monday night.
The Chennai-based Anand, who is making his maiden appearance at the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour, settled for a 82-move draw in the opening game of the best-of-four contest.
The Chennai-based Anand is making his maiden appearance on the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.
World's youngest chess champion D Gukesh was felicitated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and others at a function organised by the state government in Chennai on Tuesday.
Indian Grandmasters D Gukesh and Vidit Santosh Gujrathi bowed out of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament after losing to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov respectively in Baku on Wednesday.
'Shameful action by the chief arbiter Marghetis towards me during the game. Middle of the game during the most intense moment when I was walking during Ian move... he came to me and told me not to walk anymore because my shoe is making noise on the wooden floor.'
The image of a smiling D Gukesh standing with outstretched hands will forever be embossed in the memory of a nation of billions.
D Gukesh started off on a positive note, beating Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania
Divith, who has a FIDE rating of 1784 points currently, won four matches on the trot, including the last two against higher-rated opponents
Viswanthan Anand was beaten by World champion Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the first two rounds of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament.
Gujrathi, who was a part of India's gold-winning campaign in the Chess Olympiad recently, says the sport's ecosystem needs a major overhaul to ensure players have more balance in life.
Koneru Humpy's non-participation in the event has not hampered the team's chances much as Vaishali has jumped significantly in rankings and is a force to reckon with in the women's circle.
Russian Nepomniachtchi inflicts sixth defeat on Indian
'With an achievement like this, Gukesh could even be endorsing global brands.'
The Indian team includes country's number two Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy. B Adhiban and D Harika are the the reserves members. The field for the event includes six former world champions, plus 12 others who have been Candidates to the throne at some point.
This is Koneru Humpy's second World Rapid title after she had triumphed in the 2019 edition in Moscow.
Newly-crowned world chess champion D Gukesh is looking forward to the day when the sport will become a part of the Olympic curriculum, which, he said, would take it to an altogether different level not just in India but across the world.
The para-athletes outnumbered the able-bodied ones in the list this time due to the magnificent Paris Paralympics performance in which they returned with 29 medals, including seven gold and nine silver.
Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu Vaishali and men's team captain Srinath Narayanan landed Chennai on Tuesday morning.
India suffered a double blow, losing its third and fourth round matches to Europe and top-seeded China by similar 1.5-2.5 margins, on the second day of the FIDE-Chess.com Online Nations Cup on Wednesday. Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand came up against a strong opponent in Ding Liren and the two agreed to sign peace in 54 moves. P Harikrishna held higher-rated Yu Yangyi to a draw while long-time rivals Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan drew their game.
Viswanathan Anand defeated an out-of-sorts Alexander Grischuk while Magnus Carlsen sealed the title at the Altibox Norway chess tournament with a round to spare, in Stavanger. Anand's chances to be in top three had ended after he lost to American Fabiano Caruana in the previous round.
D GukeshGrandmaster R Vaishali and Vantika Agrawal put up impressive performances as Indian women defeated Georgia while World Championship challenger D Gukesh led the men to victory over China in the seventh round as both teams continued their unbeaten streak in 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
'It will bring the next wave of awareness and pursuit of excellence from people who want to take chess as a game or a competitive sport or even as a career.'
World champion Viswanathan Anand made a disappointing start as he suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Englishman Michael Adams in the first round of Alekhine Memorial Chess Tournament in Paris at the Louvre.
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