Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Women's candidates' chess tournament that will get underway in Toronto, Canada from Wednesday.
On pure experience of playing big games, Humpy goes in the final as the favourite against compatriot Deshmukh.
The men's team comprises Grandmasters D Gukesh, Gujrathi, Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and R Praggnanandhaa.
International Master Divya Deshmukh, who is waiting to become a Grandmaster, had a tough day in office as she was outplayed by Zhu Jiner of China in the return game of the pre-quarterfinals in the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Thursday.
The world rapid champion Humpy got the better of Russian 6-5 to set up a last four clash with world No.1 Hou Yifan of China.
World rapid champion Koneru Humpy claimed her second title in the last two months by emerging triumphant at the Cairns Cup chess tournament following a draw against compatriot Dronavalli Harika in the ninth and final round, in St Louis, United States. Humpy, who was crowned World champion in December, finished the tournament with six points. The icing on the cake was that Humpy will gain five ELO rating points (the basis for international rankings) and move to second place in the world rankings.
Rameshbabu Vaishali won the women's qualifier scoring 9.5 points out of 11 to advance to the quarter-finals of the World Blitz Championship.
Mumba Masters delivered a high-quality performance in front of the 'home' crowd, defeating the Viswanathan Anand-led Ganges Grandmasters
World Blitz: Erigaisi stuns Carlsen, Abdusattorov to emerge joint leader after 11 rounds
Former women's World champion Susan Polgar believes Indian chess is riding a wave of success and predicted a bright future for the sport in the country.
Speaking to reporters, the CJI said his father and late KG Deshmukh were very close friends.
Kerala teenager Krishna Goutham shares the lead with World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, top Indian exponent Arjun Erigaisi, and Vladislav Artemiev.
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.
While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.
'Sandbagging' means a player deliberately losing his games, along with it his rating points, so as to play in a lower rated player tournaments and win cash prizes.
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.
'Most of my birthdays I end up losing the game, so glad it did not repeat in the classical. When I was playing, I felt fine, but when I was losing, I was like, 'ok, not again'.
World No.1 Hou Yifan defeated Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran 7.5-2.5 to finish third.
The Grand Prix consists of four legs, with a total of 21 participants. Each of the 21 players participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs. Each GP is a 16-player knockout event.
Humpy, the world rapid champion, overcame her Chinese opponent in a close match with the Indian winning the decisive bullet game.
The top seed has five points from as many rounds in the National Women's 'A' Chess Championship.
Grandmaster R Vaishali was so crestfallen following seven straight losses in the Chennai Grandmasters that she had made up her mind to pull out of the Grand Swiss tournament, but family support steered her to the event where she won the title to qualify for the Candidates next year.
Chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced a significantly relaxed dress code for next month's World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Doha, "allowing classic non-distressed jeans for both men and women", a year after the 'jeansgate' storm involving Magnus Carlsen at the same event.
'There are several talented players like R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, so the future is certainly bright.'
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.
Divya Deshmukh came to the star-studded FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 in Batumi, Georgia, as an underdog, hoping to at least win one Grandmaster norm in her journey to become a GM in the future.
With Vantika's hard-earned victory there are still five Indians left in the last 32 stage of this US$691,250 prize money event with an additional bonus of making it to the Women's candidates' tournament slated in 2026 for the top three finishers.
Deshmukh thanked the CM and the people of Nagpur for felicitating her.
Reigning World champion Dommaraju Gukesh's roller-coaster ride continues. The Indian Grandmaster suffered defeat in an Armageddon tie-break and slipped to tied-fifth place, while Arjun Erigaisi upset American world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura to maintain fourth position in the Norway Chess tournament.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen recorded a flawless performance, securing victories against S L Narayanan
A draw would have sufficed but Grandmaster Koneru Humpy showed no mercy and recorded her second successive win against Shen Yang of China to storm into the semifinals of the World Women's Chess Championship in Nalchik (Russia).
India's global chess domination was lauded by President Droupadi Murmu in her address to the nation on Thursday
The Indian GM beat Woman Grandmaster Xu Yuhua of China in the second game of the quarter-finals of the Women's World Chess championship.
International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women's World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Harmanpreet Singh, Smriti Mandhana, Divya Deshmukh among five Indian stars nominated for BBC awards
The Indian GM beat Maxim Sorokin in the first round of the eight-match Ilapuram Grandmasters Chess tourney.
Despite splitting the point the Indian ace shares the lead with the Czech Grandmaster.
Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh was welcomed by hundreds of supporters and her family upon her arrival in Nagpur on Wednesday.
'When I started my first game on Day 3 I did not imagine I would be at the top. My hope was to reach top three. I didn't expect to play the tie-break games'
