'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.'
Aravindh Chithamabaram took his tally to 3.5 points out of a possible four.
Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States to join the leaders' pack on 4.5 points.
World number seven Erigaise Arjun started his campaign on a positive note, outplaying Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan in the first round of the Sharjah Masters chess tournament in Sharjah.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi pipped Rinat Zumabayev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to share the top spot.
Magnus Carlsen of SG Alpine Warriors defeated Viswanathan Anand and launched his team to the top of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in Dubai on Wednesday.
The men's team comprises Grandmasters D Gukesh, Gujrathi, Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and R Praggnanandhaa.
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.
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).
After six draws in a row, Praggnanandhaa was relieved after the victory, a result of Gupta's blunder under time pressure.
Playing white, Ganges Grandmasters defeated Balan Alaskan Knights 11-6 in a battle between the two leaders on the scoreboard.
India 'B' defeated Germany 3-1 in their final round match to end at third position.
Arjun also remained unbeaten through all the nine rounds and finished half a point ahead of Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov.
Arjun Erigaisi is in joint lead with 4.5 points from five rounds along with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Fedoseev after holding the Norwegian superstar in round five.
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.
The Indian teams made winning starts in the Open and women's sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Friday.
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.
India will be fielding three teams each in the Open and women's sections respectively.
The second day of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League witnessed the debut of Magnus Carlsen, the strongest chess player in the world. C
It has bolstered the home team's medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to see massive participation from more than 150 countries.
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.
'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 top player and Asian Games gold medallist Koneru Humpy, who had come back into medal contention after a modest performance on day two, had to settle for the sixth place though she logged eight points.
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.
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Sankalp Gupta becomes India's 71st GM.
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.
With the Indian teams doing well so far, they can run into one another in the competition.
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.
His semifinal match against Giri went up to 2am and a few hours later, he had to be at his school to take his 11th-class board examination.
Anand firmly believes that India has enough talent to produce the next Chess World Champion
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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.
Former World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik believes Indian icon Viswanathan Anand seems "past his prime" but remains "extremely good" for a 50-year-old and should continue for some more years. Anand turned 50 last year and has been struggling to regain top form for a while now.
Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has also expressed his willingness to partner the company in helping the youngsters.
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!'
Reader Suneel Sadhwani sent us these pictures from London.
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.
A summary of sportspersons in the news on Sunday.
Viswanthan Anand got back into the reckoning by defeating compatriot M Shyam Sundar in a one-sided affair in the Isle of Man International chess tournament on Wednesday. On a good day for Indians, former World junior champion Abhijeet Gupta tamed the highly-regarded Liem Le Quang of Vietnam.
