Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Arjun Erigaisi 5-4 via the sudden death tie-break to enter the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament in Baku on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
"I practice chess based on what I think is a priority, and what I feel like doing. I also read some chess books -- 'Saying No to Chess Principles' by Evgeny Bareev and 'Life and Games of Mikhail Tal"
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.
In the women's event, the country's top player Koneru Humpy has 3.5 points with two wins and three draws after five rounds as does R Vaishali who has scored three victories to go with a draw apart from a loss.
India's Pentala Harikrishna secured two wins on the last day but could only finish second, half a point behind Japanese-American wizard Hikaru Nakamura who lived up to his top billing to clinch the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid tournament, in Kolkata, on Sunday.
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh has replaced the legendary Viswanathan Anand as India's top chess player after more than three decades.
India men's team's medal chances took a hit as Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran lost a crucial match which resulted in Indian men's team shock defeat at the hands of eighth seeded Armenia in the ninth round of the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi.
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.
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.
Chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
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.
Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman came back into the reckoning for top honours after defeating Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland in the seventh round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujarathi and Sahaj Grover maintained a clean slate, defeating Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania and Vyacheslav Lozhnikov of Kazakhstan respectively in the second round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
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.
Adhiban will face the winner of the match between Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Alexander Fier, who play the tiebreak on Saturday.
Padmini Rout's unbeaten run was halted by top seed Aleksandra Goryachkina in the eighth round of the LIC World Junior Chess Championships, at the Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Tuesday. After a day's rest, the girls' section was dominated by the higher-rated Russians in the fray, with Daria Pustovoitova defeating Anna Iwanow of Poland. Both the Russian girls and Anna Iwanow of Peru jointly lead the girls' section in the 77-player event with 6.5 points each.
Lu Shanglei of China defeated Aleksander Indjic of Serbia and was crowned World junior chess champion at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Sunday. In the girls' section, 16-year-old Alexandra Goryachkina successfully defended her title with a round to spare on Saturday.
For a long time, Viswanathan Anand was the lone flag-bearer of Indian chess, taking the world by storm with his exploits.
With the triumph, the Indian GM qualifies for next year's Tata Steel Masters Group.
Lesser-known Indian players continued to impress, while the fancied struggled to score, even as overseas Grandmasters took charge in the third round of the World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Wednesday. S L Narayanan was one of the early finishers, holding second seed and super GM Robin Van Kampen (2641) to a draw, while 10-year-old Nihal Sarin's impressive display again won him many admirers after he held Balazs CSonka (2409) to a draw to remain unbeaten after three encounters against opponents rated higher than 2400.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Meanwhile in the women's event, Padmini Rout and R Vaishali joined compatriot Bhakti Kulkarni in the second round.
In the women section being held alongside, Indian women played out a hard-fought draw against experienced Georgia 1 team. All the games were drawn.
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.
China won the top prize on the basis of having won the round-robin stage.
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.
The Armenians protested for a long time delaying the start of the second round of matches before withdrawing following rejection of their appeal.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand and five other leading Indian players will compete in an online chess exhibition on April 11 to raise funds for country's fight against COVID-19. The event will be streamed live on chess.com/tv, where all donations made will be sent to the PM's CARES Fund.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand ended the World Rapid Championship on a positive note, scoring four points out of five games on the final day, but the Indian ace could only finish 25th in the final standings.
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Kaido Kulaots of Estonia and went out of contention for a podium finish after seventh round of the 31st Cappelle La Grande international chess tournament in Cappelle La Grande, France.
Lesser-fancied Indians again stole limelight in the LIC World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Friday. Nandhidhaa PV created a sensation in the fifth round, upsetting IM Meri Arabidze of Georgia, who is rated and titled higher than her, while 15-year-old Maria Ivana Furtado shocked Nguyen Thi Mai Hung to emerge joint leaders.
Indian men won the Asian Nations Cup Chess tournament with a 3-1 victory over Vietnam in the final round as they pushed formidable China down to second place in Vietnam on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Padmini Rout has 6.5 points, one behind the leader, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, in the girls' section at the World Junior Chess Championships in Pune.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand's bad form continued as he finished 22nd in the World Blitz Chess championship, which concluded in Berlin on Thursday.
Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand set to return to FIDE World Cup after 15 years with an aim to seal a berth at the 2018 Candidates tournament.
India had a disappointing outing at the 43rd Chess Olympiad with the men's team finishing a poor sixth and the women ending their campaign at a lowly eighth spot, in Batumi, on Friday.
