India's newest World champion Koneru Humpy says it was a dream to win a World title but the triumph in the blitz format surprised even herself as she was always a contender in the classical format. Humpy capped the 2019 in a stunning fashion since she made a comeback to the sport this year after starting a family.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy bowed out of the women's World Chess Championship succumbing to 14-year old Yifan Hao of China in the blitz tie-break games of the semi-finals in Nalchik, Russia on Friday. Humpy rose back to level scores twice but Yifan emerged as the better player in the blitz games where she won both the tie-break games and advanced to the final where she takes on Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a disappointing final round loss against Sergey Karjakin of Russia to finish joint eighth in the St Louis Rapid Chess tournament in St Louis, on Thursday.
Levon Aronian beat Indian GM Vishwanathan Anand to retain the Chess 960 World Championship in Mainz.
Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli had to settle for the bronze medal after a heartbreaking defeat against Tan Zhongyi of China via the tie-breaker in the semi-finals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran.
With favourable results under his belt this year, five-time World champion Vishwanathan Anand is approaching the forthcoming World Chess Championship at Sochi with a quiet confidence and a positive frame of mind but termed his opponent Magnus Carlsen as "tenacious".
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand won two, lost two and drew one for a joint third place finish at the blitz tournament of Zurich Chess Classic.
'I like to challenge myself. Competing against players much younger than me is something that I want to keep doing,' says Chess Legend Viswanathan Anand
Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the World Chess Cup defeating Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland in both the blitz tiebreak games of the third round
Krishnan Sasikiran faces a tie-break in the Chess World Cup after his draw in the second game of his match against Russian Vadim Zvjaginsev.
The Indian GM beat Bulgaria's Sergei Zigalko in a blitz game to become the only Indian to enter the second round of the Chess World Cup.
The former World Junior champion beat Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil at the World Chess Cup.
World Cup champion Anand outplayed Russian champion Peter Svidler in the blitz tie-break to make the summit clash in the World Rapid Chess Championship.
Looking back, the Indians had rubbed their hands in delight at the variety of marquee events at home the sporting calendar of 2017 offered, and they now look forward, with optimism and anticipation, to a challenging 2018.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand finished joint second after playing out a draw with Wesley So of United States in the Sinquefield Cup, which concluded in St Louis, USA.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the fifth and final round to win the Classical section of Zurich Chess Classic on Thursday.
Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli earned a hard fought draw in the third round of the elite FIDE Women's Grand Prix chess tournament in Kanty-Mansiysk, Russia, to keep her chances alive for a top-five finish.
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.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will look to avenge last year's championship defeat and clinch his sixth world title when he takes on Magnus Carlsen in the first game of the World Chess championship in Sochi, on Saturday.
Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand will find himself in the unfamiliar position of starting as the lowest-ranked player when he takes on a tough field in his first Classical tournament since losing the world title, in the Zurich Challenge in Zurich at the Savoy.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand continued his fine form to outwit Anish Giri of Holland and move into the sole lead after the end of the second round of Zurich Chess Challenge, in Zurich, on Sunday.
The King is wounded but not dead. Defending champion Viswanathan Anand bounced back with a draw against Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
At 12 years, seven months and 17 days, Dommaraju Gukesh is the second youngest Grandmaster of all time.
Viswanathan Anand on Saturday said the pressure of expectations of playing at home in the last World Chess Championships in Chennai was not a factor but pointed out that he made a few mistakes against Magnus Carlsen, which eventually cost him the world title last November.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
It was the quickest finish in the match, the Indian, playing black, and Norwegian, who leads by a point, agreeing to a draw after only 20 moves.
The loss also meant a heavy slide of 15 rating points for the Indian as he slipped to ninth spot in the World Chess rankings.
'The uniform might be the most accurate thing about this film, however, a painfully tacky production where all the sets look like over-saturated cardboard,' says Raja Sen.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Meet the US Attorney who took on Donald Trump.
Three Indian Air Force officers captured as Prisoners of War by Pakistan during the '71 War made a daring escape from a Rawalpindi jail. M P Anil Kumar recounts that heroic story.
Rediff.com reproduces the 1997 feature about Laxman, his passion for crows, and of course, his genius.
