Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of Hans Moke Niemann of the United States to join the leaders' pack on 4.5 points.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa went down to World No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE Chess World Cup final, in Baku, on Thursday.
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.
Praggnanandhaa has expressed his determination to approach the World Cup final against Magnus Carlsen with a fresh mindset.
Indian GM was impressive against a fancied and higher rated opponent
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has charted his own path to glory and is closer to greatness than ever.
The conclusive champion of this tournament is set to be determined on Thursday.
Indian chess icon Viswanathan Anand placed with nine points from seven rounds of Rapid (involving two mini-matches) and 14 rounds of Blitz.
The former World champion lost two games - one to Fabiano Caruana (USA) and the other to Richard Rapport (Hungary) while drawing with five others.
Teen chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa's mother, R Nagalakshmi said on Friday she was elated to see her son seal a berth in the Candidates Tournament, adding the 18-year-old has a "long way to go" in the sport.
Praggnanandhaa is on his own at the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as his personal coach RB Ramesh is away in another country.
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.
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.
A title match requires months of preparation and pulling out of other events, putting together a team of seconds, etc. Carlsen just says he lacks the motivation to do this again.
Anand had endured losses at the hands of Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan) in the opening round before suffering defeats to Rapport and David Navara (Czech Republic) in the second and third round respectively.
The second game of the Chess World Cup final between Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw after 30 moves.
For a long time, Viswanathan Anand was the lone flag-bearer of Indian chess, taking the world by storm with his exploits.
Duda scored a dramatic win from a losing position against Kirill Shevchenko to take the top prize.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi held World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to a draw in the 11th round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament
Praggnanandhaa said just talking to the Indian chess wizard (Anand) boosts his confidence.
R Praggnanandhaa was far from realising the enormity of his achievement in the FIDE World Cup but reckoned his incredible run could force people to "start noticing" Indian chess.
16-year old Praggnanandhaa halted his three-match losing streak to shock the higher-rated Vidit Gujrathi
India's Vidit Gujrathi drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland to take his tally to four points after the sixth round of Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022.
Anand scored six wins and two draws to seal the Rapid title in Poland, Warsaw.
In the second round, Anand lost the first of the two-game mini-match to Rapport with black pieces. The second game ended in a draw with the Indian playing with white pieces.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out his second draw on the trot, signing peace with Levon Aronian of Armenia in the second round of 5th Final Masters in Sao Paulo.
Playing as a wildcard in the tournament, the Indian ace had on Thursday defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland in the first round, before getting the better of American Wesley So and Anton Korobov (Ukraine).
The Gashimov Memorial tournament this year is being played as a rapid and blitz chess tournament.
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.
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 '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.
Former women's World champion Susan Polgar feels that the rising strength of Indian players makes them favourites to grab three out of the six medals at stake.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand's hunt for the elusive victory continued as he played out fifth draw on the trot, signing peace with Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the fifth round of 5th Final Masters in Sao Paulo.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi drew with Richard Rapport of Hungary in the ninth round to be in joint third place with 5.5 points in the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
India 'B' defeated Germany 3-1 in their final round match to end at third position.
Indian Grandmasters Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Adhiban Baskaran registered wins in the first game of the two-game mini match in the second round of the FIDE chess World Cup in Sochi on Thursday.
Vidit Gujrathi suffers first defeat
The other five games, hard fought, were drawn. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen and Andrey Esipenko trail the leaders by half a point.
Viswanthan Anand was beaten by World champion Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the first two rounds of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament.
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