Sasikiran, Harikrishna, and Dibyendu Barua share the lead with 4.5 points after six rounds.
Grandmaster D Harika's title aspirations suffered a major blow as she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first game of the semi-final at World Women's chess championship in Khanty, Mansiysk, Russia. Despite displaying top form so far, Harika could not get things moving well in the first game and went down rather easily.
Grandmaster S Arun Prasad provided the crucial full point as India edged out Greece to emerge joint leader after the opening round of the World Team Chess Championship in Bursa, Turkey.
Liem Le scored an emphatic 2.5-0.5 win over the teenaged Indian GM, securing victories in games two and three after the opener ended in a draw.
Praggnanandhaa is on his own at the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as his personal coach RB Ramesh is away in another country.
After the marathon game in Round 7, five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand and defending champions Magnus Carlsen played out a quick draw in the eighth round of the World Chess Championship, now underway in Sochi, on Tuesday.
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.
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.
Anand, who first made it to the World's top-10 in July 1991, has remained India's top-ranked player in all published lists since January 1987.
Krishnan Sasikiran drew the final round game against GM Vitaly Tseshkovsky to tie for sixth place.
Sitting at tied fourth, Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh will have some catching up to do if they want to finish on the podium with four rounds remaining in the ongoing Prague Masters Chess tournament in Prague.
Former Under-14 world champion and Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won the bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship after settling for a quick draw with winner Yu Yangyi of China in the 13th and final round that concluded in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Lalith Babu, R B Ramesh and S P Sethuraman are among 23 players who share the lead after the first two rounds in the Dubai Open chess championship.
The Indian men and women missed out on the podium by a whisker as they finished fourth in both the categories at the World Team Chess Championships, in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
Praggnanandhaa said just talking to the Indian chess wizard (Anand) boosts his confidence.
Grandmaster S P Sethuraman continued with his dream run and played out a fighting draw with higher ranked Anish Giri of Holland in the first game of the third round of World Chess Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia.
P Harikrishna won, Surya Sekhar Ganguly drew and K Sasikiran lost in their second game of the second round match.
On Tuesday, the 20-year-old Woman Grandmaster was among the quickest finishers in Round 2 of the World Junior Chess Championships at the Hotel Hyatt, in Pune.
Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout was the lone Indian to sign off with a medal when she notched up the bronze after drawing her 13th and final round game with Deysi Cori of Peru in the World Junior Girls' Chess Championship in Chotowa-Czarna, Poland.
Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika staged a great comeback in the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran, winning the second game against Tan Zhongyi of China to take the semi-final into a tie-breaker.
Teenaged Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa went down to Poland's Jan-Krzystof Duda via the tie-break in the sixth round of the FTX Crypto Cup, the American finale of Champions Chess Tour, in Miami, on Sunday.
Teenaged Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh shot into sole lead after defeating Firouzja Alireza of France in the 13th and penultimate round of Candidates' Chess tournament in Toronto on Saturday, his quest for the extraordinary placing him on the cusp of becoming the youngest ever World Championship contender.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand salvaged a draw after suffering for a long time in the seventh game of the world chess championship against Magnus Carlsen now underway in Sochi.
16 of the world's top Grandmasters will battle for honours in the World Rapid Chess tournament in France.
Gianiji had crafted his moves with the meticulous planning of a chess grandmaster. He did not know whether a checkmate was feasible, as his time was running out, but he wanted Rajiv Gandhi to smell the fear of loss. A fascinating excerpt from K C Singh's The Indian President: An Insider's Account of the Zail Singh Years.
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.
Norway's Magnus Carlsen, the world's 23-year-old reigning chess champion, has launched an app based on his own past games to make chess more popular, but he'd prefer its players not get good enough to beat him.
Placed fourth after the first leg on Tuesday, the 48-year-old had a dream run on the final day to secure six wins and three draws in the nine rounds to draw level with the world No 3 American Nakamura to force a play-off.
Pragg, Gujrathi out of contention
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.
The Indian needs just a draw in the second game against Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia to qualify for the semis.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy maintained her all-win record as Indian girls blanked Vietnam 4-0 to maintain the sole second position after the end of the fifth round of the World Women Tam Chess Championship, in Mardin, Turkey.
The five-time World champion played out his third draw on the trot as he signed peace with Etienne Bacrot of France in the third round of Grenke Chess Classic.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand scored a thumping victory over French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to jump to joint-second after the end of the sixth round in the Norway Chess tournament, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
Grandmaster and National champion S P Sethuraman clicked when it mattered and defeated world number 21 and compatriot P Harikrishna to enter the third round of World Cup of chess in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Indian men and women's teams made winning starts to their campaign in the 43rd Chess Olympiad, in Batumi, Georgia, on Tuesday.
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.
Grandmaster and former national champion B Adhiban crashed through the defences of former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria to remain in joint lead in the Masters section of Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand squandered away a good start and could just end Day 1 on a fifty percent score after the end of the fifth round of World rapid chess championship in Berlin.
Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman went down to higher ranked Shakhriayar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the first game of the third round of World Cup of Chess now underway in Baku.
