Defending champion Viswanathan Anand will start his campaign with black pieces against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the first game of the 12-round World Chess Championship in Chennai on Saturday. After declaring the 'FIDE World Championship Match-2013' open, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa picked the photograph of Anand from the first bowl and a 'black piece' from the other during the draw of lots for the match, to be held at Hyatt Regency hotel.
'Dharti par jo Rab hota hai, woh hai pitaah (There's a God on earth, and it's a Father).'
This is the full text of the address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of India's 78th Independence Day.
Zimbabwe will be the second time that the leg-spinner will represent India at the international level. Few are aware that the then junior national chess champion represented India at the World Youth Chess Championship in Greece in 2002.
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 fact that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa approved an expenditure of Rs 29 crore for the World Chess Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Norway's Magnus Carlsen to be held here points to the significance the event has for the state government.
With 29 gold, 31 silver and 51 bronze in their kitty, the Indian para athletes won four medals more than the record tally of 107 won by the able-bodied athletes in the Hangzhou Asian Games, held from September 23 to October 8.
The other five games, hard fought, were drawn. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen and Andrey Esipenko trail the leaders by half a point.
Teenaged Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh upset Magnus Carlsen in the ninth round of the preliminary phase of the Aimchess Rapid online chess tournament, becoming the youngest to beat the World champion.
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.
Praggnanandhaa is on his own at the Azerbaijan capital of Baku as his personal coach RB Ramesh is away in another country.
While Sharath is the lone Khel Ratna award recipient, a total of 25 athletes including shuttlers Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, athletes Eldhose Paul, Avinash Sable have been nominated for the Arjuna Award this year.
Humpy bagged the award after receiving the highest number of votes from the fans.
Stand-in captain Smith savours rare Australian win in India
India chess captain Vidit Gujrathi shared a memory of beating the legendary Viswanathan Anand for the first time and termed it as a special moment of his career.
The team of Chingari Gulf Titans stunned Mumba Masters by 12:3, while SG Alpine Warriors were upstaged by Triveni Continental Kings
'If England are not playing to win then these Ashes Tests are not that important. They are only exhibition matches. They have got it back to front. It is not about entertaining and then winning. It is about winning first.'
With a medal, a commemoration letter and a pat of encouragement on their shoulders, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday handed the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement to 20 talented and brave children on the occasion of Children's Day.
Vishy Anand face world champion Magnus Carlsen for the first time in India since his 2013 World Championship defeat in Chennai, during the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz tournament to be held in Kolkata from November 22 to 26.
Highest rated Indian P Harikrishna crushed Max Illingworth of Australia to virtually book a second round berth in the World Chess Cup now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.
'It was a big relief to get it out of the way. Now he can concentrate on future progress.'
Batting great Greg Chappell believes Australia can win the upcoming high-profile four-match Test series as India are "vulnerable" this time with injuries to key players like Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah.
The real scene stealer of Ajay-Tabu's Fury Road is Deepak 'Deadly' Dobriyal, applauds Sukanya Verma.
Modi on Saturday hosted the Indian contingent at his residence to felicitate the players in New Delhi.
'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
Padmini Rout is well-placed along with four foreigners atop of the points' table after seven rounds in the LIC World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune. With six rounds left in the tough 13-round Swiss league event, the players in both sections are tightly bunched, making the hunt for the title quite open.
'Congratulations to Abhi for this achievement. He fully deserves this success, as I have seen all of his hard work first hand. His father also deserves praise for the sacrifices he has made for Abhi to reach this milestone.'
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.
Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won Tata Steel Chess Challengers 2018, at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, on Sunday. The victory ensured him qualification for the Tata Steel Masters 2019, where leading chess players from across the world, including World champion Magnus Carlsen, will take part.
The world's largest credit rating agency seems to have a particular fascination for top-drawer talent from India.
Alireza Firouzja remained in joint lead with Caruana on 5.5 points and these two are now ahead of Wesley So of United States and Jorden Van Foreest of Holland.
The American-born chess ace, who settled in Iceland in 2005 and was later granted Icelandic citizenship, died of an unspecified illness at the age of 64.
On her 72nd birthday on September 18, Sukanya Verma gives three cheers to the legend and lists 20 of her stellar performances.
The Grandmaster suffered a shocking defeat in the 2nd round of 43rd National 'A' chess championship.
He is the youngest Indian to achieve the feat at 12 years, seven months and 17 days, erasing the mark set by his state-mate R Praggnanandhaa in June last year.
Carlsen had previously indicated he would not consider the record truly broken until after two more games as he was not prepared to count two wins he had in the Norwegian league.
'To keep laughing is the most important thing in life.'
I cannot think of another Hindi movie that has, without so much as a hint of cynicism or speechifying, brought out that fundamental fact of Muslims being an integral part of the Indian culture while being at the same time a subculture with its own polite niceties, observes Sreehari Nair.
Former world junior champion and second seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta beat Daniel Naroditsky of United States in quick time to jump to joint third spot after the fourth round of Groningen International open chess tournament.
Grandmaster and Commonwealth champion Abhijeet Gupta created history at the Hoogeveen International chess tournament by becoming the first player ever to win the title twice in a row in the FIDE Open that concluded in the Dutch hamlet.
