India's chess ace Dronavalli Harika was among the several players who were allegedly sent sexually abusive mail during an event in Latvia in November last year.
Ding will face a stern challenge from the 18-year-old Gukesh, who "doesn't make any mistakes at all" and has had a terrific run in 2024.
Harikrishna started with a draw against England's Michael Adams and posted wins over Alexander Donchenko and Noel Studer of Switzerland in the second and third rounds respectively.
India 'B' defeated Germany 3-1 in their final round match to end at third position.
India's chess ace Viswanathan Anand defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in round seven of the blitz event of the Norway Chess on the way to a fourth-place finish.
Gukesh follows in the footsteps of Anand, the only other Indian to win the Candidates
Pragg, Gujrathi out of contention
China won the top prize on the basis of having won the round-robin stage.
The tournament is part of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. The winner of this event will qualify for the $US300,000 Grand Final scheduled from August 9 to 20.
Erigaisi is two points clear of Praggnanandhaa and world champion Carlsen (15 points).
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.
The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on his Twitter page
Asked if the teenaged GM from Chennai needs to tone down on his aggression, Ramesh said, "I don't think so. That is one of his strengths. But, he must also learn every aspect of the game, not just aggression..."
It's been seven years since a chess player got the Arjuna award and the iconic Viswanathan Anand is hoping that India's triumphant campaign at the online Chess Olympiad will change this when the national sporting honours are announced next year.
After the draw with Iranian turned French player Firouza, Gukesh has seven points for his sole second spot.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand and India cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal among others took part in an online chess charity event, raising Rs 8.8 lakh for the waste pickers' community fighting the coronavirus pandemic. "Chess For Charity", held on Saturday on chess.com, saw India No.1 Anand, No. 2 Vidit Gujrathi, Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, Woman Grandmaster Tania Sachdev and Croatia's Antonio Radic take on a team of comedians comprising Biswa Kalyan Rath, Samay Raina, Abhishek Upamanyu and Aakash Mehta.
Having lost to Russian Sergey Karjakin in the previous round, Anand's chances to catch up with Carlsen at the top have now almost evaporated as the reigning world champion is now 1.5 points ahead of the Indian with just two rounds to go in the category-22 event.
India's chess great Viswanathan Anand celebrated International Chess Day on Saturday, with a friendly chess game against his son Akhil.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand said the career spans of chess players are getting shortened because of the intense competition within the sport.
India's Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna dished out a stellar performance to beat world No. 4 Levon Aronian of Armenia in the sixth round to climb to top of the leaderboard at the Geneva FIDE Grand Prix chess tournament.
While Vaishali got the better of Ukraine's Inna Gopanenko in round eight, Rout defeated Russia's Baira Kovanova.
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.
Viswanathan Anand's hunt for the elusive victory continued as he was again held to a draw by Alexander Grischuk.
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.
Going into the match against the Chinese after ending his six-match losing streak, Anand surrendered the first game in just 22 moves late on Tuesday.
Young Indian Grandmaster Vaishali Rameshbabu's fine run in the first leg of FIDE chess.com Women Speed Chess Championships ended on Friday with a defeat in the semi-finals at the hands of Anna Ushenina of Ukraine. The 19-year-old Chennai player went down 4.5-5.5 to the experienced Ukrainian GM in an exciting last four clash of the online tournament.
Praggnanandhaa, who received a grand welcome in Chennai on Wednesday, said he is delighted that chess is getting attention in the country.
Talking about his journey, Vishwanathan Anand said he had to work hard to become the player he is today.
The 50-year-old ended in ninth position ahead of GM Peter Leko who finished last.
Fans tuning in to the 2016 World Chess Championship from home may well have the best seats in the house, with the tournament set to be broadcast live in 360-degree Virtual Reality (VR) -- a first in any sport, organisers say.
India suffered a double blow, losing its third and fourth round matches to Europe and top-seeded China by similar 1.5-2.5 margins, on the second day of the FIDE-Chess.com Online Nations Cup on Wednesday. Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand came up against a strong opponent in Ding Liren and the two agreed to sign peace in 54 moves. P Harikrishna held higher-rated Yu Yangyi to a draw while long-time rivals Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan drew their game.
The 17-year-old Praggnanandhaa, who started very well on day one with three wins, could only manage four draws on the third day.
Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh said the honour is a recognition of his "fascinating" journey in which he still has plenty more to achieve.
D Gukesh and R Praggnanadhaa played out their eighth draw in as many games at the Sinquefield Cup.
Magnus Carlsen on Monday criticised senior FIDE officials, including its deputy president Viswanathan Anand, for mishandling the dress code violation issue
Indian chess great Viswanathan Anand sees signs of greatness in Nihal Sarin but says it's a long journey ahead for the impressive 14-year-old since there has been a trend of players struggling to replicate success as they age.
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.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand suffered his second defeat in as many games losing to Alexander Grischuk of Russia in the second round of Sinquefield Cup, a part of the Grand Chess tour.
Continuing his good run, India's teen prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa registered wins against fellow Grandmasters Andrey Esipenko and Alexandra Kosteniuk in rounds 10 and 12 of the Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament.
