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.
The Indian men's hockey team will participate in the special sessions during a week-long camp at SAI, Bengaluru, to be overseen by India's chief coach Craig Fulton.
Be ready to be amazed as Rediff.com encapsulates all the sporting action from the past week in this super photo feature.
Lesser-known Indian players continued to impress, while the fancied struggled to score, even as overseas Grandmasters took charge in the third round of the World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Wednesday. S L Narayanan was one of the early finishers, holding second seed and super GM Robin Van Kampen (2641) to a draw, while 10-year-old Nihal Sarin's impressive display again won him many admirers after he held Balazs CSonka (2409) to a draw to remain unbeaten after three encounters against opponents rated higher than 2400.
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.
Viswanathan Anand says one factor that has contributed immensely to this has been his habit of 'forgetting' achievements.
Nihal scored his third and final GM norm at the Abu Dhabi Masters that was held from August 7 to 15. He scored 5.5 points in nine rounds with four wins, three draws, and two losses.
India's top player and Asian Games gold medallist Koneru Humpy, who had come back into medal contention after a modest performance on day two, had to settle for the sixth place though she logged eight points.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
Defending champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign with a draw against Dutchman Anish Giri in the first round of Bilbao Masters Final chess tournament.
Stimac had said he would need at least a four-week camp to do well in the Asian Cup while the All India Football Federation (AIFF) top brass had indicated that his demand would be difficult to meet as the clubs may not agree to release their players for such a long period in the midst of the domestic season.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with table-topper Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the third round to open his account in the Sinquefield Cup -- a part of the Grand Chess tour.
Indian Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna beat Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in his eighth round tie in the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix in Moscow.
Anand went down to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in what was his second straight loss following a defeat against Alexander Grischuk in the previous round.
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.
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.
India's Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw against Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia in the sixth round to remain static in third spot in the 10th Tal Memorial Chess tournament, in Moscow.
S L Narayanan, a regular visitor to Pune for the Maharashtra Chess League, has a reputation for shocking seeded players. On Thursday, in the fourth round of the LIC World Junior Chess championships, at the Hotel Hyatt, the teenager from Kerala played true to his reputation and stunned Polish Grandmaster Kamil Dragun.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Both Harikrishna and Carlsen drew all their four games on the opening day of the tournament as matches ended late on Saturday.
Chess grandmasters resume COVID-delayed tournament in Russia
'It was a big relief to get it out of the way. Now he can concentrate on future progress.'
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Arjun Bhati has managed to raise 4.30 lakh to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by selling all his trophies, including three world junior golf championship titles and a national championship. Meanwhile, chess players in the country, including the likes of Grandmaster P Harikrishna, are doing their bit in the fight against the Covid-19 by raising more than Rs 3 lakh as their contribution.
Indian freestyle wrestlers claim Asian team title in U-17 category
China's Lu Shanglei and Wei Yi emphatically exhibited their rising chess prowess with convincing victories over Russians Vladimir Fedoseev, the top seed, and Mikhail Antipov, in the 10th round of the World Junior Chess Championships at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Thursday. The victories ensured that the Chinese maintained joint-leader status with eight points each.
With Viswanathan Anand resting, the Indian team managed to hold their own against the favourites before Yu Yangyi subdued B Adhiban with black pieces to secure another victory in the tournament.
"I practice chess based on what I think is a priority, and what I feel like doing. I also read some chess books -- 'Saying No to Chess Principles' by Evgeny Bareev and 'Life and Games of Mikhail Tal"
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
Viswanathan Anand was to return to Chennai on Monday after competing in the Bundesliga Chess League but had to stay back near Frankfurt given the travel restrictions, his wife Aruna said. Anand, who is set to don the commentator's hat for the FIDE Candidates tournament that begins in Yekaterinburg, Russia to spot the challenger to world champion Magnus Carlsen, will handle the role from his present location.
Viswanathan Anand was in Germany to play in the Bundesliga chess and before he could return, the travel restrictions came calling in wake of the pandemic.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
With his third draw in five games, the reigning world rapid champion remained in joint lead on 3.5 points and now shares the lead with Anish Giri of Holland and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
'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
The iconic Times Square in New York City, reverberating with the chants of 'Vande Mataram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', was on Sunday drenched in hues of saffron, white and green as the biggest Indian tricolour was unfurled at the popular destination to mark the 75th anniversary of India's Independence Day.
'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.'
