Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram crashed through the defenses of super-solid Anish Giri to jump in to sole lead after the end of the seventh round of Prague Masters.
They weren't up for a windfall even after the trophy but life was certain to get a lot better as some sponsors and state governments stepped up to lift them financially.
'It will bring the next wave of awareness and pursuit of excellence from people who want to take chess as a game or a competitive sport or even as a career.'
Indian GM Praggnanandhaa wins Super GM chess tourney in Hungary
Grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubboe said he didn't respond to Indian GM R Vaishali's handshake gesture because of 'religious reasons'.
D Gukesh defeated Dutch Grandmaster Max Warmerdam to stay in sole lead on 7.5 points at the end of the 10th round of Tata Steel Chess tournament
India has a bright future in chess as we have many players in top 10 rankings: Humpy
At the end of the fifth round India's Aravindh Chithambaram is now followed by four players -- the Iranian duo of Amin Tabatabaei and Bardiya Daneshvar and Americans Hans Moke Niemann and Sam Shankland -- who all have four points each.
Having lost three and drawn three coming into the third and final day of rapid, Praggnanadhaa lost to Lenier Dominguez of the US in the seventh round.
India's woman Grandmaster Priyanka Nutakki was expelled from the World Junior Chess Championship being held in Italy currently for having a pair of ear buds in her jacket pocket.
World Champion D Gukesh suffered his second straight defeat at the FIDE Grand Swiss, losing to Greece's Nikolas Theodorou in the sixth round in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
'Last year, I messed up some good positions against him, I think I did not beat him (in classical) for almost two years now, so finally it's good to get a win.'
Magnus Carlsen feels he's still better than the young generation of chess players, but the Norwegian great is ruling out a comeback at the classical world championship.
Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed world number one for over a decade, believes chess ratings today are somewhat "deflated" compared to the past but remains unfazed by the possibility of someone surpassing him.
World Champion D Gukesh began his campaign at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam tour with a mixed bag of results, including three draws and a lone loss, signaling that he is adapting to the new format.
The 16-year-old top seed was in fine form and remained unbeaten through the nine rounds. He finished the tournament with a victory over fellow-Indian V Praneeth, an International Master, late on Friday.
Caruana became the sole leader and also got back to number two in live world rankings.
Nakamura, who started off as the favourite in the blitz section, is in sixth spot on 13.5 points, ahead of tour leader and compatriot Fabiano Caruana who has 13 points.
The Indians were never the favourites in the entire scheme of things but yet, Gukesh has withstood the early storm and so has Praggnanandhaa.
With nine rounds still to come in the blitz event, Wei Yi has amassed 20.5 points with seven wins on the first day of blitz. Ending the day with 7.5 out of a possible nine, Yi, seems like a man possessed and unless a hurricane hits him, is poised to win the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour.
Emulates mentor Visvanathan Anand, who had won the tournament back in 1986.
Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa opens up on beating World Champ D Gukesh to win the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
Aravindh Chithambaram had a good second day as he beat former World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and drew the last two games to find himself on the sole third spot in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz chess tournament.
Women's IM Mounika Akshaya and WGM Srija Seshadri were away for an evening walk and IM CRG Krishna was sleeping inside the room while burglars entered the apartment.
World Chess Champion D Gukesh and World Junior Chess Champion Pranav Venkatesh are from the same school and were classmates till Class 10!
D Gukesh admires the way charismatic former India skipper MS Dhoni and iconic tennis player Novak Djokovic
'I see an unjust personal attack by some players, probably due to sheer jealousy.'
Indian chess icon Viswanathan Anand placed with nine points from seven rounds of Rapid (involving two mini-matches) and 14 rounds of Blitz.
The Gashimov Memorial tournament this year is being played as a rapid and blitz chess tournament.
'...it was an awkward situation for both of us. I was in a hurry that day and really forgot. I want to wish good luck to both of you,'
Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram did not see any change in his fortunes in the blitz section and had to be content with a tie for seventh place in his maiden outing in the GCT.
Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control.
D Gukesh put his opening-round blues behind him and scored an excellent victory over former world rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the second round of the Sinquefield Cup.
World Champion D Gukesh suffered a rare setback in normal time control, losing to USA's Fabiano Caruana in the first game of the quarterfinals of the Freestyle Grand Slam chess tournament.
'Most of my birthdays I end up losing the game, so glad it did not repeat in the classical. When I was playing, I felt fine, but when I was losing, I was like, 'ok, not again'.
World Champion D Gukesh's quest for a victory continued as Hikaru Nakamura defeated him in the tie-breaker of the 5-8 place play-off at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam.
India's chess prodigy, D Gukesh, etched his name in history on Thursday by becoming the youngest-ever World Chess Champion at just 18 years old.
Months after a dress-code controversy involving five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) announced a new dress code for the FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women's Grand Swiss.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa produced a spectacular game to get the better of fellow-Indian Vidit Gujrathi in the third round of the Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto on Saturday.
