China would have been among the top medal contenders in the Olympiad and their absence would brighten India's chances.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated overnight sole leader Nodirbek Abdusattarov of Uzbekistan to stake his claim for the top honours at the Prague Masters chess tournament.
Triveni Continental Kings beat Ganges Grandmasters, led by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, to set up a final against upGrad Mumba Masters.
Anand firmly believes that India has enough talent to produce the next Chess World Champion
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.
Gukesh Dommaraju played black but managed to hold on for a gutsy draw to split points in the Prague Masters Chess tournament.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa committed a time-pressure blunder as he suffered defeat at the hands of Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran in the second round of Prague Masters Chess tournament in Prague.
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.
The source also said Khadem's relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats, without giving further details.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa went down to World No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE Chess World Cup final, in Baku, on Thursday.
Gujrathi faced a reverse at the hands of his Kazakh opponent.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scored his second victory on the trot, outwitting Vincent Keymer of Germany to join compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram at the top on three points after the end of the fourth round of the Prague Masters.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand struggled for the second day running as he was held to a draw by almost-retired Robert Hess of the United States in the second round of Isle of Man International Chess tournament.
World Champion D Gukesh has taken the joint lead at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament after defeating his fellow Indian, P Harikrishna.
Anand did not quite re-work his energy and lost to Carlsen in the first game of the third day and then made a draw with compatriot Vidit Gujrathi.
Since 2012, 44 Indians have been anointed as grandmasters -- the highest achievement in chess, points out Arvind Subramanian, economist and former chief economic adviser to the government.
Taking his tally up to two points out of a possible four, Anand now has his task cut out for the remaining five games in this strongest tournament of the year. The world rapid champion needs a couple of victories to stake a claim in the tournament.
The second game of the Chess World Cup final between Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw after 30 moves.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shocking loss against Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the fourth round of Candidates Chess tournament.
The event is held over 11 rounds in both open and women's categories with likely participation of over 2,000 players.
Winning three and drawing the remaining six games, Firouzja remained undefeated throughout the event.
Anand needs to finish in a minimum sixth place in Kolkata, in order to qualify for the grand finale
Pragg, Gujrathi out of contention
The champion was ultimately decided in a series of sudden-death blitz games where the decisive outcome came in the fourth game.
Indian teenager Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa stunned world champion Magnus Carlsen for the second time this year as he claimed victory over the Norwegian at the Chessable Masters online rapid chess tournament on Friday.
Gukesh had an exciting match against Nepomniachtchi out of a Catalan opening game on Tuesday.
Viswanathan Anand played out his second straight draw in the Shamkir Chess tournament.
Magnus Carlsen will not defend his world championship in 2023 against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi as he is not motivated to play another match, the Norwegian five-time champion said in a podcast on Wednesday.
After jumping to joint lead following a crushing victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Anand could not repeat the magic and Caruana deserved all the credit for taking chances.
World champion D Gukesh played out a draw with Jorden van Foreest of Holland, while Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat Alexey Sarana of Serbia as the two Indians shared the lead after a thrilling day at the Tata Steel Masters at Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands) on Saturday.
It has bolstered the home team's medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to see massive participation from more than 150 countries.
At the end of the second round, except a few, all other rated players were sitting pretty with two points each.
Gukesh follows in the footsteps of Anand, the only other Indian to win the Candidates
Young Indian International Master V Pranav finished with 6.5 points after losing to Predke in the final round.
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.
Viswanathan Anand's hunt for an elusive win continued as he was held to yet another draw by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the sixth round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament, Stavanger, Norway.
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.
Defending champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri in the fourth round of the Bilbao Masters final chess tournament.
Harika Dronavalli, a seasoned player, fulfilled her lifelong dream of winning an Olympiad medal after two decades.
