Riding on three back-to-back victories, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta emerged as the best performing Indian as he finished seventh in the Al Ain Classic International chess tournament that concluded in Al Ain (UAE) on Saturday.
World champion Viswanathan Anand, playing black, was involved in another draw with challenger Magnus Carlsen in the eighth game of the World Chess Championship, in Chennai, on Tuesday. The sharing of points enabled the Norwegian retain the lead at 5-3, with four games still to play in the 12-games match. Following are the moves in the eighth round, with analysis and quotes.
Indian Grandmaster P Harikrishna started his campaign by outclassing Eric De Haan of Holland in the first round of the Masters' section of Tradewise Gibraltar Chess festival at the Caleta in Gibraltar.
From a life built on challenges and studded with victories, India's beloved chess champion, Vishwanathan Anand plucks out a few important lessons.
Padmini Rout has 6.5 points, one behind the leader, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, in the girls' section at the World Junior Chess Championships in Pune.
P Harikrishna and S S Ganguly lost their games as India went down to defending champions Russia in the Chess Olympiad.
Sanjay Kapoor elected AICF President, Chauhan retains secretary's post.
Lu Shanglei of China defeated Aleksander Indjic of Serbia and was crowned World junior chess champion at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Sunday. In the girls' section, 16-year-old Alexandra Goryachkina successfully defended her title with a round to spare on Saturday.
India's chances of a medal went up in smoke as the team crashed to a heavy loss against Georgia in the seventh round of the World Women's Team Chess Championship in Chengdu, China.
"I'm sure BCCI will sort this out," said Ganguly
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujarathi and Sahaj Grover maintained a clean slate, defeating Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania and Vyacheslav Lozhnikov of Kazakhstan respectively in the second round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Carlsen, whose form has been up and down in the preliminary phase, took the fifth place with 26 points. He tripped Duda in the final round after settling for draws in rounds 13 and 14 against Daniel Naroditsky and Giri.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand ended his three-game winless streak and drew with Fabiano Caruana of United States in the eight and penultimate round of the London Chess Classic in London on Sunday.
Grandmaster Sahaj Grover failed to capitalise on his chances and played out a draw with Iranian Pouya Idani, while Vidit Gujrathi defeated Polish Marcel Kanarek to be jointly third after the eighth round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.
Vaishali, sister of the Indian chess prodigy and GM R Praggnanandhaa, scored impressive victories over Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Russia's Valentina Gunina on the opening day of the Blitz championship.
Announcing its first list of 189 candidates on Tuesday, the BJP pitted senior Minister R Ashoka against Siddaramaiah in the Varuna Assembly segment, while V Somanna would take on Shivakumar in Kanakapura.
The Indian chess ace won the Morelia-Linares title and will thus attain top ranking in April.
Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated Russia's Vladislav Artemiev in the 15th and final round of the preliminary phase of the Airthings Masters.
The Armenians protested for a long time delaying the start of the second round of matches before withdrawing following rejection of their appeal.
In the women's event, the country's top player Koneru Humpy has 3.5 points with two wins and three draws after five rounds as does R Vaishali who has scored three victories to go with a draw apart from a loss.
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.
Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli had to settle for the bronze medal after a heartbreaking defeat against Tan Zhongyi of China via the tie-breaker in the semi-finals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran.
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.
Grandmaster D Harika bowed out of the world championship after playing a draw in must-win second game with former Bulgarian world champion Antoaneta Stefanova in the semifinals, which she lost 0.5-1.5 in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
Reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway steered clear of the field with another dominating victory over Jan Krzysztof Duda Poland.
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.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the women's singles quarter-finals of the US$ 750,000 Indonesia Open Super Series even as India's challenge ended in the women's doubles event with the ouster of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, in Jakarta.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand had another disappointing final day as the Indian finished on ninth spot in the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz Chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess tour.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand was shocked by Levon Aronian of Armenia in the ninth and penultimate round of the fourth Final Masters as he slipped to the last spot with just one round to go in the category-22 super tournament in Bilbao.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi and S P Sethuraman placed themselves for a medal contention as they defeated Jorge Cori of Peru and Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus respectively in the 12th and penultimate round of World Juniors Chess Championship.
World rapid champion Koneru Humpy claimed her second title in the last two months by emerging triumphant at the Cairns Cup chess tournament following a draw against compatriot Dronavalli Harika in the ninth and final round, in St Louis, United States. Humpy, who was crowned World champion in December, finished the tournament with six points. The icing on the cake was that Humpy will gain five ELO rating points (the basis for international rankings) and move to second place in the world rankings.
As the players go into the ninth round, in which Anand will play with black pieces, we take a look at the many moods of the two giants of the 64-squares arena since the match began on November 7.
Mahi, Palak and 2 other Indians enter final at Asian Youth & Junior Boxing C'ships
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.
Instead of starting an aggressive attack, Anand played very positionally, seeking a small advantage
"The crucial moment was the win against Magnus Carlsen, because he had come back after a defeat against Bu Xiangzhi. He seemed to be in great form, as always.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
World champion Viswanathan Anand's hunt for an elusive victory continued as he was held by former challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia for a draw, in the fourth round of the London Chess Classic.
Wesley So of the United States expectedly won the tournament with an easy draw with white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the final round.
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by rising Chinese star Ding Liren in the third round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger.
