International Master Divya Deshmukh stormed into the final, defeating former world champion Zhongyi Tan of China in the second game of the semifinals and winning the mini-match 1.5-0.5 in the FIDE Women's World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Defending champion Ding Liren says the in-form Dommaraju Gukesh is the big favourite to win their World Chess title showdown in November.
World champion GM D Gukesh finished tied sixth as Levon Aronian of USA convincingly won the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz that concluded in St Louis.
Led by Viswanathan Anand, the Ganges Grandmasters outclassed upGrad Mumba Masters 12-4 on the final day of the Global Chess League, avoiding a last-place finish as the tournament heads into the finals.
Aronian sits on six points, followed closely by compatriot Fabiano Caruana on five after two wins and a draw. Gukesh shares the third place with another American, Wesley So, while Vachier-Lagrave and Leinier Dominguez Perez are tied for fifth with three points each.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Pentala Harikrishna, while Arjun Erigaisi settled for a draw in the second round of 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
Rematch will be primarily enjoyed by chess lovers, but the series is sprinkled with a massive dose of drama and intrigue to keep everyone hooked through all six episodes, observes Norma Godinho.
Playing chess all year round can take a huge toll on the physical and mental aspects of a player and Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa acknowledged that sometimes he has to completely take his mind off the sport to prepare for the upcoming challenges.
Apart from Tan, top seed Tingjie Lei of China also made it to the semifinals at the expense of Nana Dzagnidze of Georgia.
Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Erigaisi and Vaishali have trained at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) that the bespectacled chess wizard set up four years ago in Chennai. The 18-year-old Gukesh and the 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa have often stated that they would not be where they are without "Vishy sir".
Five-time world champions Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen played out a draw in the top duel of the opening day as the second edition of the Global Chess League began with players from around the world squaring off in London on Thursday.
Erigaisi in second place, German GM Keymer leads after three rounds of Chennai chess
The All India Chess Federation announced a whopping Rs 3.2 crore in rewards for the historic 45th Olympiad-winning Indian teams during a felicitation ceremony in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters, the CJI said his father and late KG Deshmukh were very close friends.
World Championship challenger Dommaraju Gukesh survived by the skin of his teeth against compatriot Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
Defence experts discuss the objectives and strategic pause of Operation Sindoor, emphasizing the avoidance of a prolonged conflict and its potential impact on the Indian economy.
In the sixth round Gukesh survived another scare before steering the game to a draw with Firouzja.
Gujrathi had won the Azerbaijan event last year after outperforming compatriot Arjun Erigaisi.
Indian chess prodigy D Gukesh sealed a remarkable Chess Olympiad campaign with a decisive victory over GM Vladimir Fedoseev on Sunday in Hungary.
Kasparov, who held the record for being the youngest world championship contender before Gukesh broke the record as a 17-year-old by winning this year's Candidates tournament, supported Carlsen's decision to forfeit his title.
Former World Rapid Chess champion Koneru Humpy wants the All India Chess Federation to increase women's tournaments.
Slowly but surely emerging as one of India's key players, International Master Divya Deshmukh stunned higher-ranked compatriot Harika Dronavalli 2-0 in the tiebreaks to enter the semifinals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia.
What some of our politicians were up to on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
In a surprising turn of events, Mumba Masters defeated tournament leaders PBG Alaskan Knights, denying them direct qualification to the finals of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in London on Wednesday.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa kept himself in hunt for an overall top four finish in the Grand Chess Tour after a draw with Wesley So of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis (USA).
Nihal Sarin lit up Round 4 of the Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters 2025 with a hard-fought win over compatriot Arjun Erigaisi
A court in Antwerp on Friday cleared the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi, noting that his arrest by the Belgian authorities on India's request was valid, officials in the know of the development said.
Praggnanandhaa will meet pre-event rating favourite Fabiano Caruana of United States while Abdusattorov has to tackle the solid defences of Vincent Keymer of Germany in the other key clashes of the 11th round.
Russians Volodar Murzin and Alexander Grischuk, along with Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland, share the lead with Arjun on seven points after the end of the second day and Round 9 of the championship, which will decide the best player of the planet after 13 games.
Patralekhaa and Rajkummar Rao's babymoon is showing no signs of ending.
India's Arjun Erigaisi delivered a commanding performance against American Awonder Liang, while compatriot Nihal Sarin lost to Germany's Vincent Keymer in the opening round of the Chennai Grandmasters Chess tournament on Thursday.
A former school principal of newly crowned chess champion from Nagpur Divya Deshmukh remembers her as a student with calm composure who started playing the board game when she was just five and also excelled in studies.
In the open section, Gukesh squandered a winning position against Erdogmus and eventually had to settle for a draw in a dramatic, time-troubled encounter.
'I like to be challenged by the strongest players on the planet, even though it's going to get more difficult with this young Indian generation coming up. But I am not entirely depressed.'
Abundantly talented but more significantly, incredibly cool in crunch situations, that's how India's 88th Grandmaster and World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh was described by her formative coach Srinath Narayanan, who feels the 19-year-old chess wizard's composure is comparable only to cricket great Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Carlsen to fight for third place after wins over Arjun and Praggnanandhaa
Triveni Continental Kings outwit Alpine SG Pipers 9-7 in a nail-biting finish, to make it to the final of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League in London for the second year in a row.
In the second edition of Global Chess League, each team will play a total of 10 matches in a double round-robin format, with the winner of each match being decided in a best-of-six board scoring system.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy held China's Tingjie Lei to a comfortable draw with black pieces, while Divya Deshmukh's solid defence frustrated former women's world champion Zhongyi Tan in the first game of the FIDE Women's World Cup semifinals in Batumi, Georgia, on Tuesday.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa continued his strong run at the Tata Steel Masters, winning his third consecutive game to take his tally to 8.5 points after the 12th round.
