India made history as both its men's and women's teams clinched their first-ever gold medals at the 45th Chess Olympiad. The men's team defeated Slovenia and the women's counterparts overcame Azerbaijan in the final round.
'This moment is special not just for me, but for everyone who has supported my journey.'
'I'm excited to celebrate with my team and friends. There's a little secret, though.'
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.
While the mind games will go on in the last two games and a potential tiebreaker, American Hikaru Nakamura and world number one Magnus Carlsen feel that the balance had tilted slightly in Ding Liren's favour.
Although he noted that the game of chess has changed in recent times, he was willing to offer advice to the new generation.
'Played chess with champions! Even blindfolded, their moves can checkmate you.'
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has charted his own path to glory and is closer to greatness than ever.
The curtailed squad that is now travelling to the Mexican capital include Rakshitta Ravi, Bommini Mounika Akshaya and Amulya Guruprasad among girls while Harshavardhan GB, Pranav Anand, Dushyant Sharma and
Chess governing body FIDE's general assembly agreed to consider lifting parts of a ban on Russian and Belarusian players imposed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, in a vote on Sunday in Budapest.
At the end of the 10th round, the Indian Open team is leading the pack with 19 points and the Women's team is ranked second with 17 points.
Joining the elite 2,800 rated chess players club will get Arjun invites for top chess tournaments as well as better appearance fees.
While GM Praggnanandhaa was an integral part of the men's team, his elder sister Vaishali also played a key role in the women's title triumph.
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.
Praggnanandhaa can take heart from the fact that he goes in to the candidates as the top rated Indian slated to be held in about four weeks from now in Toronto.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, ranked No. 8 in the world, will face American Sam Shankland in the sixth round of the Prague Masters.
With seven rounds still to come in the first super tournament of the year, Anish Guru maintained his sole lead on 4.5 points out of a possible six and he is now trailed by Iranian turned Frenchman Firouza Alireza who is on 4 points.
Vantika Agrawal, 21, is aiming to become a Grandmaster, which could happen as early as next year.
Overjoyed by India's remarkable dual triumph at the Chess Olympiad, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said that while this marks a promising beginning, there is still much work to be done for women's chess in the country.
Donning a red kurta, veshti and sunglasses, Gukesh was seen performing the popular song's hook step with a group.
AICF officials are in search of the Gaprindashvili Cup that was won by Indian teams at the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in 2022.
Arjun Erigaisi's win over In-Jung Gu came after a stiff fight with the Korean having gained an advantage before slipping up.
Magnus Carlsen lauds D Gukesh but rules out world title clash with him
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.
The inaugural edition of the Global Chess League, which aims to revolutionize chess, got underway in Dubai, with the first two matches taking place on Friday.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a second straight draw against Turkey's Gurel Ediz while Aravindh Chithambaram crashed through the defences of Germany's Vincent Keymer in the second round of the Prague Masters on Friday.
Having watched the 2013 World Championship match between the legendary Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, Erigaisi is delighted to get a chance to be on the same as the two veterans.
On current form, D Gukesh is the favourite to win the World Chess Championship title against his Chinese opponent, Ding Liren, believes Indian teenage Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa.
The Indian men's and women's chess teams won silver medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.
Viswanathan Anand shot into the lead at the end of three rounds of the Rapid segment in the third leg of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa advanced to the Chess World Cup final after outclassing Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals in Baku.
With five points in his kitty from eight games, D Gukesh jointly leads the standings with Anish Giri of Holland.
Three of the four Indian Open team players are in line for gold and silver medals for the individual performance.
Playing white, Ganges Grandmasters defeated Balan Alaskan Knights 11-6 in a battle between the two leaders on the scoreboard.
Carlsen wins 1st game of World Cup quarterfinal against Gukesh; Erigaisi outwits Praggnanandhaa to take lead
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa wrote a golden chapter in Indian chess history by becoming only the second player from the country after Viswanathan Anand -- and the youngest -- to play in the FIDE World Cup final.
American Hans Niemann filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Carlsen and Chess.com in October 2022 after the allegations that he had cheated.
With this win Praggnanandhaa also added some more spice to the tale around the highest rated Indian as he again overtook Viswanathan Anand in live rating to clinch the top spot in the country.
Chess great Magnus Carlsen beat nemesis Hans Niemann 17.5-12.5 to advance to the Speed Chess Championship final on Friday, in their first face-off since the world number one accused his American rival of cheating two years ago.
Magnus Carlsen concluded the first nine rounds with an impressive 6.5 points out of a possible 9.
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