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.
Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Rameshbabu Vaishali and men's team captain Srinath Narayanan landed Chennai on Tuesday morning.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen secured a remarkable double victory at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament, winning both the rapid and blitz titles.
First-time challenger D. Gukesh on Tuesday insisted he is not weighed down by the favourite's tag heading into the World Championship clash against China's Ding Liren, having enjoyed a purple patch after overcoming a rough phase.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, ranked No. 8 in the world, will face American Sam Shankland in the sixth round of the Prague Masters.
'The win will change a lot of things in Praggu... the confidence in his potential will be one of them. The win has ensured a lot of visibility which will give him a lot of opportunities.'
The second, fourth, fifth and sixth games had ended in draws.
Gukesh won't challenge Liren on home turf; Singapore wins bid for World Championships match
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi scored crushing victories, while D Gukesh held on to the joint top spot with a draw in a brilliant sixth-round outing for the Indian men's team at the Candidates Chess Tournament in Toronto.
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.
Former women's World champion Susan Polgar feels that the rising strength of Indian players makes them favourites to grab three out of the six medals at stake.
Gujrathi faced a reverse at the hands of his Kazakh opponent.
R Praggnanandhaa missed out twice on cashing in on winning positions, ending up at the bottom of the table
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen said on Monday he believed Hans Niemann had "cheated more - and more recently - than he has publicly admitted", adding he no longer wanted to play against the American and any rivals who repeatedly cheated in the past.
It all started as an extra-curricular activity in school, which later became a life-long passion for D Gukesh and led to him becoming one of the best chess exponents in the world.
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.
Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand posted his second win on the trot, defeating Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in the Classical section to take the lead at the Norway Chess tournament.
IDE, for the very first time has instituted the torch relay, which is part of the Olympic tradition but was never done in the Chess Olympiad.
Young Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh finished fifth while his illustrious compatriot Viswanathan Anand could only manage a tied seventh place in the third leg of the 2023 SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz chess tournament.
After the draw with Iranian turned French player Firouza, Gukesh has seven points for his sole second spot.
Over the past few months, the overall interest in chess is reported to have doubled, with more players than ever coming together to participate in chess events that are being increasingly held through online platforms
He finished 11th in the standings with 19 points with the top eight going through to the knockout phase at the ongoing Airthings Masters.
Indian chess players failed to finish on the podium in the individual events
Anand showed impressive form with a victory over Carlsen to lead the standings after the fifth round but was outgunned by Mamedyarov
Arjun also remained unbeaten through all the nine rounds and finished half a point ahead of Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov.
In the women's event, Koneru Humpy and D Harika posted wins in the fifth round after a below par showing on the second day of the competition on Monday.
Winning three and drawing the remaining six games, Firouzja remained undefeated throughout the event.
Mansukh Mandaviya pitches for kho kho's inclusion in Asian Games, 2036 Olympics
Defending champion Magnus Carlsen was disqualified from the World Rapid and Blitz Championship 2024 in Wall Street, New York, on Saturday for violating FIDE's dress code.
Chess will crown a new world champion when Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren begin their battle on Sunday.
D Gukesh held reigning world champion Ding Liren of China to a draw in a highly anticipated contest
This was the second time this month that the Norwegian has surrendered games or pulled out from a tournament which also featured Niemann.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) on Saturday said it will be bidding to host the 44th Chess Olympiad later this year after the prestigious event was moved out of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Harika Dronavalli, a seasoned player, fulfilled her lifelong dream of winning an Olympiad medal after two decades.
The source also said Khadem's relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats, without giving further details.
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.
World Championship challenger D Gukesh on Sunday said he didn't think about his personal achievements and was prepared to do "whatever it takes" to secure India's maiden gold medal at the Chess Olympiad following near-misses in previous editions.
Anand firmly believes that India has enough talent to produce the next Chess World Champion
China would have been among the top medal contenders in the Olympiad and their absence would brighten India's chances.
