World Chess Champion D Gukesh and World Junior Chess Champion Pranav Venkatesh are from the same school and were classmates till Class 10!
Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram did not see any change in his fortunes in the blitz section and had to be content with a tie for seventh place in his maiden outing in the GCT.
Asian chess: Srija Seshadri in joint lead
Indian chess prodigy D Gukesh sealed a remarkable Chess Olympiad campaign with a decisive victory over GM Vladimir Fedoseev on Sunday in Hungary.
Divith, who has a FIDE rating of 1784 points currently, won four matches on the trot, including the last two against higher-rated opponents
In the women's event, Padmini Rout, R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni posted wins in the first round. D Harika will be joining them in the second round, courtesy a bye in the first round.
'It is truly unfathomable how this kid would come from a country with no chess culture and not only become World Champion, but inspire generations of Indian kids to push chess forward. The legend, @vishy64theking!'
India became only the third country to win both the men's and women's gold medals at the same Chess Olympiad.
Interestingly, all of R Praggnanandhaa's victories have come at the expense of the Indians so far in the tournament.
'This introduction that has now been in place for sometime could well give that additional flavour for the chess players as they will be able to guess the pressure that a certain player is feeling during the course of a game.'
The game incidentally was an old Sicilian where Shirov tried an unconventional ninth move.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi believes the government's recent decision to stop cash rewards for attaining GM and International Master titles is 'not ideal' for the parents of chess players.
Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Mirabai Chanu have joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative to combat obesity, emphasizing the importance of healthy lifestyle choices.
Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh shocked world number 5 Fabiano Caruana as India 'B' pulled off a superb 3-1 win over number 2 seeds USA in the eighth round of the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai on Saturday.
A dream come true, a nice feeling. The maiden Chess Olympiad gold meant different things for the members of the five-strong Indian men's team, spearheaded stupendously by the youngest ever challenger to the world title -- D Gukesh.
R Praggnanandhaa split points with Czech hero David Navara while compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram escaped with a draw with another local star Nguyen Thai Dai Van in the first round of the Prague Masters.
'It is not just D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi.' 'There are another 20 players just behind them. Nobody imagined this was possible 5 years ago.'
Following Arjun's win, World Championship challenger D Gukesh put it across Parham Maghsoodloo with black pieces, swindling the Iranian towards the end of the first time-control.
Inspired by the iconic trophy lift of cricket captain Rohit Sharma during the 2024 T20I World Cup in June, the chess players replicated the gesture.
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".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded India's young chess players for their historic achievement at the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, where both the men's and women's teams clinched their maiden gold medals.
Magnus Carlsen feels he's still better than the young generation of chess players, but the Norwegian great is ruling out a comeback at the classical world championship.
During the felicitation ceremony honoring the gold-medal winning teams, she heard Hanvika's voice calling out from the audience. Harika stepped off the stage, hugged her daughter, and carried her to the back of the hall.
World No. 4 Indian Arjun Erigaisi beat compatriot Vidit Gujrathi after five hours of end-to-end action in the opening round of the Chennai Chess Grand Masters 2024 in Chennai on Monday.
With her family in tow, Humpy met the PM and described it as a "once-in-a-lifetime privilege."
This is Koneru Humpy's second World Rapid title after she had triumphed in the 2019 edition in Moscow.
'The Indian earthquake in Toronto is the culmination of the shifting tectonic plates in the chess world.'
Chess960, created by former world champion Bobby Fischer in 1996, has been gaining in popularity after an invitational tournament played last year at the Weissenhaus Luxury Resort, which hosted the G7 Foreign Minister summit in 2022.
'The Indian Open team was extremely well prepared and motivated to win the gold medal.' 'With two players in the world top 10 club, and four players with over 2,700 ELO points (GMs Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, all below 20) and Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna, it was a solid team.'
India men dropped their first point, but carried enough steam to beat Hungary to maintain a clean slate in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad.
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.
In the open section too the Indian men were poised for an easy victory against Hungary 'B' team. The hero of the day was Arjun Erigaise who played a brilliant attacking game against Peter Prohazska and ended with a checkmate after a queen sacrifice.
Koneru Humpy's non-participation in the event has not hampered the team's chances much as Vaishali has jumped significantly in rankings and is a force to reckon with in the women's circle.
Caruana became the sole leader and also got back to number two in live world rankings.
Carlsen accuses FIDE chief of broken promises.
Erigaisi also requested External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to help him get the visa.
Three of the four Indian Open team players are in line for gold and silver medals for the individual performance.
Divith's journey to the top was a rollercoaster ride, showcasing resilience and tactical brilliance.
Chess icon Viswanathan Anand feels the current crop of Indian players, that he has had a role in shaping, has turned out to be "great" in grabbing crucial opportunities.
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.
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