World number four Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi registered his sixth victory in as many games as the Indian team was poised to score its sixth straight win in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary on Monday.
D GukeshGrandmaster R Vaishali and Vantika Agrawal put up impressive performances as Indian women defeated Georgia while World Championship challenger D Gukesh led the men to victory over China in the seventh round as both teams continued their unbeaten streak in 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
This is Koneru Humpy's second World Rapid title after she had triumphed in the 2019 edition in Moscow.
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.
The image of a smiling D Gukesh standing with outstretched hands will forever be embossed in the memory of a nation of billions.
With Georgia likely to post a victory against overnight leader Kazakhstan, it seemed that the Indian eves were likely to regain the top position and become the firm favourites for the gold medal again.
World number seven Erigaise Arjun started his campaign on a positive note, outplaying Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan in the first round of the Sharjah Masters chess tournament in Sharjah.
Erigaisi may have had to work harder but the Indian youngster, who is currently World number four, was never quite away from winning his game.
Another Indian, Arjun Erigaisi could not crack the solid defences of Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and had to settle for a draw.
Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi was stunned by Nikolas Theodorou of Greece in the second round of Sharjah Masters chess tournament in Sharjah.
After scoring their fifth victory on the trot, the Indian men maintained their joint lead with 10 points along with China, Vietnam and Hungary.
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.
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh scored a crushing victory over Alexander Donchenko in the 10th round of Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands on Thursday.
Indian GM D Gukesh overwhelmed Dutch player Max Warmerdam for his third victory on the trot and elevated himself to a joint lead after the seventh round of the Tata Steel Masters Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands on Sunday.
Grandmaster R Pragnanandhaa held tournament leader and defending champion Anish Giri of Holland to a draw on the day.
After the draw with Iranian turned French player Firouza, Gukesh has seven points for his sole second spot.
With five points in his kitty from eight games, D Gukesh jointly leads the standings with Anish Giri of Holland.
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.
At the end of the fifth round India's Aravindh Chithambaram is now followed by four players -- the Iranian duo of Amin Tabatabaei and Bardiya Daneshvar and Americans Hans Moke Niemann and Sam Shankland -- who all have four points each.
Vaishali becomes India's 84th Grandmaster, joins brother Praggnanandhaa in elite club
Gujrathi and Erigaisi will represent India in the men's individual event while Koneru Humpy and D Harika will do so in the women's section.
The India No.1 D Gukesh scored his first win of the event, beating GM Rinat Jumabayev.
Praggnanandhaa completed a win to book a match against compatriot Erigaisi, making sure an Indian will feature in the semi-final.
Indian men and women opened their campaign in the chess team event at the Asian Games with easy wins over Mongolia and Philippines respectively, in Hangzhou on Friday.
Arjun Erigaisi's win over In-Jung Gu came after a stiff fight with the Korean having gained an advantage before slipping up.
Apart from a place in the Candidates to be played in April next year in Canada, Vaishali got richer by US$25000 (Over Rs 20 Lakhs) while Vidit took home a whopping prize purse of US$80000 (Over Rs 66 Lakhs).
After six draws in a row, Praggnanandhaa was relieved after the victory, a result of Gupta's blunder under time pressure.
Indian chess players failed to finish on the podium in the individual events
Gujrathi faced a reverse at the hands of his Kazakh opponent.
Young GM R Praggnanandhaa on Friday won both rapid games to eliminate second-seeded Hikaru Nakamura to enter the last 16 of the FIDE World Cup chess tournament in Baku.
The Indian men's and women's chess teams won silver medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.
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.
Harika lost 1-0 to China's Hou Yifan
Anand, who first made it to the World's top-10 in July 1991, has remained India's top-ranked player in all published lists since January 1987.
Grandmaster D Gukesh endured a heartbreak in the final tie-breaker against Wei Yi of China and had to be content with a joint second place finish at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
A record number of 634 sportspersons were on Friday cleared by the Sports Ministry to compete at the Hangzhou Asian Games, surpassing the 572 athletes in the last edition of continental showpiece in Jakarta in 2018.
The men's team comprises Grandmasters D Gukesh, Gujrathi, Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and R Praggnanandhaa.
Four draws and two wins on Under-20 boards helped India pull off the victory against the Chinese.
Gomes, who had beaten her Kazakh opponent in the first round too, continued her impressive form to post a 57-move win in the second.
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi pipped Rinat Zumabayev of Kazakhstan in the fifth round to share the top spot.
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