Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi scored his fourth victory on the trot and gave India an early lead in the match against Serbia in the fourth round of the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad.
They weren't up for a windfall even after the trophy but life was certain to get a lot better as some sponsors and state governments stepped up to lift them financially.
Indian Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram maintained their lead in the Prague Masters chess tournament after drawing their fifth-round match.
Interestingly, all of R Praggnanandhaa's victories have come at the expense of the Indians so far in the tournament.
Praggnanandhaa takes on a strong field at Grand Swiss, eyes Candidates berth
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.
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.
India's Narayanan, Diptayan, Aronyak advance to second round
D Gukesh defeated Dutch Grandmaster Max Warmerdam to stay in sole lead on 7.5 points at the end of the 10th round of Tata Steel Chess tournament
Indian chess grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram continued to remain in joint lead after drawing their sixth-round games in the Prague Masters Chess tournament.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa cruised to a smooth victory against Nguyen Thai Dai Van of Czech Republic, while Aravindh Chithambaram emerged as the sole leader.
'Again this year was not going well, I was working very hard but somehow the results were not going my way, this win is very crucial.'
Lots to look forward to in Indian sports as packed 2026 calender awaits
Indian chess stalwarts Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika ended their high-profile contest in a quick draw in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Pune on Friday.
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.
India became only the third country to win both the men's and women's gold medals at the same Chess Olympiad.
Looking to assert his supremacy across formats, reigning world champion D Gukesh of India began his campaign in the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, with a crushing victory over France's Etienne Bacrot in the first round.
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.
Grandmaster R Praggnanadhaa played out a solid draw with World champion D Gukesh in the eighth round of the Tata Steel Masters.
Gukesh was in control with his white pieces giving nothing away to Keymer, one of his seconds, in a Nimzo-Indian defense game.
Grandmaster Nihal Sarin played out a quick and effortless draw with Matthias Bluebaum of Germany to share the lead with the German on six points after the end of the eighth round of FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Friday.
Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram crashed through the defenses of super-solid Anish Giri to jump in to sole lead after the end of the seventh round of Prague Masters.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa, ranked No. 8 in the world, will face American Sam Shankland in the sixth round of the Prague Masters.
Harika Dronavalli, a seasoned player, fulfilled her lifelong dream of winning an Olympiad medal after two decades.
Neither current World Champion D Gukesh nor former world champion Vishy Anand are the top rated Indian chess player.
India men dropped their first point, but carried enough steam to beat Hungary to maintain a clean slate in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Vaishali knew she had to win to remain in contention and her approach right from the start was in sync with the requirement of the tournament situation.
Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin's hopes of making to the Candidates tournament suffered a setback as he lost to Alireza Firouzja of France in the ninth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Saturday.
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.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Pentala Harikrishna, while Arjun Erigaisi settled for a draw in the second round of 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
World Champion D Gukesh has taken the joint lead at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament after defeating his fellow Indian, P Harikrishna.
R Praggnanandhaa, who drew with Wei Yi of China in the sixth round, is the joint leader in the Tata Steel chess tournament.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa secured a victory over compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the third round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
Grandmaster D Gukesh will face his first major challenge since becoming world champion when he begins his campaign in the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which starts on Friday in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
'It will bring the next wave of awareness and pursuit of excellence from people who want to take chess as a game or a competitive sport or even as a career.'
World Champion D Gukesh suffered his second straight defeat at the FIDE Grand Swiss, losing to Greece's Nikolas Theodorou in the sixth round in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
Grandmaster Vantika Agrawal outclassed Lela Shohradeva of Turkmenistan in the return game of the first round to progress to the round of 64 of FIDE World Women's Chess Cup.
Starting as second seed, Praggnanandhaa will have his task cut out with the white pieces against Navara, who has been around for a long time as one of the top European players.
