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.
Indian players experienced mixed fortunes in the second round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament here with two each in the men's and women's sections registering victories.
National champion Abhijeet Gupta beat International Master Dean Ippolito of United States to win the Philadelphia International chess tournament, while M R Venkatesh became India's 28th Grandmaster at the event.
Woman Grandmaster Bhakti Kulkarni and Grandmaster S P Sethuraman made history, winning the gold medal in the Asian Continental Women's and Open chess championship that concluded in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Friday.
Five-time champion and World No 3 Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will spearhead a five-man strong Indian challenge at the prestigious Corus Chess Tournament starting in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, on Monday.
Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk played out a draw with Yifan Hoa of China in the second game of the finals but still led by a point in the World Women's Chess Championship in Nalchik (Russia) on Monday.
Fabiano Caruana defended his Superbet Classic title by winning all three rapid games in a thrilling four-way tiebreaker
As India's Vishwanathan Anand squared off against Norway's Magnus Carlsen to defend his title as world chess champion, 11-year-old Shyamsundar and his 9-year-old sister Padmapratibha unfolded their cloth chess boards and sat cross-legged in the lobby of the hotel where the grandmasters were playing.
Unheralded Vinod Bhagwat beat British Open champion Abhijit Kunte in the third round.
The match between Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Russian Vladimir Kramnik was thrown in jeopardy after the frequent toilet breaks taken by the latter.
Continuing his dream run, Praggnanandhaa on Monday stunned Caruana 3.5-2.5 via the tie-break in the semi-finals to set up a summit clash with world number one and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway at the FIDE's premier event.
Anatoly Karpov and Viswanathan Anand, two former World champions, took on dozens of children and teenagers in simultaneous chess games in Jerusalem on Monday as hundreds of onlookers watched.
Koneru Humpy lost in the semi-final tiebreaker against Ekaterina Kovalevskaya of Russia in the Women's World Chess Championship.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand struggled for the second day running as he was held to a draw by almost-retired Robert Hess of the United States in the second round of Isle of Man International Chess tournament.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Women's candidates' chess tournament that will get underway in Toronto, Canada from Wednesday.
The India 'A' and 'B' teams registered comprehensive seventh round victories
R Praggnanandhaa navigated his match against the reigning world champion Ding Liren with remarkable ease
The 18-year-old Indian drew with top seeded Grandmaster Ferenc Berkes of Hungary in the final round to emerge champion.
Giving prominence to experience over youthful exuberance, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand feels the three Indian participants remain far from winning the Candidates chess title, saying they "should first settle into the tournament."
Top seeded Grandmaster K Sasikiran warded off some initial resistance from Australian Vladimir Feldman to open with a comfortable win in the 13th Dubai International Open Chess Tournament in Dubai.
Indian challenge ended at the World Chess Cup following Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta's defeat against Chinese Grandmaster Xiangzhi Bu in the second game of the third round in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
The 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster earned India its first gold at the Asian Games, winning the women's rapid tournament.
Grandmaster and Asian Champion Parimarjan Negi continued his excellent run to beat the defence of Grandmaster Vegeny Vorobiov of Russia in the seventh round of the Leiden International chess tournament.
The Russian beat Bulgaria's Vaselin Topalov via the tie-breaker in the re-unification match.
Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran got the better of Richard Rapport of Hungary to jump to joint second spot after the end of the ninth and penultimate round of Tradewise Gibraltar chess festival in Gibraltar.
The Commonwealth champion tied with GM Alexander Fominyh of Russia but won the crown on a better progressive score.
Grandmaster and defending champion Abhijeet Gupta showcased his positional acumen to outwit Grandmaster Amin Bassem of Egypt in the sixth round of 14th Dubai International Open chess tournament in Dubai.
Chess has certainly graduated to a really happening sport in the country, especially this year.
Gukesh had on Sunday set up a much-awaited quarter-final clash with world No.1 Magnus Carlsen while Praggnanandhaa will meet Erigaisi.
"This is no small feat", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he led the nation in hailing young Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa's runner-up finish.
Chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, sprint queen P T Usha and football legend Bhaichung Bhutia are among the prominent sports personalities invited for Monday's ceremony.
Indian challenge in the World Chess Cup ended abruptly after three of their Grandmasters wilted under pressure and lost their must-win games in Khanty Mansiysk (Russia).
Viswanathan Anand says one factor that has contributed immensely to this has been his habit of 'forgetting' achievements.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scored a massive, hard-earned victory over world number two Fabiano Caruana of the United States and made his way to the top 10 of world rankings after the end of fifth round of the Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger.
With all games ending in draws, the lead positions remained unchanged and Gukesh continued to be at the top of the tables along with Fabiano Caruana of United States who drew a keenly contested game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
Nihal Sarin closes in on final Grandmaster norm
The Indian Grandmaster said the game is suffering because of lack of clarity at the top.
Back in chess just before the Olympiad after a nearly two-year hiatus, Humpy, who has been among the top women players for a long time, will now have to wait for another two years to have a go at the next world championship cycle.
The super Grandmaster said the chess scenario has grown rapidly in the last 10 years, thanks to computers.
