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.
Indian women drubbed Mongolia to climb to the joint top position while their male counterparts slipped to the fourth spot with a shocking defeat at the hands of lower-rated Philippines after the fifth round of the chess competitions in the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Monday.
After winning the double gold medals at the Chess Olympiad, Telangana Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, on Friday announced a cash reward of Rs. 25 lakhs for each Indian chess grandmaster, Arjun Erigaisi and Harika Dronavalli.
Magnus Carlsen, the undisputed world number one for over a decade, believes chess ratings today are somewhat "deflated" compared to the past but remains unfazed by the possibility of someone surpassing him.
In the second edition of Global Chess League, each team will play a total of 10 matches in a double round-robin format, with the winner of each match being decided in a best-of-six board scoring system.
Lots to look forward to in Indian sports as packed 2026 calender awaits
'...There's nothing to say about the chess aspect... One of those places that you don't feel sad about leaving.'
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".
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.
All India Chess Federation (AICF) president Sanjay Kapoor said the federation is also working on organising an Indian Chess League.
The Indian chess team totalled nine points, to finish behind China (11) and ahead of Vietnam (8), in the team event at the second Asian Indoor Games in Macau.
Millions of soccer fans in the world's two most populous nations may not be able to watch the World Cup that starts next month, due to a deadlock over broadcast rights in India and no official decision in China.
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.
The Indian teams made winning starts in the Open and women's sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Friday.
India men dropped their first point, but carried enough steam to beat Hungary to maintain a clean slate in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad.
Newly-crowned world chess champion D Gukesh is looking forward to the day when the sport will become a part of the Olympic curriculum, which, he said, would take it to an altogether different level not just in India but across the world.
Team MGD1, with Grandmaster Arjun Erigiaisi playing on the top board, had earlier made it to the 16-team knockout and beaten Generation XYZA 4-0 in the first round.
Hockey star Hardik Singh lone recommendation for Khel Ratna; Divya, TJ & Mehuli for Arjuna
In 2019, World Champion Magnus Carlsen was asked to guess the nationality of the reigning world champion in 2050. He responded: 'India will have had many by then!'
The Indian women's chess team etched their names in history by securing their maiden Chess Olympiad title, defeating Azerbaijan in a decisive 3.5-0.5 victory in Budapest.
India became only the third country to win both the men's and women's gold medals at the same Chess Olympiad.
The Indian men and women missed out on the podium by a whisker as they finished fourth in both the categories at the World Team Chess Championships, in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
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.
With the Indian teams doing well so far, they can run into one another in the competition.
'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.'
Divya Deshmukh not only became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup, she also instantly secured the prestigious Grandmaster title.
AICF officials are in search of the Gaprindashvili Cup that was won by Indian teams at the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in 2022.
Gujrathi, who was a part of India's gold-winning campaign in the Chess Olympiad recently, says the sport's ecosystem needs a major overhaul to ensure players have more balance in life.
For a long time, Viswanathan Anand was the lone flag-bearer of Indian chess, taking the world by storm with his exploits.
'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.'
She further said that the religious dress codes should not be imposed on players.
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.
Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi is excited about the upcoming Global Chess League, which he calls the "IPL of chess". The League has an innovative format which is to give four points for a win while playing with black and three points while playing with white pieces.
Abundantly talented but more significantly, incredibly cool in crunch situations, that's how India's 88th Grandmaster and World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh was described by her formative coach Srinath Narayanan, who feels the 19-year-old chess wizard's composure is comparable only to cricket great Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Many fans hadn't even bothered to change their Team India jerseys with which they watched the match. A few wanted to carry on the stadium atmosphere into the train singing songs like Chak De India and Vande Mataram. They played them so loudly and ensured no one got a wink of sleep. Of course, the main topic of discussion was Sanju Samson.
To be sure, Trump is furious, as the trajectory of the war is in a state of Zugzwang, as chess players call it. Trump and Netanyahu stare at two choices -- retreat in humiliation and concede Tehran's demands -- recognition of its rights, reparations, and binding security guarantees -- or perish in a quagmire, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
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.
Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi was just another Indian kid who dreamt of becoming a cricketer in his childhood before an accidental initiation to chess, which he feels was a 'very happy accident'.
If a player is strong in defence then he/she should be given training in attack or vice versa.
