Indian freestyle wrestlers claim Asian team title in U-17 category
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday.
Chess has certainly graduated to a really happening sport in the country, especially this year.
Viswanathan Anand ended his stint with a draw against World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and finished at ninth position in the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis.
Grandmaster P Harikrishna and double GM norm holder D Harika rose to the occasion and made it a grand Indian double for India in the Asian Individual Chess Championships in Masshad (Iran) as they clinched the gold in both the open and women's section respectively.
GMs Pendyala Harikrishna, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Abhijit Kunte are among other Indians in the fray at the British open.
'Congratulations to Abhi for this achievement. He fully deserves this success, as I have seen all of his hard work first hand. His father also deserves praise for the sacrifices he has made for Abhi to reach this milestone.'
The 44th edition of the prestigious event will witness a record 188 teams in the Open section and 162 in the women's side.
The Indian men and women's teams made winning starts to their campaign in the 43rd Chess Olympiad, in Batumi, Georgia, on Tuesday.
Anand decided not to participate this time but he will be guiding the Indian team at the showpiece event to be held from July 28 to August 10.
Six players -- Dubov, Nakamura, Aronian, Carlsen, Radjabov and So -- share the lead with 4.5 points after eight rounds.
P Harikrishna lost the crucial third board to see India go down to Ukraine at the Chess Olympiad
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy maintained her all-win record as Indian girls blanked Vietnam 4-0 to maintain the sole second position after the end of the fifth round of the World Women Tam Chess Championship, in Mardin, Turkey.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw against Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in the second game of their four-game match for the Sparkassen Trophy in Dortmund on Thursday.
They beat Kazakhstan 2-1 and moved to joint 13th in the women's Chess Olympiad.
Since 2012, 44 Indians have been anointed as grandmasters -- the highest achievement in chess, points out Arvind Subramanian, economist and former chief economic adviser to the government.
India men's team's medal chances took a hit as Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran lost a crucial match which resulted in Indian men's team shock defeat at the hands of eighth seeded Armenia in the ninth round of the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi.
Indian man scored a victory over unfancied Uruguay in their first round at the Chess Olympiad.
"I practice chess based on what I think is a priority, and what I feel like doing. I also read some chess books -- 'Saying No to Chess Principles' by Evgeny Bareev and 'Life and Games of Mikhail Tal"
'Javed Akhtar, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi have collectively brought more pride and honour to our country than the entire film fraternity put together.' 'Sir, the names you have taken are institutions, pillars of India's popular art, symbolising the very essence of humanism and nationalism.'
India 'B' played out a 2-2 draw against Azerbaijan in the 9th round of the open section, while India 'A' and 'C' teams registered identical 3-1 wins in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai, on Sunday.
Grandmaster GN Gopal's defeat against Ni Hua cost India dearly as it lost the fourth round match to higher rated China in the men's chess team event to slip to the second position in the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Sunday.
India's Dronavalli Harika defeated former world champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the third round of the FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga to grab a share of the lead.
The 12-year-old drew with GM Yuriy Kuzubov of Ukraine in the ninth and penultimate round of the Masters section in the Hastings International Chess Congress.
It took Gujrathi 40 moves to outwit Benjamin and now he shares the lead with six others. The fourth Indian to cross the 2700 ELO rating barrier, Gujrathi will face American Grandmaster Aleksandr Lenderman in the fifth round.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
After the marathon game in Round 7, five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand and defending champions Magnus Carlsen played out a quick draw in the eighth round of the World Chess Championship, now underway in Sochi, on Tuesday.
His semifinal match against Giri went up to 2am and a few hours later, he had to be at his school to take his 11th-class board examination.
Chess champion Koneru Humpy has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
The 15-year old made sure of his third and final International Master norm after a quick draw with compatriot and Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte in the eighth and penultimate round of the Dubai Open.
Riding on three back-to-back victories, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta emerged as the best performing Indian as he finished seventh in the Al Ain Classic International chess tournament that concluded in Al Ain (UAE) on Saturday.
Lalith Babu, R B Ramesh and S P Sethuraman are among 23 players who share the lead after the first two rounds in the Dubai Open chess championship.
Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika staged a great comeback in the FIDE World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran, winning the second game against Tan Zhongyi of China to take the semi-final into a tie-breaker.
Viswanathan Anand had to be content with a joint third place finish following a draw with compatriot Vidit Gujrathi in the 13th and final round of the Tata Steel Masters, in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherland.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
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.
Vaishali, sister of the Indian chess prodigy and GM R Praggnanandhaa, scored impressive victories over Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine) and Russia's Valentina Gunina on the opening day of the Blitz championship.
Indian Grandmaster S P Sethuraman went down to higher ranked Shakhriayar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the first game of the third round of World Cup of Chess now underway in Baku.
Avinash Sable's national mark headlines strong showing in IGP 2
