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.
Grandmasters Raunak Sadhwani and S L Narayanan, India's two best hopes, were held to draws by Daniel Barrish of South Africa and Steven Salas Rojas of Peru in the first game of the opening round of World Chess Cup, in Panjim, on Saturday.
World Champion D Gukesh went down to world's youngest-ever Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra of the US in the fifth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss.
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.
R Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by the world's youngest-ever Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra of the United States.
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.
Defending champion and Grandmaster R Vaishali jumped into sole lead in the women's section
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.
The centralised semi-finals and the final are scheduled for May 20 to 23, next year.
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.
While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.
In the sixth round Gukesh survived another scare before steering the game to a draw with Firouzja.
Arjun prevailed over Abdusattorov 1.5-0.5 while Praggnanandhaa lost an intense battle 3-4 against Caruana.
Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, who has also qualified for the Women's Candidates, has opted out of the women's section to compete with the best in business.
Gukesh had another eventful game in a Queen pawn opening with black pieces.
Praggnanandhaa held by Sevian; Gukesh draws with Vachier-Lagrave.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa kept himself in hunt for an overall top four finish in the Grand Chess Tour after a draw with Wesley So of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis (USA).
R Praggnanandhaa scored a fluent victory over Frenchman Alireza Firouzja to claim the joint lead after the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup.
R Praggnanandhaa sealed his spot in the Grand Chess Tour finale after finishing runner-up at the Sinquefield Cup.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa took down World No 1 Magnus Carlsen to advance to the top-bracket quarter-finals along with Arjun Erigaisi at the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour.
World champion D Gukesh was held to a draw by the lone wild card Samuel Sevian, while fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa also split the point with Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
'Last year, I messed up some good positions against him, I think I did not beat him (in classical) for almost two years now, so finally it's good to get a win.'
World champion D Gukesh overcame a loss against Leinier Dominguez Perez to beat the American duo of Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana to stand at fourth spot.
D Gukesh put his opening-round blues behind him and scored an excellent victory over former world rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the second round of the Sinquefield Cup.
Aronian sits on six points, followed closely by compatriot Fabiano Caruana on five after two wins and a draw. Gukesh shares the third place with another American, Wesley So, while Vachier-Lagrave and Leinier Dominguez Perez are tied for fifth with three points each.
With Vantika's hard-earned victory there are still five Indians left in the last 32 stage of this US$691,250 prize money event with an additional bonus of making it to the Women's candidates' tournament slated in 2026 for the top three finishers.
Like Gukesh, Aronian was just able to draw two games and lost one.
World champion Dommaraju Gukesh scored one win and four draws on the opening day to slip to joint-sixth in the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand chess tour, in St. Louis (USA), on Friday.
Indian Super League side FC Goa was drawn along with superstar footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia in Group D of the AFC Champions League 2.
Asian chess: Srija Seshadri in joint lead
World junior champion V Pranav of India lost to seasoned Grandmaster Jan Emmanuel Garcia of Philippines in the first round of the Asian Continental Chess Championship.
While Vantika, Harika and Vaishali have an uphill task in the first set of tie-break games, they can still make it to the round of 16.
International Master Divya Deshmukh, who is waiting to become a Grandmaster, had a tough day in office as she was outplayed by Zhu Jiner of China in the return game of the pre-quarterfinals in the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia on Thursday.
R Vaishali also made it to the next round, defeating Ouellet Maili-Jade of Canada in another Indian victory of the day while Divya Deshmukh ousted Kesaria Mgeladze of Georgia.
World champion Dommaraju Gukesh was beaten by compatriot Ramesh Praggnanandhaa and ended up two points behind Magnus Carlsen, with 15.5, in the Super United Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament in Zagreb, Croatia, on Saturday.
Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh made a huge stride forward, defeating second seed Jiner Zhu of China in the first game of the pre-quarterfinals of the FIDE World Women's Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Grand Chess Tour: Gukesh in joint lead with Carlsen and Wesley So after day one
Grand Chess tour: Magnus wins Super United Rapid and blitz with a round to spare
Vantika Agrawal humbled former World champion Anna Ushenina in the second round of FIDE Women's World Chess Cup in Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday.
Gukesh is currently sharing the 8th spot on 1.5 points along with Abdusattorov and Duda.
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