Teen sensation R Praggnanandhaa will enter as the favourite among the three Indian participants in the Candidates chess tournament that will get underway in Toronto from Wednesday to decide the challenger for the next world championship match.
Sitting at tied fourth, Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh will have some catching up to do if they want to finish on the podium with four rounds remaining in the ongoing Prague Masters Chess tournament in Prague.
D Gukesh played out a creditable draw against top seed Fabiano Caruana but slipped a rung to the joint second position.
Hungary will officially host the 45th edition of the Olympiad for the first time, having hosted the second unofficial Chess Olympiad in 1926.
Gukesh had on Sunday set up a much-awaited quarter-final clash with world No.1 Magnus Carlsen while Praggnanandhaa will meet Erigaisi.
India made history as both its men's and women's teams clinched their first-ever gold medals at the 45th Chess Olympiad. The men's team defeated Slovenia and the women's counterparts overcame Azerbaijan in the final round.
Interestingly, all of R Praggnanandhaa's victories have come at the expense of the Indians so far in the tournament.
The Indians were never the favourites in the entire scheme of things but yet, Gukesh has withstood the early storm and so has Praggnanandhaa.
'It is truly unfathomable how this kid would come from a country with no chess culture and not only become World Champion, but inspire generations of Indian kids to push chess forward. The legend, @vishy64theking!'
Three of the four Indian Open team players are in line for gold and silver medals for the individual performance.
Gukesh to clash with Alireza on what promises to be a photo finish
Gukesh tried his hands at the Ruy Lopez as white but did not get much against Praggnanandhaa. Both the teenagers have been showing great skills here against the world's best and there was nothing to choose between them when pieces flew off the board in tandem. The game was drawn in 41 moves.
The Indian challenge in the women's section might already have ended as Zhongyi stood firmly ahead on five points while Goryachkina had 4.5 points in her kitty.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi scored crushing victories, while D Gukesh held on to the joint top spot with a draw in a brilliant sixth-round outing for the Indian men's team at the Candidates Chess Tournament in Toronto.
'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.'
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.
The 17-year-old Gukesh is in joint lead with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Gujrathi won the match with black pieces as he exploited a tactical oversight from his famous opponent.
Praggnanandhaa blundered for the second day running and lost to Richard Rapport of Romania in the third round
The image of a smiling D Gukesh standing with outstretched hands will forever be embossed in the memory of a nation of billions.
Gujrathi and Erigaisi will represent India in the men's individual event while Koneru Humpy and D Harika will do so in the women's section.
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi crashed through the defences of world number three Hikaru Nakamura of United States, while R Praggnanandhaa went down to compatriot D Gukesh in the second round of Candidates chess tournament in Toronto.
Gukesh Dommaraju played black but managed to hold on for a gutsy draw to split points in the Prague Masters Chess tournament.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa crashed through the defenses of compatriot Vidit Gujrathi but D Gukesh suffered a shock defeat from a position of strength against Czech Republic's David Navara of in the fifth round of the Prague Masters in Prague.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa committed a time-pressure blunder as he suffered defeat at the hands of Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran in the second round of Prague Masters Chess tournament in Prague.
India's D Gukesh bounced back with a finely crafted game to outwit compatriot Vidit Gujrathi and regain his joint lead with Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia after the eighth round in the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto on Friday.
India became only the third country to win both the men's and women's gold medals at the same Chess Olympiad.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa produced a spectacular game to get the better of fellow-Indian Vidit Gujrathi in the third round of the Candidates Chess tournament in Toronto on Saturday.
Five-time world champions Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen played out a draw in the top duel of the opening day as the second edition of the Global Chess League began with players from around the world squaring off in London on Thursday.
Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi has a word of advice for World Championship contender D Gukesh ahead of his clash against China's Ding Liren -- just focus on your preparation and don't count yourself as a "huge favourite" going into the title showdown.
Defending champion Ding Liren says the in-form Dommaraju Gukesh is the big favourite to win their World Chess title showdown in November.
The triumph entitles Gukesh a clash against reigning world champion Ding Liren of China in the last quarter of the year.
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.
The coin toss gave the Alaskan Knights the white pieces, with 20 minutes per player on the clock -- 40 minutes are alloted a match.
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh held on to the joint top spot with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi after they played out an easy draw in the 10th round of the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto.
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh scored a crushing victory over Alexander Donchenko in the 10th round of Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands on Thursday.
Overjoyed by India's remarkable dual triumph at the Chess Olympiad, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said that while this marks a promising beginning, there is still much work to be done for women's chess in the country.
Another game to end through repetition of moves was between Gukesh and Gujrathi.
Indian GM D Gukesh overwhelmed Dutch player Max Warmerdam for his third victory on the trot and elevated himself to a joint lead after the seventh round of the Tata Steel Masters Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, Netherlands on Sunday.
Grandmaster R Pragnanandhaa held tournament leader and defending champion Anish Giri of Holland to a draw on the day.
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