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.
Former World chess champion Viswanathan Anand finally returned to India on Saturday after being stuck in Germany for over three months due to the travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Chennai-based chess maestro arrived by an Air India flight from Frankfurt via Delhi and reached the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru around 1.15 pm local time.
The Indian team includes country's number two Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy. B Adhiban and D Harika are the the reserves members. The field for the event includes six former world champions, plus 12 others who have been Candidates to the throne at some point.
After six straight losses, Anand won his first game of the tournament despite conceding early advantage on Monday night.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) on Saturday said it will be bidding to host the 44th Chess Olympiad later this year after the prestigious event was moved out of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Anand had endured losses at the hands of Rauf Mamedov (Azerbaijan) in the opening round before suffering defeats to Rapport and David Navara (Czech Republic) in the second and third round respectively.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand will lead India's charge at the online Nations Cup beginning on Tuesday, where some of the world's best players will face off amid the coronavirus pandemic which has thrown the sporting calendars out of gear. The six-team event, touted to the richest online team tournament, features all the big names in the game with World champion Magnus Carlsen being the only big gun missing from the line-up.
It was a rare sight to witness badminton legends Prakash Padukone and Morten Frost get back on the court to relive their glory days with India's chess wizard Viswanathan Anand for company.
The closing ceremony of the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad turned out to be a social evening
With the triumph, the Indian GM qualifies for next year's Tata Steel Masters Group.
The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on his Twitter page
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand said the career spans of chess players are getting shortened because of the intense competition within the sport.
As the players go into the ninth round, in which Anand will play with black pieces, we take a look at the many moods of the two giants of the 64-squares arena since the match began on November 7.
In the women's section being held simultaneously, the Indians came back strongly to beat Poland 3-1 aided by victories from D Harika and Tania Sachdev on board two and three. Its surprising that Tania Sachdev was rested in the previous round when the Indian team drew with Serbia, losing on last two boards.
Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand finally reunited with his family in Chennai after being stuck in Germany for over three months as the former World chess champion reached his home in Chennai on Saturday after completing a seven-day institutional quarantine in Bengaluru. Anand had returned to India on May 30.
'All the tournaments I played in recent times had a lot of bad moments, but the Candidates was a perfect tournament... Everything about the World Championship was very depressing.' Enjoying a break at his Chennai home, Viswanathan Anand, the former World chess champion, speaks to Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
Former women's World champion Susan Polgar feels that the rising strength of Indian players makes them favourites to grab three out of the six medals at stake.
The world governing body of chess, FIDE, has postponed the Olympiad, scheduled for August 5-17 in Moscow, to 2021 owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The global chess body issued a statement saying that the Olympiad and the FIDE Congress, slated to be held in August in Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk respectively, are rescheduled to the summer of 2021 at the same locations.
In the second round, Anand lost the first of the two-game mini-match to Rapport with black pieces. The second game ended in a draw with the Indian playing with white pieces.
Viswanathan Anand may not quite have an heir yet among Indian chess players, but the country has youngsters with the highest aspirations.
The experienced Pentala Harikrishna accepted a draw against lower-rated Constantin Lupulescu of Romania to advance to round four at the FIDE Chess World Cup.
The victory came for the Indian maestro after three straight draws in rounds 10, 11 and 12
Over the past few months, the overall interest in chess is reported to have doubled, with more players than ever coming together to participate in chess events that are being increasingly held through online platforms
Four draws and two wins on Under-20 boards helped India pull off the victory against the Chinese.
The seasoned Anand beat Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in just 17 moves in a fifth round match. But India were held to a 2-2 draw by Russia in the ongoing Online Nations Cup.
World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an exciting draw with Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the London Chess Classic.
World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an exciting draw with Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the London Chess Classic.
In the women section being held alongside, Indian women played out a hard-fought draw against experienced Georgia 1 team. All the games were drawn.
Anand played the Italian game with white pieces but could get little out of opening against Vituigov.
How Viswanathan Anand won his five World Chess Championship titles.
Viswanathan Anand defeated an out-of-sorts Alexander Grischuk while Magnus Carlsen sealed the title at the Altibox Norway chess tournament with a round to spare, in Stavanger. Anand's chances to be in top three had ended after he lost to American Fabiano Caruana in the previous round.
'The win will change a lot of things in Praggu... the confidence in his potential will be one of them. The win has ensured a lot of visibility which will give him a lot of opportunities.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday lavished praise on Indian chess players, including former World champion Vishwanathan Anand, for coming up with an "innovative" way to raise funds for the country's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Five leading players Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna and B Adhiban, Koneru Humpy and Dharika, alongside Anand had participated in an online chess exhibition and helped raise Rs 4.5 lakh for the PM-CARES Fund.
After conceding a draw with white against Levon Aronian of Armenia, Anand got the favour returned although he had to work relatively harder to maintain parity against Nakamura, often termed his nemesis.
Celebrated boxer M C Mary Kom will be conferred with the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award, while world champion shuttler P V Sindhu will get the Padma Bhushan among eight sportspersons named for the prestigious honours on Saturday. She is one of seven eminent personalities to be awarded the Padma Vibhushan this year.
Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand played out a draw againt Peter Svidler of Russia in the eighth round of Tata Steel Masters underway, in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, on Sunday.
Cheating poses an existential challenge to chess. It's hard to know how it will be mitigated, but it must be, if chess is to continue being a legitimate sport, asserts Devangshu Datta.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Chess has applied for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a final decision is expected to come next summer.
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.
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