World Chess champion Vishwanathan Anand talks to Norma Godinho about defending his World crown and supporting and mentoring young sportsmen through Olympic Gold Quest.
Chess has applied for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a final decision is expected to come next summer.
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.
Reigning world rapid champion Viswanathan Anand drew his sixth straight game of the tournament to stay undefeated and have a mid-table placing at number four with three points.
'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.'
His remarks came as Kohli registered his 27th century in the longest format of the game. He achieved the feat against Bangladesh on Day 2 of the on-going day-night Test at the Eden Gardens.
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.
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.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with black against local star Anish Giri but slipped to joint second spot after the sixth round of Tata Steel Chess tournament, in Wijk Aan Zee, on Saturday.
Asked if the teenaged GM from Chennai needs to tone down on his aggression, Ramesh said, "I don't think so. That is one of his strengths. But, he must also learn every aspect of the game, not just aggression..."
Both Harikrishna and Carlsen drew all their four games on the opening day of the tournament as matches ended late on Saturday.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a disappointing final round loss against Sergey Karjakin of Russia to finish joint eighth in the St Louis Rapid Chess tournament in St Louis, on Thursday.
The Indian teams made winning starts in the Open and women's sections of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai on Friday.
World No 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, current World Cup winner Levon Aronian and India number two Harikrishna shared the lead with two points apiece.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand gave a fine endgame lesson to young Alireza Firouzja, jumping to joint sixth position at the end of 11th round of Tata Steel Masters, in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, on Saturday. With his second victory, Anand clawed his way back to a fifty percent score and will now hope to end the tournament on a high. At just 16 years, Firouzja is less than one third of Anand's age, and the Indian ace showed that the Iranian still has a lot to learn.
In the eleventh game of the World Chess Championship, Viswanathan Anand playing with black pieces lost to Magnus Carlsen. With this win Carlsen has successfully defended his World Champion title.
Alireza Firouzja remained in joint lead with Caruana on 5.5 points and these two are now ahead of Wesley So of United States and Jorden Van Foreest of Holland.
After jumping to joint lead following a crushing victory over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Anand could not repeat the magic and Caruana deserved all the credit for taking chances.
"The crucial moment was the win against Magnus Carlsen, because he had come back after a defeat against Bu Xiangzhi. He seemed to be in great form, as always.
With his third victory in the event, Anand came back within striking distance of the leaders. His tally of six points out of ten is only one point less than Holland's Anish Giri, Norway's Magnus Carlsen and Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, all who have seven points apiece.
Viswanthan Anand was beaten by World champion Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the first two rounds of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament.
The Indian stayed on course for a fifth successive Corsica Masters title with comfortable wins in the pre-quarter-finals and the quarter-finals.
Aruna Anand, Viswanathan Anand's wife and manager, speaks about his preparation ahead of the World Chess Championship against Magnus Carlsen, which begins in Sochi on Friday.
Anand, who had finished third in the penultimate leg in Bucharest, concluded with a seventh-place finish
The game incidentally was an old Sicilian where Shirov tried an unconventional ninth move.
India will be fielding three teams each in the Open and women's sections respectively.
The day produced four decisive games and it was again the youngsters who provided most of the entertainment.
The forum president IM Varugeese Koshy, in a letter appealed to Rijiju that chess players be recognised by the government.
China won the top prize on the basis of having won the round-robin stage.
Viswanathan Anand feels India cricket captain Virat Kohli became a bit emotional and lost control during his 'leave India' comment to a fan
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.
'One thing I did take back from the film was that I will not let my fears rule my children's lives.' 'Restricting my children because of my fears will not happen in my life.'
The Indian ace beat Russian Sergei Rublevsky in the final to win his fifth consecutive Corsica Masters Chess title.
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.
Anand did not quite re-work his energy and lost to Carlsen in the first game of the third day and then made a draw with compatriot Vidit Gujrathi.
With Carlsen ahead 3.5-2.5 and six games to come, Anand will have to chalk out a plan to neutralise the Norwegian's big advantage in very quick time.
Trailing by a full point with just two games remaining, Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand would desperately need a victory to stay afloat against Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in the World Championship match in Sochi on Sunday.
Anand firmly believes that India has enough talent to produce the next Chess World Champion
India 'B' blanked Estonia 4-0 in the second round of the Open section in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai, on Saturday while the second-seeded India 'A' team defeated Moldova 3.5-0.5 to make it two wins from as many matches.
It has bolstered the home team's medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to see massive participation from more than 150 countries.