World champion Anand spoke exclusively from Sofia after beating Veselin Topalov 6.5 to 5.5 to retain the title he won in 2008.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy's crucial victory helped last-minute entrant Indian women's team settle for a 2-2 draw with Ukraine in the first round of the ongoing World Women Team Chess Championship in Mardin, Turkey.
'The Indian Open team was extremely well prepared and motivated to win the gold medal.' 'With two players in the world top 10 club, and four players with over 2,700 ELO points (GMs Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, all below 20) and Vidit Gujrathi and P Harikrishna, it was a solid team.'
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand of India defeated former world championship challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel in the fifth round to make a strong comeback in the 10th Tal Memorial chess championship, in Moscow on Sunday.
In a groundbreaking moment for Indian chess, Arjun Erigaisi has become the second player from India and the sixteenth player globally to surpass the 2800 live rating mark.
GMs S S Ganguly and Harikrishna finished eighth and ninth respectively.
Uzbekistan's GM Javokhir Sindarov set up a title clash against Chinese GM Wei Yi in the FIDE World Cup in Panaji on Sunday as the two players also confirmed their spots in the Candidates tournament.
Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, on Saturday, drew the 11th game against challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel as the World Chess Championship heads into a dramatic finish in Moscow on Saturday.
Harikrishna continued his success story with the seasoned Grandmaster, who famously assisted Gukesh in the World Championship title match, showcasing his skills as a brilliant attacker.
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
The second, fourth, fifth and sixth games had ended in draws.
'You need hard work along with talent to reach exceptional heights.'
World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand has remained in the lead of the world title match in Sofia after he and his Bulgarian opponent Veselin Topalov drew the fifth game on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that India is preparing with full strength to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
Gujrathi, who was a part of India's gold-winning campaign in the Chess Olympiad recently, says the sport's ecosystem needs a major overhaul to ensure players have more balance in life.
IM Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan won the girls' and boys' title respectively at the World Junior Chess.
Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand named Grzegorz Gazewski of Poland as the lone new inclusion in his team, putting to end speculations that he had made big changes for the World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen, starting in Sochi on Saturday.
How Viswanathan Anand won his five World Chess Championship titles.
The 'Tiger from Madras', as he is fondly called, also became the first undisputed World Chess Champion since 1993 as this world championship was the culmination of the reunification of the chess world.
Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with black pieces against Magnus Carlsen in the fourth game of the ongoing World Chess Championship in Sochi.
World Championship challenger Dommaraju Gukesh survived by the skin of his teeth against compatriot Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
Kramnik, 43, made waves in 2000 when he defeated defending champion Garry Kasparov at the World Championship. Currently ranked seventh by the World Chess Federation, he became the undisputed world champion in 2006.
Grandmaster D Harika's title aspirations suffered a major blow as she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first game of the semi-final at World Women's chess championship in Khanty, Mansiysk, Russia. Despite displaying top form so far, Harika could not get things moving well in the first game and went down rather easily.
Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi on Tuesday said "everything came together" for him at the Grand Swiss event on his way to the Candidates.
Norway's Magnus Carlsen continues to be the undisputed world No.1 with 2832.5 points, followed by United States' Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (2802) and country-mate Fabiano Caruana (2798).
D Gukesh credited mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton for helping him tame the 'emotional pressure' of competing at the World Chess Championship.
Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout was the lone Indian to sign off with a medal when she notched up the bronze after drawing her 13th and final round game with Deysi Cori of Peru in the World Junior Girls' Chess Championship in Chotowa-Czarna, Poland.
World champion Viswanathan Anand kept his three-point lead intact as he held off Vladimir Kramnik in the ninth game of the World Chess Championship final. The draw brought Anand closer to the world title, which he gets to keep on reaching 6.5 points.
The Indian women's team had a dismal day out in the third round of the World Women's team chess championship in Ningbo, China, on Friday.
On pure experience of playing big games, Humpy goes in the final as the favourite against compatriot Deshmukh.
Indian chess great Viswanathan Anand sees signs of greatness in Nihal Sarin but says it's a long journey ahead for the impressive 14-year-old since there has been a trend of players struggling to replicate success as they age.
D Gukesh played out a draw with tournament leader and top seed Fabiano Caruana
The battle lines for the much-awaited November 9-28 World Chess Championship between World No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway and defending champion Viswanathan Anand in Chennai are drawn.
Gukesh won't challenge Liren on home turf; Singapore wins bid for World Championships match
Playing chess all year round can take a huge toll on the physical and mental aspects of a player and Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa acknowledged that sometimes he has to completely take his mind off the sport to prepare for the upcoming challenges.
India's hopes in the Under-18 Open brightened as R Praggnanandhaa outclassed compatriot P Iniyan in the highly-anticipated battle between two Indian Grand Masters in the World Youth Chess Championship, in Mumbai.
Thirty years to the day, history was repeated as Garry Kasparov defeated Viswanathan Anand in the 10th game of the Clutch Chess Legends contest to win the match with two games to spare.
Lesser-known Indian players continued to impress, while the fancied struggled to score, even as overseas Grandmasters took charge in the third round of the World Junior Chess Championships, being played at Hotel Hyatt, in Pune, on Wednesday. S L Narayanan was one of the early finishers, holding second seed and super GM Robin Van Kampen (2641) to a draw, while 10-year-old Nihal Sarin's impressive display again won him many admirers after he held Balazs CSonka (2409) to a draw to remain unbeaten after three encounters against opponents rated higher than 2400.
Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Erigaisi and Vaishali have trained at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) that the bespectacled chess wizard set up four years ago in Chennai. The 18-year-old Gukesh and the 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa have often stated that they would not be where they are without "Vishy sir".
Abundantly talented but more significantly, incredibly cool in crunch situations, that's how India's 88th Grandmaster and World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh was described by her formative coach Srinath Narayanan, who feels the 19-year-old chess wizard's composure is comparable only to cricket great Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
