World Chess champion Vishwanathan Anand talks to Norma Godinho about defending his World crown and supporting and mentoring young sportsmen through Olympic Gold Quest.
'I beat the strongest player in the world. Gukesh is in a different situation because Magnus is there'
Vaishali becomes India's 84th Grandmaster, joins brother Praggnanandhaa in elite club
Viswanathan Anand took a major step towards becoming the next World Chess Champion with a solid draw in the tenth round.
R Praggnanandhaa squandered a winning position against Wesley So of America while World Championship challenger D Gukesh settled for a hard-fought draw
Chess will crown a new world champion when Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren begin their battle on Sunday.
Viswanathan Anand says one factor that has contributed immensely to this has been his habit of 'forgetting' achievements.
At a time when the sporting fraternity is divided over Salman Khan's appointment as brand ambassador for the Indian contingent for the upcoming Rio Olympics, five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand has said that the focus should be to address the needs of the Rio-bound athletes.
'There are several talented players like R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, so the future is certainly bright.'
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.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand's bad form continued as he finished 22nd in the World Blitz Chess championship, which concluded in Berlin on Thursday.
World chess champion Viswanathan Anand must have never imagined when he left his home in Madrid last Thursday that he would undergo so much to reach the venue that saw him traverse 2000 kilometres across five countries to reach Sofia for his World Chess Championship match against Veselin Topalov.
Chess960, created by former world champion Bobby Fischer in 1996, has been gaining in popularity after an invitational tournament played last year at the Weissenhaus Luxury Resort, which hosted the G7 Foreign Minister summit in 2022.
Former World champion Viswanathan Anand played out a second straight draw by holding Fabiano Caruana of the United States easily in the fourth round of the Sinquefield Cup, which is part of the Grand Chess tour.
India are well-placed to pocket a few medals in the World Youth Chess Championship, with Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa all but likely to lead the charge with a gold medal.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa lost to World Champion Ding Liren in the Armageddon tie-breaker after the two played out a draw under normal time control in the second round.
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy maintained her all-win record as Indian girls blanked Vietnam 4-0 to maintain the sole second position after the end of the fifth round of the World Women Tam Chess Championship, in Mardin, Turkey.
D GukeshGrandmaster R Vaishali and Vantika Agrawal put up impressive performances as Indian women defeated Georgia while World Championship challenger D Gukesh led the men to victory over China in the seventh round as both teams continued their unbeaten streak in 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
Reader Kedar Lele spotted chess champion Viswanathan Anand in Sofia.
Viswanathan Anand played out his second straight draw in the Shamkir Chess tournament.
With seven games to come in the 12-game World Chess Championship match, Magnus Carlsen leads 3-2, drawing first blood in his trademark style.
The 23-year-old becomes India's 11 Grandmaster.
World No.1 Hou Yifan defeated Sarasadat Khademalsharieh of Iran 7.5-2.5 to finish third.
India men dropped their first point, but carried enough steam to beat Hungary to maintain a clean slate in the ongoing 45th Chess Olympiad.
In the open section too the Indian men were poised for an easy victory against Hungary 'B' team. The hero of the day was Arjun Erigaise who played a brilliant attacking game against Peter Prohazska and ended with a checkmate after a queen sacrifice.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is still third on 9.5 points in the Norway Chess tournament.
The source also said Khadem's relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats, without giving further details.
Grandmaster D Harika missed out on some chances to settle for a draw with Georgia's Sopiko Guramishvili, while Padmini Rout survived a scare before enforcing a draw with China's Tan Zhongyi in the first game of the third round of World Women's Chess Championship in Tehran.
Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024-25 (Pune leg) title on the basis of her superior tie-breaks over Zhu Jiner of China after the two players were tied for the top spot on Wednesday.
Magnus Carlsen will not defend his world championship in 2023 against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi as he is not motivated to play another match, the Norwegian five-time champion said in a podcast on Wednesday.
Caruana kept his slender half point lead going in to the final round in the 10-player round-robin tournament, a part of the Grand Chess tour.
Vaishali came back from 2-4 down to oust the experienced Ukrainian by winning the last two bullet games.
'I'm excited to celebrate with my team and friends. There's a little secret, though.'
With just 16 players out of 206 participants that started the event remaining in the fray, most of the players decided against taking undue risk and decided to wait for the next game.
With nine rounds still to come in the blitz event, Wei Yi has amassed 20.5 points with seven wins on the first day of blitz. Ending the day with 7.5 out of a possible nine, Yi, seems like a man possessed and unless a hurricane hits him, is poised to win the first leg of the Grand Chess Tour.
Topalov, with his unsurpassable score of 9.5 points from 13 games has emerged the New World Chess Champion, 2005.
Humpy was no match for Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, going down 2-9 while Harika was ousted by world No.1 Hou Yifan of China
'The Indian earthquake in Toronto is the culmination of the shifting tectonic plates in the chess world.'
A dream come true, a nice feeling. The maiden Chess Olympiad gold meant different things for the members of the five-strong Indian men's team, spearheaded stupendously by the youngest ever challenger to the world title -- D Gukesh.
Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by more than 143,000 people worldwide playing against him in a single, record-setting online game, on Monday.
