CHESS

As Norwegian Grandmaster ends his last game as reigning No. 1, a look at the chessboard of ratings and stages to the top

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has claimed that records pertaining to a Right to Information (RTI) Act query by a player were destroyed by pests at its headquarters here, leading to a rebuke from the Central Information Commission. Responding to a query under the RTI Act seeking information on various issues by FIDE Master (FM) Gurpreet Pal Singh, the AICF claimed the records had been destroyed by pests. "Initially, they denied information stating that the case is pending in Madras High Court. Then they said records have been destroyed by pests and finally they denied it under section 8 (1)(d), (e), (j) of the act," Singh told PTI. "The commission did not agree with this and ordered them to provide information and admonished them for trying to misguide the commission and changing their stand," he added. He further said that "the AICF had earlier told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that its records were destroyed by the floods in Chennai in 2015". At a hearing at

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

Cheating in sports has existed as long as sports. Unfair advantage is sought by athletes and coaches to make sure they or their teams win at any cost. Here's a list of the 10 such instances

Norwegian Magnus Carlsen became the first player in the world to break the 2900 Tour Rating barrier following a crushing win over Indian teenager Arjun Erigaisi in Julius Baer Chess Cup

Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi edged out fellow teenager Christopher Yoo in the quarterfinals via tie-breaker to reach the last four round of the Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid chess tournament on Friday. Erigiasi's compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, however, crashed out, losing 1-3 to Germany's Vincent Keymer. World champion Magnus Carlsen, a winner over Levon Aronian of USA), will face 17-year old Keymer while the other semifinal will feature Vietnam's Liem Quang Le and Erigaisi. The 19-year-old Erigaisi and 15-year-old Yoo were locked 2-2 after the four rapid games. The Indian won the opening game before his opponent bounced back to level. The same pattern was repeated in the next two games. In the blitz tie-break, Erigiasi won the first to seize the advantage and drew the second to progress to the semifinals. Praggnanandhaa suffered a setback when he went down in the opening game. The next two games ended in draws. With the 17-year-old Indian needing a win to force a ...

Ongoing scandal can dent the game's popularity

In early September, Hans Niemann defeated Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup in a stunning upset. Now, Carlsen quit the game with just one move. Read more to find out why

A startup in Bengaluru has developed a sensor that helps batsmen and coaches gain insights on bat speed, impact speed, bat-lift angle, and bat path, with an option to replay the action in 360 degrees

Bengaluru teenager Pranav Anand became India's 76th Grandmaster after he crossed the 2,500 Elo mark in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship in Mamaia, Romania. The 15-year-old, having already met the other requirements that are necessary for a GM title, achieved the honour late on Thursday. To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points. Anand had scored the third and final GM norm at the 55th Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland in July. "He is passionate towards chess. Extremely interested and passionate towards the game. He can work for any number of hours," Anand's coach V Saravanan told PTI. "He is especially good in calculation and end games...they are his two biggest strengths right now," Saravanan said about his ward's ninth round win in the under-16 section of the World Youth Chess Championship 2022. "Also, the most important reason for Pranav's achievement is the dedication of his family, his mother, father...They

Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa produced a superb performance, wining three straight games including two in the blitz tie-breaks to outwit world No.1 Magnus Carlsen 4-2 in the final round of the FTX Crypto Cup here on Monday. However, despite the win over Carlsen, the 17-year old could only take second place in the final standings. The Norwegian won the top prize on the basis of a higher score. He finished with 16 match points to the Indian prodigy's tally of 15. "I've been playing badly all day, but now I'm getting the results I deserve... it's never good to lose, but this is as good a time as any!," Carlsen said after the match. Alireza Firouzja, another highly-rated teen and a prodigy, also finished on 15 points but had to settle for third place as he had lost the clash against Praggnanandhaa earlier. The first two games of the Carlsen-Praggnanandhaa match were drawn before the world No.1 went ahead by clinching the third. In a surprise turn of events, the Indian won

Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa handed world No.6 Levon Aronian a 3-1 thrashing in the fourth round to notch up his fourth consecutive win in the FTX Crypto Cup, the American finale of Champions Chess Tour, on Friday. The 17-year old Indian is in joint lead with 12 match points along with world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Quang Liem Le of China 3-1. Praggnanandhaa won the third game with white pieces after the first two in the four-game match ended in a stalemate. First, he won with white pieces to take a 2-1 lead after game three and stormed to victory in 44 moves in the fourth to seal an emphatic win over the acclaimed American star. Having started his campaign with victory over Alireza Firouzja, the Indian GM has subsequently beaten Anish Giri and Hans Nieman. Carlsen, meanwhile, secured a similar result, winning games three and four after the first two were drawn. The duo of Praggnanandhaa and Carslen have a four-point lead over Alireza Firouzja, the world No.4 and the

Indian duo of Shiv Kapur and SSP Chawrasia made a solid start with three-under 68 to be placed tied 12th at the end of the first round of the fourth International Series event golf tournament

Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat Hans Nieman 2.5-1.5 in the third round to notch up a third straight win in the FTX Crypto Cup, the American finale of Champions Chess Tour, here on Thursday. The 17-year-old Indian is on top of the standings with nine match points along with world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, a 2.5-1.5 winner over Levon Aronian. Praggnanandhaa bounced back brilliantly after losing the first game to secure victories in game two and four after a drawn second game to pick up three points. Having started his campaign with victory over world No.4 and the top ranked junior Alireza Firouzja, the Indian prodigy beat Anish Giri in the second round. In other matches of the third round, Firouzja edged out Giri 4-3 in a tie-break in a thrilling match and Quang Liem Le of China defeated Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2.5-1.5. Aronian and Firouzja trail Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa with five points while Duda has four. The eight-player all-play-all tournament is the American f

In the women's section, Ukraine won the gold, Georgia the silver, while the top seed India-1 had to remain content with the bronze.

Riding on Krishnan Sasikiran and Arjun Erigaisi's victories, India A got back their rhythm to trounce Brazil by 3-1 in the ninth-round match of the open section at the 44th Chess Olympiad

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand was on Sunday elected deputy president of FIDE, the sport's world governing body, while incumbent president Arkady Dvorkovich was re-elected for a second term

What to keep in mind when you ask your children to pick what they want to play with

Amritsar is the only place in the world where sets for the World Chess Championship matches are made

TMS Ep228: Discom bailout, Chess Olympiad, markets, Google Street View

Will the govt be fifth-time lucky in bailing out discoms? How did India pull off a successful Chess Olympiad? Will the market up move sustain in August? What is Google Street View? All answers here