All posts tagged: Chess news India

Gukesh suffers another defeat to long-time nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague chess event | Chess News

Gukesh suffers another defeat to long-time nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague chess event | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readMar 2, 2026 08:00 AM IST A punch-drunk game in the fifth round of the Prague International Chess Festival between two familiar foes—India’s D Gukesh and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov—ended in defeat for the world champion after yet another uncharacteristic blunder from the Indian. A boy who was an unstoppable attacking force just two years ago—winning the Candidates and the World Championship in the first time of asking, besides inspiring the national Olympiad team to an unprecedented gold medal—now finds himself collecting as many defeats as victories in tournaments in 2026. Sunday’s game saw Gukesh get an edge out of the opening, then Abdusattorov claw his way out of trouble, then Gukesh gaining the upper hand again, then blunder his edge away, then Abdusattorov holding a significant advantage, before the waters became tranquil again. Just when it looked like the game was going to taper off into a draw, a blunder on move 67 from Gukesh suddenly tilted the scale in Abdusattorov’s favour. One move later, with time running out and the game clearly …

‘Shit happens’: World champion Gukesh on ‘unexplainable’ blunder that left him inconsolable at Wijk aan Zee | Chess News

‘Shit happens’: World champion Gukesh on ‘unexplainable’ blunder that left him inconsolable at Wijk aan Zee | Chess News

Published by Webster

“Shit happens” That was world champion Gukesh’s frank assessment about his stunning blunder two rounds ago in the game against arch-rival Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. The blunder, in an equalish position, meant that Gukesh would immediately lose a pawn and then a rook, and would be likely checkmated later on in the game. Gukesh had resigned from the game soon afterwards, and had also lost to Anish Giri the next day before finally bouncing back with a victory over Vladimir Fedoseev with black pieces on Sunday in round 8. Gukesh had seemed inconsolable in the aftermath of the result against Abdusattorov, spending five minutes at the table speechless even as the Uzbekistan grandmaster tried to engage him in conversation and analyse the game. Later, Gukesh had walked into the press room at the tournament venue where he had spent another 10 to 15 minutes in silence with his face turned away from the world as he tried to come to terms with the blunder. World Champion Gukesh …

Praggnanandhaa wins first Grand Chess Tour title

Praggnanandhaa wins first Grand Chess Tour title

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Indian chess sensation GM R Praggnanandhaa claimed his first Grand Chess Tour title by winning the Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2025, marking his first-ever Grand Chess Tour (GCT) triumph. After a tense final round where three players tied for the lead, it was the 18-year-old from Chennai who held his nerve in a blitz playoff, defeating French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL) in the decisive game. With this win, Praggnanandhaa takes home $77,667 in prize money, along with 10 GCT points and a bonus of $10,000 for emerging on top in the tiebreaker. Pragg’s measured final round Praggnanandhaa, playing Black against GM Levon Aronian, opted for a risk-free French Defense setup. A draw would secure at least a shared first place, and the Indian star did just that—holding a solid position throughout and never letting Aronian gain a foothold. “I just wanted a safe position, and I got that pretty early,” Pragg said after the game. “I didn’t want to push unnecessarily. I knew a draw would keep me in contention.” As he walked away from …

Gukesh joins leaders with victory over Harikrishna

Gukesh joins leaders with victory over Harikrishna

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World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh secured a crucial win against Pentala Harikrishna in Round 7 of the Tata Steel Chess Masters to join the tournament leaders with 5 points. Gukesh is now tied at the top with R Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov as the competition heads into its second half. This marks the second time in the tournament that Gukesh has defeated one of his seconds from the 2024 FIDE World Championship. He previously bested Vincent Keymer and now overcame Harikrishna, who opted for the French Defense. Gukesh gained the upper hand after an inaccurate move by Harikrishna on move 15 and converted his positional advantage into victory, forcing Harikrishna to resign after 45 moves. Other Highlights Max Warmerdam and Vladimir Fedoseev also recorded victories in Round 7, while Praggnanandhaa drew with Jordan van Foreest, maintaining his spot at the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi’s struggles continued, with a loss to Warmerdam extending his winless streak at the Tata Steel Masters to 20 games across two editions. With three players tied for the lead, …

IM Tania Sachdev laments the lack of recognition from the Delhi government

IM Tania Sachdev laments the lack of recognition from the Delhi government

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International Master Tania Sachdev, a Delhi-based chess player, has taken to social media to express her disappointment in the Delhi government’s lack of recognition of her chess achievements. In a social media post, the 38-year-old spoke of her recent successes in the Chess Olympiad 2024 and 2022 and how the government failed to properly recognize her achievements, even as other state governments did. Tania was part of the Indian women’s team that won the historic gold medal at the 2024 Chess Olympiad, along with Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali R, Divya Deshmukh, and Vantika Agarwal. She was also part of the 2022 Chess Olympiad team that won bronze, with Tania also winning an individual medal. Having played for India since 2008 It’s disheartening to see a lack of recognition from the Delhi government for achievements in chess. States that support and celebrate their champions, directly inspire excellence and motivate talent. Sadly, Delhi has yet to take this step In… — Tania Sachdev (@TaniaSachdev) December 23, 2024 “Having played for India since 2008, it’s disheartening to see a …

Gukesh and Ding play out another draw in round five

Gukesh and Ding play out another draw in round five

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The fifth round of the 2024 World Chess Championships between Chinese GM Ding Liren and 18-year-old Indian GM Gukesh D ended in a draw, on Saturday. The finals, happening in Singapore, is a best-of-14 event played in the classical format, and after four rounds, Gukesh and Liren are level on points, with 2.5 points each. Gukesh, playing with the white pieces, went with the same opening move as round one, starting with the 1.e4. As expected, Liren started with the French defense, the most popular response to 1.e4 from players using black pieces. In just the ninth move, both players traded off their Queens, a bold move from the Indian but Liren was also responding in kind. Liren kept putting Gukesh under pressure but within a few moves, Gukesh was able to come out of it, a feature that ran throughout this round. It could also be said that Liren did not press hard enough when he held the advantage, something of a pattern to be seen in Liren’s games in recent times, where he …

Arjun continues strong start, Vaishali earns first points

Arjun continues strong start, Vaishali earns first points

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Arjun Erigaisi continued his strong start to the Chennai Grand Masters 2024 on Wednesday by holding the second-highest-ranked player in the tournament, American Grandmaster Levon Aronian, to a draw. Over in the Challengers event, Vaishali R, one of two female chess players debuting this year, earned her first points by drawing top-seed Raunak Sadhwani. Playing with the white pieces, Arjun Erigaisi kicked things off with a Queen’s Pawn Opening, met by Levon Aronian’s response in the Indian Game. The two Grandmasters exchanged tactical maneuvers and strategic depth, pushing each other through every phase of the game before ultimately settling for a hard-fought draw, both showing immense skill and resilience. The Chennai Grand Masters 2024 continued its intense battles on Day 2, with Aravindh Chithambaram and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drawing their bout in a tactical standoff. Amin Tabatabaei scored a crucial win over Alexey Sarana, while Parham Maghsoodloo defeated Vidit Gujrathi, pushing the stakes higher in this FIDE Circuit qualifier. Meanwhile, in the Challengers category, Pranesh M and Karthikeyan Murali settled into a balanced draw, while Leon …

Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi set to compete in Chennai Grandmasters 2024

Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi set to compete in Chennai Grandmasters 2024

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The second edition of the Chennai Grandmasters will begin on November 5, Tuesday. It will feature some of the biggest names from the chess world. From India, World No.3 Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi and GM Vidit Gujrathi will compete along with the likes of GM R Vaishali and Harika Dronavalli. This tournament is crucial in more ways than one, with important rating points at stake. It was at this tournament last year that D Gukesh managed to get valuable rating points that pushed him into the 2024 Candidates. Thanks to his victory at the Chennai Grandmasters 2023, Gukesh was able to compete in the 2024 Candidates and go one step further by winning it and setting up a World Championship clash with Chinese GM Ding Liren. Chennai Grandmasters returns as bigger and better The Chennai Grandmasters 2023 was India’s biggest classical super tournament ever, with an average rating of 2711, and this year, the average rating has gone up to 2729. This year, along with the main Masters event, where the big names will feature, there …

INTERVIEW with AICF president Nitin Narang on India’s grand chess plan

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The historic double gold for India’s Open and Women’s teams at the Olympiad shifted the power equation in world chess and put the country’s GenNext players in the limelight. All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang spoke to The Indian Express on the road ahead — India’s own player rating system, contracts for top players and the challenges of generating sponsorships. Excerpts: India has a bunch of very talented players. Do you see this as a big responsibility? Nitin Narang: The achievements of these golden boys and girls are because of their efforts and the sacrifices of their parents. When I was in Budapest for the Olympiad I saw how much parents were sacrificing. The federation’s role is to support players. Yes, there is a huge responsibility on my shoulders; one to continue the momentum, and second to make sure these players, who have outperformed everyone in the world, get the best of the facilities and support. How was the reaction of other players and fans during the Olympiad? Nitin Narang: India’s chess players were …

Indian chess federation left red-faced as Chess Olympiad’s Nona Gaprindashvili Cup, given to India at Chennai 2022, goes missing | Chess News

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IN WHAT could become a major embarrassment for India, the ‘Nona Gaprindashvili Cup’, which is awarded to the best performing contingent at the Chess Olympiad, is learnt to have been misplaced by the All India Chess Federation (AICF). Three AICF office-bearers confirmed this to The Indian Express on Friday. The event is held once in two years, and the Indian team had won the trophy at the last Chess Olympiad in Chennai in 2022. It is learnt that a few weeks back, the global governing body of chess, FIDE, sent an email to the AICF requesting that India return the trophy, so that it could be handed to the winners of the ongoing Chess Olympiad in Budapest on Sunday, after the end of Round 11. It was only then that the current AICF administration, which took charge on March 10 this year, reportedly realised that the trophy was supposed to be in India. A search was then launched — at the AICF offices in New Delhi and Chennai, as well as the Chennai hotel where …