All posts tagged: Chess World Champion

Vishy Anand’s advice to Gukesh: ‘Lock yourself in room, and just ignore criticism… but some of it is legitimate’ | Chess News

Vishy Anand’s advice to Gukesh: ‘Lock yourself in room, and just ignore criticism… but some of it is legitimate’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readApr 21, 2026 06:32 PM IST Current world champion D Gukesh has experienced a wretched run of form ever since he became the youngest world champion in chess history in December 2024. Not only have results been dire, Gukesh has also lost about 51 rating points from where he was when he became the 18th world champion in chess history. To further pile pressure on him, former world champions like Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen have pointed out how Javokhir Sindarov, who will be the challenger to Gukesh for the world champion’s throne later this year, will be the favorite given his recent form that helped him win the Candidates tournament in Cyprus without a single defeat in 14 rounds. Some of the comments have appeared to undermine Gukesh’s credentials as a worthy world champion. Carlsen, in particular, commented on Gukesh’s “very obvious weaknesses when it comes to his understanding” in a recent event. Carlsen had even said that Sindarov would be the favourite against Gukesh. When five-time world champion and Gukesh’s mentor, …

‘It’s in my best interest to skip long events…’: Amid concerning form, world champion Gukesh to skip part of Grand Chess Tour | Chess News

‘It’s in my best interest to skip long events…’: Amid concerning form, world champion Gukesh to skip part of Grand Chess Tour | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Mar 31, 2026 07:11 PM IST Chess world champion D Gukesh who didn’t have the best of seasons last year, acknowledged his ‘disappointing’ performances, adding that in order to find his best form he has decided to compete with slightly less intensity. To do that, the Indian GM said that he would skip long events which are away from home in order to get more time to train. The 19-year-old said that he’ll only participate in the Rapid & Blitz tournaments in Warsaw and Zagreb this year and thanked the Grand Chess Tour organizers for their approval of his request. “My performance in the last few events has been quite disappointing, not just for me, but for all of you who support me. In order to find my best form my team and I have decided that I should compete with slightly less intensity over the next few months. Consequently, we feel it is in my best interest to skip long events away from home to allow for more dedicated training time,” …

At chess World Cup, P Harikrishna’s defiant run shows Indian chess has depth

At chess World Cup, P Harikrishna’s defiant run shows Indian chess has depth

Published by Parlour News

November 15, 2025 07:27 AM IST First published on: Nov 15, 2025 at 07:27 AM IST Over the last few years, as chess prodigies got younger and younger, Pentala Harikrishna made a name for himself as a second by powering the women’s world championship-winning campaign of Ju Wenjun, and then helping D Gukesh become the youngest world champion. Now, perhaps fittingly, as Gukesh has crashed out early from the World Cup at Goa, Harikrishna is still in the mix, flying not just India’s flag, but also of the in-between generation that came between the two world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Gukesh. Out of an unprecedented 24 Indians who started the chess World Cup in Goa, only two — Arjun Erigaisi and Harikrishna — remain in contention. It has been refreshing to see the campaign of the 39-year-old from Guntur, who was once touted as India’s best bet to join Anand as part of the chess elite, but didn’t quite get there. The World Cup is the second most prestigious event on the chess calendar, and …

Ju Wenjun on cusp of fifth title, needs just one draw vs Tan Zhongyi to retain crown

Ju Wenjun on cusp of fifth title, needs just one draw vs Tan Zhongyi to retain crown

Published by Webster

Defending Women’s World Champion, China’s Ju Wenjun is on the cusp of retaining her coveted title against compatriot Tan Zhongyi at the 2025 FIDE Women’s World Championship, happening in Shanghai and Chongqing. On Monday, after Wenjun claimed her fourth win on the bounce, it thrust her to six points from eight matches and a full four-point lead over her throne challenger. All Wenjun needs a draw in the next game to reach 6.5 points and win her fifth championship. It was Wenjun’s second win with black pieces and overall her fifth win in the championship. After losing the second game with dark pieces and giving a one-point edge to Zhongyi right away, Wenjun turned the tables by getting 5.5 points in the next six games. The first match resulted in a draw. Story continues below this ad Wenjun beat the same opponent, Zhongyi in May 2018 to hold her first world championship and since then she has defended her crown four times. This edition of the World Championship follows a 12-game format. The first player …

Pranav Venkatesh becomes World Junior Chess Champion

Pranav Venkatesh becomes World Junior Chess Champion

Published by Webster

After Gukesh, India has another 18-year-old world champion on the 64 squares: grandmaster Pranav Venkatesh became the World Junior Chess Champion 2025 in the open section in Petrovac, Montenegro on Friday. Pranav beat a field of 157 players (including 12 grandmasters) from 63 countries in the open section to claim the trophy. Pranav’s crowning moment came with a draw against Matic Lavrencic which saw him end the event with a score of 9/11 points. Just like illustrious predecessors Gukesh and Praggnanadhaa, Pranav is a product of the famed Vellamal Institute and is a fellow at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA), pioneered by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand. Story continues below this ad Viswanathan Anand on Pranav “I thought he was just gifted. You could see it in his games and also a couple of people I consult pointed this out to me so that was useful confirmation,” Anand told The Indian Express on Friday while explaining why he had handpicked Pranav for the WACA program. “I’ve had multiple interactions over the years with Pranav …

Boris Spassky, endlessly witty and a free soul, was more than just Fischer’s victim or a Soviet Union foot soldier

Boris Spassky, endlessly witty and a free soul, was more than just Fischer’s victim or a Soviet Union foot soldier

Published by Webster

In the many obituaries for Boris Spassky that popped up after his demise last week, not many mentioned what the 10th world champion did to Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen on the top board of the clash between USSR and the Rest of the World in 1970. Incidentally, this was the first ‘Match of the Century’ that both Spassky and his nemesis Bobby Fischer played in. But this one was a team event in Belgrade, which featured players like Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinnik and Mikhail Tal besides Spassky and Fischer. In that match, Larsen was picked as the top board player over Fischer for the Rest of the World side, while Spassky, as reigning world champion, was given the honour of leading an outfit that had his predecessors on the throne like Petrosian, Smyslov, Botvinnik and Tal. It’s a game that starts with Larsen playing the off-beat 1.b3 (which has since been named after him as the Larsen Opening). The provocative opening is the 6th most common opening move with white pieces and offers …

Boris Spassky: The man who dared George Bush to put him and Bobby Fischer in same cell, ‘and give us a chess set’ | Chess News

Boris Spassky: The man who dared George Bush to put him and Bobby Fischer in same cell, ‘and give us a chess set’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion in the history of chess, breathed his last in Moscow on Thursday at the age of 88. For the world at large, Spassky’s is the name that lives on in hyphenated eternity with Bobby Fischer’s: the duo wrestled for the world champion’s crown in 1972 in frigid Reykjavik in a match billed the Match Of The Century. Spassky was a man who stood out for his grace. In September 1972, barely three days after he had lost the world champion’s crown to the brash, loud-mouthed Fischer in the Match of the Century, Spassky was asked in an interview if his opponent’s shenanigans in the match had affected him. On the way to beating Spassky, Fischer had kept the world including his opponent on edge about the match happening at all, skipped the opening ceremony, forced game 1 of the world championship to be deferred, forfeited game 2, forced game 3 to be played in a small room behind the actual playing arena, and complained incessantly about things like the …

Diljit Dosanjh talks about Allu Arjun’s Pushpa; dedicates Chandigarh concert to chess world champion Gukesh. Watch

Diljit Dosanjh talks about Allu Arjun’s Pushpa; dedicates Chandigarh concert to chess world champion Gukesh. Watch

Published by Parlour News

Singer Diljit Dosanjh has dedicated his Dil-Luminati concert in Chandigarh to India’s newly crowned International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Champion, Gukesh D. Taking to Instagram on Saturday, he shared a video from his show in the city. (Also Read | Kangana Ranaut, Karan Johar, R Madhavan shower praise on 18-yr-old chess world champion Gukesh) Diljit Dosanjh spoke about Allu Arjun’s Pushpa and Gukesh during his show. Diljit dedicates Chandigarh show to Gukesh In the clip, Diljit spoke about his famous line–“Punjabi Aa Gaye Oye”. He said that he had said this everywhere, even during his show at Coachella in the US. He then said in Punjabi, “Today’s show is dedicated to world chess champion Gukesh. Do you know why it is dedicated to him? Because whatever you think in life, he has already thought about becoming a world champion. And he became that. Problems are there, I face them daily.” About Gukesh Gukesh made history on Thursday by becoming the youngest champion in the sport’s history. He defeated China’s Ding Liren in the final game …

D Gukesh becomes youngest-ever Chess World Champion

D Gukesh becomes youngest-ever Chess World Champion

Published by Webster

18-year-old Indian chess Grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh has become the youngest-ever GM to win the World Championship on Thursday. Gukesh defeated reigning World Champion Ding Liren in the 14th and final game of the World Chess Championship 2024 to claim the title with a scoreline of 7.5-6.5. Gukesh became only second Indian to win the title after legendary Vishwanathan Anand. He also surpassed Garry Kasparov as the youngest World Champion. With both players tied at 6.5-6.5 before the last game, it looked like it was heading towards a tie-breaker with the game almost done until Ding blundered in last his couple of moves. The blunder gave an opening to Gukesh who capitalized on it to put an end to a battle of three weeks and create history by bringing back the title to India after Vishwanathan Anand. “I am living my dream. Since I started playing chess at the age of six, I have been dreaming of becoming a World Champion,” Gukesh quipped in the press conference after winning the World title. D Gukesh is having …

World Chess Championship 2024 Game 10 Highlights: Players agree to draw after largely painless game | Chess News

World Chess Championship 2024 Game 10 Highlights: Players agree to draw after largely painless game | Chess News

Published by Webster

FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, Game 10 Singapore Highlights, Gukesh D vs Ding Liren: Both players have agreed to end the 10th game as a largely painless and un-dramatic draw after 36 moves. This has been the most undramatic game of the 10 games so far in this world championship. Both players had reached the 20-move mark with roughly an hour on their clocks. Gukesh had fallen 22 minutes on the clock by the 10th move after spending almost 26 minutes thinking on just one move. But his move 10…Nh5 forced Ding Liren into a long phase of thought, that touched 25 minutes. World Champion Ding Liren had white pieces today and once again played the London System. Both players are back in action on Saturday after their third rest day at the ongoing World Chess Championship. The intensity has been turned up as both players are still inseparable on points after nine intense battles. Ding Liren is yet to win a match at the ongoing World Championship after winning Game 1. Gukesh was the …