All posts tagged: Classical chess

As Arjun Erigaisi and Wei Yi play out a super quick draw, a question — Is classical chess over-theorised?

As Arjun Erigaisi and Wei Yi play out a super quick draw, a question — Is classical chess over-theorised?

Published by Webster

The quarterfinal between India’s lone hope and second seed, Arjun Erigaisi and China’s Wei Yi would have been a dream summit clash at the FIDE World Cup. After the carnage that eliminated 17 of the top 20 seeds by just the fifth round, this was the most anticipated last-eight clash. But the first Classical game, which began at 3 PM in Goa, was already over by 3:59 PM with Arjun and Wei Yi rushing through their exchanges, racing from the opening through the middle game and agreeing to a draw after just 31 moves. Arjun-Wei Yi was a prime example of objective perfection, with both players playing with over 99% accuracy, without giving an inch to the other. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO While the result was anticlimactic, it was hardly surprising. The players followed the tournament’s prevailing trend, and their expected line was to minimise risk and play it safe. Two more quarterfinal clashes ended in a draw, with just the lone decisive result of the round coming in favour of Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev, …

Nihal Sarin wins Tashkent Open, pockets ,000 prize money | Chess News

Nihal Sarin wins Tashkent Open, pockets $20,000 prize money | Chess News

Published by Webster

Long considered a player who is more adept at faster time controls than classical chess, India’s Nihal Sarin won the classical Tashkent Open Agzamov Memorial 2025 with a draw with black pieces against Uzbekistan’s Shamsiddin Vokhidov in the final round on Saturday. Thanks to the victory, Nihal will return from Uzbekistan’s capital with a cool $20,000 (approx Rs 17 lakh) in his pocket and 7.1 rating points in his credit. The 20-year-old from Thrissur is rated 2694 in the live ratings, which takes him within touching distance of the 2700-rating peak after his performance in Tashkent. A member of India’s golden generation of teenage prodigies, in recent years, Nihal has been falling behind contemporaries like Gukesh, who became the youngest world champion in the history of the sport, and players like Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa, at least in the classical format. Nihal was a prominent absentee in India’s all-star Chess Olympiad that returned from Budapest last year after winning the team gold, besides twin individual golds for Gukesh and Arjun. “I was not hurt at …

‘Means a lot to me that my parents don’t have to think about money anymore’: Gukesh | Chess News

‘Means a lot to me that my parents don’t have to think about money anymore’: Gukesh | Chess News

Published by Webster

Current chess world champion D Gukesh opened up about his parents’ struggles before his success, revealing that they had to depend on the generosity of friends to support his international tournament expenses. “I remember my parents’ friends sponsoring me to play tournaments abroad. It was quite difficult at that time, and we had a lot of help from very, very nice and selfless people. Now, the last year was financially very good for us,” Gukesh said at the ‘India Today Conclave 2025’. “I think it means a lot to me that my parents don’t have to think about money anymore. We can lead a comfortable life, not struggle like before,” he added. Gukesh is India’s youngest grandmaster, missing the tag of becoming the world’s youngest by just 17 days. He’s the youngest-ever winner of the Candidates tournament, which earned him a shot at the World Championship in the first place. And he was the first Indian chess player to topple Viswanathan Anand’s 36-year stay in the world rankings as the top-ranked Indian player. Story continues …

Aravindh takes a sole lead; Overtakes Anand in FIDE Ratings

Aravindh takes a sole lead; Overtakes Anand in FIDE Ratings

Published by Webster

Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram continued his scintillating form at the Prague International Chess Festival. He got the better of the Dutch GM Anish Giri to take a sole lead in Czechia on Wednesday. Aravindh, with this brilliant win, overtaken the veteran Indian GM Viswanathan Anand in the live FIDE Ratings to enter in the top 15 in the world rankings. He is currently ranked 14th in the world. He is also now India’s no. 4 in classical ratings, having his career best rating of 2745.1 after the seven rounds of Prague Masters, gaining a massive 14.1 rating points from the tournament so far. Playing with black pieces, Aravindh showed a brilliant attacking game to overcome the challenge of Anish, who made a couple of mistakes in the middle game. Aravindh registered an important win in just 39 moves to take a sole lead in the competition, overtaking compatriot Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who played a marathon 61-move draw against Wei Yi of China. The standings going into the final two rounds of @PragueChess Festival 2025! In the …

Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh remain on top after Round 6

Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh remain on top after Round 6

Published by Webster

Indian Grandmasters Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram maintained their joint lead after Tuesday’s sixth round of the Prague International Chess Festival in Czechia. In round 6, Praggnanandhaa held the aggressive Sam Shankland of the USA to a draw with black pieces, while Aravindh played out a solid draw against Liem Le of Vietnam. There is no change in the standings of the Masters tournament as it was a draw on all five boards in the sixth round, which meant Pragg and Aravindh maintained a 1-point gap from the chasing pack. The standings after 6 rounds of play at the @PragueChess Festival 2025. In the Masters, Aravindh Chithambaram and R. Praggnanandhaa continue to jointly lead with 4/6 points. In the Challengers group, Jonas Buhl Bjerre catches up with Nodirbek Yakubboev to lead together with… pic.twitter.com/nIJm86Whl8 — ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) March 4, 2025 Both the Indian players now have tough matches in the next round as Pragg is playing against the top seed, Wei Yi of China, whereas Aravindh, having black pieces, is up against the experienced …

Gukesh finishes winless at Freestyle chess event | Chess News

Gukesh finishes winless at Freestyle chess event | Chess News

Published by Webster

Another year, another world champion struggles at Weissenhaus. One year after then world champion Ding Liren ended in last place after going winless at the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge, Ding’s successor on the throne, D Gukesh too endured a winless tournament. The reigning world champion’s results sheet for the first event of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour reads: zero wins, 11 draws and six defeats. At least he did not end up dead last like Ding did last year. Gukesh will also find solace in the knowledge that a few weeks ago, he almost won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk Aan Zee (a tournament where Ding had also suffered on the board). Gukesh’s Weissenhaus event ended with a defeat in 30 moves to Alireza Firouzja on Friday. His 11 draws and six defeats span the nine round robin games played in the rapid format where he had two defeats and seven draws. Then, in the quarters, he lost both his classical time control games to Fabiano Caruana before two draws against Hikaru Nakamura, …

Gukesh salvages draw from lost position against Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Gukesh salvages draw from lost position against Alireza Firouzja | Chess News

Published by Webster

The playing hall burst into applause. Even Gukesh Dommaraju broke into a rare smile after shaking hands with his opponent Alireza Firouzja on Thursday in the first game of their classification match for 7th spot at the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. Gukesh had not managed to beat Alireza, but it was a draw that was as good as a win for a player who is still winless at the luxury resort village in Germany. The applause was for the way Gukesh had managed to salvage a draw from a completely losing position. It was one of those games where the eval bar favoured Alireza from the start: in fact, the bar tipped over in the Frenchman’s favour after the first moves from both players. This was because Gukesh, playing with black pieces, had opted to hop the wrong knight. Story continues below this ad INTERACTIVE: How Gukesh evaded Alireza Firouzja to force a draw At one point in the game, the evaluation bar was down on the floor indicating a …