All posts tagged: classical

Fast classical, shorter duration, bigger field, Swiss qualification from 2027

Fast classical, shorter duration, bigger field, Swiss qualification from 2027

Published by Webster

3 min readJul 14, 2026 10:35 AM IST The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has approved a significant change to the Chess World Cup format, effective from the 2027 cycle. The revamped tournament will be shorter, feature a larger field, and introduce a Swiss-system qualification stage. The new format reduces the World Cup from 27 days to 19 days. The tournament will now be played in two stages. The opening stage will consist of Swiss-system tournaments played with a fast classical time control of 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move. The Open World Cup will feature four Swiss pools, while the Women’s World Cup will be divided into two pools. Each Swiss tournament will be played over nine rounds across five days. The top players from each pool will advance to the knockout stage. In the Open World Cup, the top four players from each of the four pools (16 players total) will qualify. In the Women’s World Cup, the top eight players from each of the two pools (16 players total) will advance. …

Praggnanandhaa ends tied-fifth at Romania classical event; Vincent Keymer wins

Praggnanandhaa ends tied-fifth at Romania classical event; Vincent Keymer wins

Published by Webster

2 min readMay 24, 2026 08:07 AM IST German grandmaster Vincent Keymer clinched the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 tournament with a final round victory over Jorden van Foreest on Saturday. Keymer’s win was the only decisive game of the final round at Bucharest, but it ended up being a tournament deciding result on a day where five players had a chance to win the title. R Praggnanandhaa, India’s only contender in the tournament, ended joint-fifth, along with four other players. Praggnanandhaa’s only victory in the nine rounds he played in the tournament came against world championship contender Javokhir Sindarov while the Indian prodigy had lost in the seventh round to Fabiano Caruana. Pragg will now fly to Oslo to compete in the Norway Chess tournament, where he will be pitted against world champion D Gukesh, world no 1 Magnus Carlsen, Keymer, Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja. The Norway Chess tournament starts from Monday. On Saturday, Praggnanandhaa played out a 31-move draw against Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri. Both players were not in contention to claim …

Praggnanandhaa hands Javokhir Sindarov a classical defeat

Praggnanandhaa hands Javokhir Sindarov a classical defeat

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: May 15, 2026 11:49 PM IST Javokhir Sindarov’s starting to look human again. Barely a month after he rampaged his way through the Candidates tournament, winning the cut-throat 14-round event without a single defeat, the 20-year-old Uzbek prodigy was handed a brutal loss by Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa in a second round game of the Super Chess Classic 2026 tournament in Romania. This is Sindarov’s first classical loss in the last eight months, with his last defeat in this format coming in September 2025 against Bulgaria’s Ivan Cheparinov in the 3rd round of the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 at home in Samarkand. “Beating Sindarov is suddenly a good thing. He’s lost a classical game after I don’t know how many games! He’s been in terrifying form. But I thought I played quite decently today,” Pragg told Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube channel after the result. Playing with white pieces, Sindarov resigned in 42 moves in a game where he was trailing on the clock for large portions, had less material from as …

How Jorden van Foreest took down Magnus Carlsen in classical chess overcoming a false fire alarm and with just 45 of minutes of sleep | Chess News

How Jorden van Foreest took down Magnus Carlsen in classical chess overcoming a false fire alarm and with just 45 of minutes of sleep | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readNew DelhiMay 5, 2026 09:27 PM IST It was pitch black. Jorden van Foreest woke up in total panic, unaware of his whereabouts. The alarm was deafening and he had no idea what was going on. A fire alarm and just 45 minutes of sleep. That was the chaotic beginning to the Dutch Grandmaster’s day at the Elite Plaza Hotel in the Swedish town of Malmö, the venue of the TePe Sigeman Chess tournament. van Foreest, along with the rest of the players and guests, was evacuated from the hotel, only to learn later that it was a false alarm. He later told Chess.com, “I had no idea where the hell I am and it was completely pitch black in my room and the sound was so incredibly loud.” The man who woke up in complete “panic and disorientiation” wasn’t aware then, but the day was about to deliver the biggest win of his chess career as he took down Norwegian maestro and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen just a few hours later. …

Classical Test bowlers and a composed innings from Washington Sundar see GT over the line against resilient Punjab | Cricket News

Classical Test bowlers and a composed innings from Washington Sundar see GT over the line against resilient Punjab | Cricket News

Published by Webster

GT’s three horsemen of apocalypse set up a victorious cat and mouse chase over PBKS A chase of slow-burning thrills and twists met its befitting end when Washington Sundar swirled Marcus Stoinis’s penultimate ball of the final over on one knee over fine leg. The pursuit of 163 wasn’t to be this suspenseful, but for Punjab Kings’ persistence and panic setting into the Gujarat Titans’ middle-order. It was perhaps the most important stroke of Washington’s start-stop T20 career, a stroke he might look back on and say it saved his shortest-format career. The shot and the knock (40 off 23 not out) had redemptive powers. Almost everyone, including himself, seemed to be confused about his role. He has offered clarity. He could be a middle-order finisher with icy veins and calm manners to guide a tricky chase. Maybe not for wild-goose chases, but ones that require hearts that don’t flutter in crisis. For, whenever Gujarat Titans seemed to tighten their grip over the contest, Punjab would strike. After Shubman Gill’s exit for 16, Sai Sudharsan …

Jaafar Jackson impressed by viral Indian classical fusion dance to Michael Jackson song; see how he reacted

Jaafar Jackson impressed by viral Indian classical fusion dance to Michael Jackson song; see how he reacted

Published by Parlour News

An Instagram-user by the name of Swetha Warrier posted a Reel of dancers pulling off Indian classical fusion moves to a Michael Jackson song. While the King of Pop might not be around, his nephew Jaafar Jackson reacted to the Reel, as did a bunch of other celebrities. See how he reacted. Jaafar Jackson reacted to a viral Reel of Indian fusion dance to Michael Jackson’s song. Jaafar Jackson reacts to Indian Reel Swetha posted the video on her Instagram with the caption, “His music, our movement. A small tribute to Michael Jackson. Creating this was as fun as it looks. A dream team, truly.” She also added in the comments, “This took so much heart to put together.” The video shows dancers Bhumika Nath, Sneha, Riddhi Shaharkar, Abolee Nagarkar, Renni, Kaavya Nair, Neha Sahani and Manushi Desai dance Indian classical fusion to Michael’s 1987 song The Way You Make Me Feel. The short video shows them playing an old-school cassette before they show off their moves. Jaafar commented under the video with clapping and …

The fall of batsmanship, the resurgence of classical pacers: Delhi Capitals’ collapse against RCB says it all | Cricket News

The fall of batsmanship, the resurgence of classical pacers: Delhi Capitals’ collapse against RCB says it all | Cricket News

Published by Parlour News

4 min readNew DelhiApr 27, 2026 09:25 PM IST Those that inevitably cry foul at the fall of Indian Test cricket after more disappointment – two whitewashes at home within a year signal that the fall has already begun – must be shown the powerplay overs of Delhi Capitals’ innings against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday. On the 19th ball of the innings, Nitish Rana pulled out what is almost certain to be the most novel of all of his shots of this IPL season. Josh Hazlewood sent down a snorter, landing just on the back of a length from around the wicket and threatening the edge, and Rana – IPL veteran, alleged T20 marauder – lifted his bat, content to see it pass by him. ALSO READ | The Real IPL story – Flat pitch heroes who can’t handle a bit of movement or bounce A leave in an IPL game, at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds, famed to be a batting paradise, is so antithetical to modern-day batting that it only enhanced the …

Aarit Kapil, 10-year-old boy from New Delhi, defeats grandmaster Kazybek Nogerbek in classical game at Menorca | Chess News

Aarit Kapil, 10-year-old boy from New Delhi, defeats grandmaster Kazybek Nogerbek in classical game at Menorca | Chess News

Published by Webster

5 min readApr 8, 2026 10:37 PM IST On a day when the attention of Indian chess fans was fixated on Cyprus to see the fate of the three Indians in action at the twin Candidates tournaments, Aarit Kapil, a 10-year-old boy from New Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, was causing rumbles on the chessboard at the Menorca International Chess Open. Aarit, who had shot into limelight in June last year as a nine-year-old for almost defeating Magnus Carlsen in an online blitz game, defeated Kazakh grandmaster Kazybek Nogerbek in an over-the-board classical game on Wednesday on the Spanish island. Unlike many other tales of young up-and-comers taking down grandmasters who are past their prime, in this case, Aarit took down a grandmaster whose star is on the rise. Nogerbek was crowned the World Junior Champion in 2024 (the same edition where Divya Deshmukh became a Women’s World Junior Champion). Playing with white pieces, Aarit defied a rating deficit of 233 points to beat the Kazakh GM, who is two rungs above the FIDE Master title which …

Bridgerton Season 4 Volume 1: All Classical Covers From Taylor Swift to Coldplay and USHER

Bridgerton Season 4 Volume 1: All Classical Covers From Taylor Swift to Coldplay and USHER

Published by Parlour News

Bridgerton Season 4 is dawning upon us, and as we get ready for more romance and angst. With a new season, viewers have been more than excited for what soundtracks it has to offer, a crucial element to the fame and progression of the show. Netflix has shared a list of all the classical song covers based on popular pop songs that the fans will be able to witness in the background of crucial scenes for this part.  From a fan-favorite Taylor Swift song to a classical rendition of Coldplay’s Life in Technicolor, here’s everything you need to know about the soundtrack of the first volume of Bridgerton Season 4, all set to hit the screens on January 29, 2026, across four episodes. Episode 1Life in Technicolor (original by Coldplay) by Vitamin String QuartetDJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love (original by Usher ft. Pitbull) by Strings From ParisNever Let You Go (original by Third Eye Blind) by Vitamin String Quartet Episode 2Enchanted (original by Taylor Swift) by Joseph William Morgan Episode 3All I Wanted (original …

Arijit Singh retires from playback singing, says he is going back to Indian classical music: ‘It was a wonderful journey’ | Bollywood News

Arijit Singh retires from playback singing, says he is going back to Indian classical music: ‘It was a wonderful journey’ | Bollywood News

Published by Webster

It’s a rather sombre day for lovers of Hindi film music, as playback singer Arijit Singh has announced that he is hanging up his boots and stepping away from Bollywood playback singing. On Tuesday evening, Arijit took to his private account on X to share the news. This announcement comes just days after the release of his latest song, “Maatrubhumi,” from Salman Khan’s upcoming film Battle of Galwan. He recently also sang the song “Hum Toh Tere Hi Liye The” from O Romeo by Vishal Bhardwaj. Arijit wrote on X, “Hello, Happy New Year to all. I want to thank you all for giving me so much of love all these years as listeners. I am happy to announce that I am not gonna be taking any new assignments as a playback vocalist from now on. I am calling it off. It was a wonderful journey.” He immediately followed up with another post, adding, “GOD has been really kind to me. I am a fan of good music and in future will be learning more …