All posts tagged: Vidit

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi battle to hard fought draw as Indian derby ends in stalemate

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi battle to hard fought draw as Indian derby ends in stalemate

Published by Webster

5 min readNew DelhiJun 10, 2026 11:29 PM IST The fourth round of the UzChess Cup 2026 Masters event saw two Indians pitted against each other. Barring their nationality, there was nothing in particular that resembled how their tournaments had gone. On one side was Arjun Erigaisi, jointly leading the event with a couple of draws and a win sandwiched in between. On the other side was Vidit Gujrathi, languishing at the bottom after endured a terrible start to his campaign as he lost his opening two games before gaining his first half point, which came in a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Having played multiple team events like the Olympiad and the Asian Games together in a tightly knit squad, both players are fairly familiar with each other. They know their strengths, weaknesses, tricks and perhaps even each other’s mindset to some extent. So when they faced each other for the umpteenth time in Tashkent on Wednesday, one could expect a battle of attrition with both fighting for the full point. It was indeed a …

Arjun Erigaisi roars back for first win as Vidit Gujrathi suffers second straight loss

Arjun Erigaisi roars back for first win as Vidit Gujrathi suffers second straight loss

Published by Webster

4 min readJun 8, 2026 11:34 PM IST The second round of the Uzchess Cup 2026 Masters offered no respite for the faint-hearted, as all five games ended decisively. For India, the day brought mixed fortunes as Arjun Erigaisi roared back after a draw in the opening round to claim his first win, toppling Nodirbek Yakubboev, while Vidit Gujrathi endured another crushing defeat, falling this time to former two-time Candidates champion Ian Nepomniachtchi. Yakubboev has strong credentials and is one of the stronger players hailing from an extremely talented player pool in Uzbekistan. He was a semifinalist at the FIDE World Cup 2025, just one win away from locking in his spot at the Candidates. He eventually finished fourth and was one of the nearly men of the event. In an English game, both Yakubboev and Arjun ventured deep into a fairly complex middle game that saw only two exchanges: a pawn and a knight trade in the first 22 moves. Both players bled more than an hour on the clock and reached an exciting …

Cold start for Indians as Vidit suffers loss, Arjun held to draw

Cold start for Indians as Vidit suffers loss, Arjun held to draw

Published by Webster

3 min readNew DelhiJun 7, 2026 11:42 PM IST A cold day awaited the Indian players in Tashkent during the opening round of the 2026 Uzchess Masters. The highest-ranked Indian, Arjun Erigaisi, was held to a draw by the considerably lower-rated Shamsiddin Vokhidov, while the other Indian in the fray, Vidit Gujrathi, suffered a heavy blow at the hands of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on Sunday. The Azerbaijani veteran Mamedyarov snatched the full point from the experienced Indian. He risked steering the game into an extremely complex middlegame, a gamble that worked perfectly in his favour. Mamedyarov induced errors from Vidit to gain an extra pawn in the rook endgame. Yet the position remained double-edged, where one misstep could render the extra pawn meaningless. Vidit fought valiantly for most of the endgame before a single lapse in judgment cost him the game. He failed to build a pawn fortress and eventually folded in 67 moves, after battling for over five hours. In the Arjun vs. Vokhidov clash, the 124-point Elo gap proved less decisive. In the Caro-Kann …

‘We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares?’: Vidit Gujrathi on New Delhi and India’s deteriorating AQI | Chess News

‘We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares?’: Vidit Gujrathi on New Delhi and India’s deteriorating AQI | Chess News

Published by Webster

Delhi and the overall country’s deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) has been the topic of conversation for a long time with India Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi the latest to point out the hazardous level of air pollution in India and the national capital. Sharing a screenshot of Delhi’s AQI on Saturday, which read 598 which is hazardous quality, Gujrathi posted on X, “We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares? Shouldn’t solving this be the top priority?” The pollution has affected the ongoing India Open badminton tournament at the capital as well with World No.3 Anders Antonsen pulling out of because of the ‘extreme pollution in Delhi’. “Many is (sic) curious to why I have pulled out of the India Open for the third consecutive year. Due to the extreme pollution in Delhi at the moment I don’t think it’s a place to host a badminton tournament,” Antonsen had written on an Instagram story earlier this week. We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares?Shouldn’t solving this be the top priority ? pic.twitter.com/1qyZvPFLFq — …

Hardik Singh lone nominee for Khel Ratna; Divya Deshmukh, Vidit Gujrathi & Tejaswin Shankar for Arjuna

Hardik Singh lone nominee for Khel Ratna; Divya Deshmukh, Vidit Gujrathi & Tejaswin Shankar for Arjuna

Published by Webster

India men’s hockey team vice-captain Hardik Singh was the sole recommendation for this year’s Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna honour, while teenaged chess star Divya Deshmukh and trailblazing decathlete Tejaswin Shankar were among the 24 picked for the Arjuna awards by the selection committee here on Wednesday. The 27-year-old Hardik has been India’s midfield mainstay and was a part of both the 2021 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympic Games medal-clinching teams. This year, he was a part of India’s Asia Cup gold-winning side. In a first, a Yogasan athlete, Aarti Pal, has been recommended for the Arjuna award, five years after it was formally recognised by the Sports Ministry, a well-placed source told PTI. Aarti is the reigning national and Asian champion in the discipline that would be a demonstration sport at the 2026 Asian Games. 21 other names have been finalised for the Arjuna by the awards selection panel after a meeting here on Wednesday. The panel features, among others, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Vice President Gagan Narang, former badminton player Aparna Popat and …

Vidit Gujrathi, India’s flagbearer in chess for the past decade, shifts focus to ‘vibe coding’ chess apps for elite players | Chess News

Vidit Gujrathi, India’s flagbearer in chess for the past decade, shifts focus to ‘vibe coding’ chess apps for elite players | Chess News

Published by Webster

When a 41-player contingent from India heads to Qatar next week to compete at the prestigious FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship, one player’s name will be conspicuous by its absence: Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. Currently playing in the Global Chess League for Triveni Continental Kings, Vidit says he has taken a ‘conscious decision’ to ease up on his chess. Instead, the veteran says he’s focussing on his next act in the sport, which includes pursuits like vibe coding chess websites for other professional players. Vidit says that next year, besides playing in the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz in Kolkata, his tournament calendar is bare. “This is a conscious decision I took last year that I will reduce playing chess. I did not play in all the serious events that I could have this year. Before some tournaments like the Grand Swiss, where I had confirmed my participation, I was even thinking till the last minute should I play or not? I did not feel like playing,” Vidit says. Taking a step back Vidit says …

Why Vidit Gujrathi felt at ‘home’ at FIDE World Cup in Goa | Chess News

Why Vidit Gujrathi felt at ‘home’ at FIDE World Cup in Goa | Chess News

Published by Webster

For the approximately two weeks that he was in Goa for the FIDE World Cup, trying also to qualify for the Candidates, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi looked like a man at ease. Unlike other chess tournaments, the knockout format of the World Cup is designed to keep grandmasters on the edge and in a constant state of anxiety. For Vidit, who has played chess around the world, playing in India brought a certain comfort level. The rare presence of his entire family during a high-stakes tournament had a lot to do with this feeling. “I don’t know how many more World Cups I’m going to play. So it was nice that they could watch this live from the venue,” says Vidit. After his elimination, he is now preparing for another home event, the Global Chess League, which will be held in Mumbai. Story continues below this ad Having elite tournaments in India meant other comforts for the Indian grandmaster besides having his family around him. It meant that his primary concern while travelling abroad — food— …

FIDE World Cup: Karthik Venkataraman becomes 5th Indian to enter Round 4; heartbreak for Vidit, SL Narayanan | Chess News

FIDE World Cup: Karthik Venkataraman becomes 5th Indian to enter Round 4; heartbreak for Vidit, SL Narayanan | Chess News

Published by Webster

Karthik Venkataraman became the fifth Indian to reach the fourth round at the FIDE World Cup after surviving a nerve-wracking tiebreak battle against Bogdan-Daniel Deac on Sunday. Besides Karthik, Arjun Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa, Pentala Harikrishna and Pranav V will also be part of the 32 players who will return to the board after the first rest of the event on Monday. Meanwhile, it was heartbreak for Vidit Gujrathi and SL Narayanan who were eliminated from Round 3 after tiebreaks. For Vidit, the heartbreak was harsher as he had won the first rapid game on Sunday against Sam Shankland with some brilliant endgame maneuvering. But he then lost the next game to send the contest into a mini-battle with two more games, where he drew the first and then finally lost the second one to see the door on his Candidates chances shut. After his fin victory on Sunday, two-time National champion Karthik said he was in ‘total fear’ coming into the World Cup because everyone is ‘very strong’. While some of the world’s best players …

FIDE World Cup 2025: Vidit Gujrathi knocked out

FIDE World Cup 2025: Vidit Gujrathi knocked out

Published by Webster

GM Karthik Venkataraman continued his dream run in the FIDE World Cup 2025 as he defeated GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) in the second game of the tiebreaker with black pieces to advance to the fourth round in Goa on Sunday. Karthik, who had drawn the first rapid game with white, pinned Deac’s king in one corner and made the most of the additional bishop on board to win in 43 moves. “Classical game against Deac it was not too well but I somehow managed to defend. But in both the rapid games I played well. I don’t know if I was objectively winning in the first game but I was clearly better. Second game also it was smooth,” said Karthik, who will next face Le Quang Liem of Vietnam. Speaking about the pressure of playing the World Cup, the two-time National Champion, who had defeated compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram in second round, said “Chess players are not used to playing this kind of format. Normally it is Swiss or round robin and one can relax a …