All posts tagged: Wei

Park Chan Wook Ropes in Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Tang Wei For The Brigands Of Rattlecreek

Park Chan Wook Ropes in Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Tang Wei For The Brigands Of Rattlecreek

Published by Parlour News

The Brigands of Rattlecreek is an upcoming thriller helmed by celebrated filmmaker Park Chan Wook. The Korean auteur is currently driving the upcoming 79th Cannes Film Festival as its Jury President, becoming the first South Korean to lead the main competition panel. At the same time, he is also dipping his toes into an A-lister-led film project. As per a report by DEADLINE, he has brought in Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal, and Tang Wei to star in his next film.  Main cast for Park Chan Wook’s The Brigands of Rattlecreek revealed With a screenplay from S. Craig Zahler, Patrick Wachsberger’s 193, a Legendary company will manage the international sales for the film. Park himself will step in as one of the producers, representing Moho Film, with Bradley Fischer joining in. Back Jisun for Moho Film, Mike Medavoy, and Georgia Kacandes have been named executive producers. As per a description for the film, it will follow a sheriff and a doctor, who join forces to plot revenge against bandits that have unleashed havoc on …

Javokhir Sindarov runs riot in Cyprus, destroys Wei Yi; Praggnanandhaa held to lifeless draw | Chess News

Javokhir Sindarov runs riot in Cyprus, destroys Wei Yi; Praggnanandhaa held to lifeless draw | Chess News

Published by Webster

Uzbek sensation Javokhir Sindarov is no longer just winning games but making a mockery of the Candidates Tournament 2026, taking place in Cyprus. On Saturday, the youngest player in the event crushed China’s Wei Yi in the sixth round for his fifth win. With 5.5 points from six games, he now leads his nearest rival by a full 1.5 points. And this against the best players in the world, with a World Championship shot on the line. Just months after breaking Chinese hearts in the FIDE World Cup summit clash in Goa, Sindarov did it again. And this time, with a lot more eyeballs pinned on him, he made sure no one mistook it for a fluke as his juggernaut just keeps rolling. Commentating on the match for the Chessbase India YouTube channel stream, Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi watched in awe. When asked to pick a single decisive moment, Vidit, no stranger to the pressure cooker of a Candidates tournament, having featured in the previous edition in Toronto, said, “There were a few small decisions. …

Candidates Tournament: R Praggnanandhaa gives Wei Yi a run for his money with black pieces, before settling for a draw | Chess News

Candidates Tournament: R Praggnanandhaa gives Wei Yi a run for his money with black pieces, before settling for a draw | Chess News

Published by Webster

Modern chess is strange, in ways that go beyond the surface. It’s an age when engines are so powerful that every opening has been analysed to death, and top players can rattle off 20 moves of theory without breaking a sweat. The result is a defensive standard that’s never been higher. When both players know what the computer thinks is the best move and mistakes are ruthlessly punished, the draw has become the default outcome at the elite level. So how does one win? Monday’s game between India’s R Praggnanandhaa and China’s Wei Yi, in the second round of the 2026 Candidates Tournament, offered a hint of an answer. It was another draw, but in reality, it was more than two grandmasters playing for a truce. Praggnanandhaa had come prepared with something special, and he used it to push Wei Yi, one of the most reliable defenders in the world, to the very edge. The shared point was almost like an afterthought, and what really mattered was how close the Indian came to breaking through …

Where did Chinese Candidates contender GM Wei Yi disappear to, before re-emerging in 2024? ‘College, because…’

Where did Chinese Candidates contender GM Wei Yi disappear to, before re-emerging in 2024? ‘College, because…’

Published by Webster

Chinese GM Wei Yi, qualified for the Candidates after reaching the 2025 FIDE World Cup final, and the former prodigy is making headlines 10 years after he first emerged with an eye popping opening at age 15 to stun the world. Two years after Ding Liren lost his World championship crown to D Gukesh, Wei has lined up for the Candidates as the sole Chinese in the 8-player field. While the American stars Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura are slated to be favourites, alongside R Praggnanandha of India, Wei Yi is being talked of as the dark horse. The Chinese however played very sparsely between 2018 and 2024, when it was reported he completed his studies at the Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management. The Yancheng, Jiangsu-born GM, is on 2754 ELO ratings, just nine below his peak 2763. But even when he played unfrequently during his University years, he did not drop below 2722. However he opted to go to college which tends to be the norm in Chinese chess, and described those …

Anish Giri’s Vishy Anand fan-post, Carlsen’s ‘old Americans’ picks and Nepo’s dark horse Wei Yi | Chess News

Anish Giri’s Vishy Anand fan-post, Carlsen’s ‘old Americans’ picks and Nepo’s dark horse Wei Yi | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Mar 17, 2026 11:50 PM IST When asked for his favourite for the upcoming Candidates at Cyprus starting March 26, Viswanathan Anand had said, “I think Fabi (Fabiano), Hikaru (Nakamura), Anish (Giri)… you know this is got to be their time, so they will have that feeling going into it that this is a chance to grab… and a lot of wildcards.” While World No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and No 3 Fabiano Caruana start favourites by ranking, the Dutchman Anish Giri was delirious and took to Twitter late Monday night to post, “Call me a weirdo, but I feel so proud, having a chess hero of mine even just mention my name when giving an interview.” The candidate, with his wry takes on all things chess, has been happily posting alongside his preparations. To Chess.com’s prediction attributed to Magnus Carlsen that proclaimed, “The old Americans are the favourites”, Giri would say, “Oof more spicy stuff.” Call me a weirdo, but I feel so proud, having a chess hero of mine even just …

Datuk Misbun Sidek: The coach who made Lee Chong Wei is now chasing his fourth World No. 1 — in India | Badminton News

Datuk Misbun Sidek: The coach who made Lee Chong Wei is now chasing his fourth World No. 1 — in India | Badminton News

Published by Webster

A good 20 years after Malaysian badminton icon Datuk Misbun Sidek produced his third World No. 1 in Lee Chong Wei in 2006, the renowned coach is stationed at Thiruthangal’s Hatsun Badminton Academy. The spry coach, a grandfather now, still lands on the court at 5 a.m. daily, and in his first week at the academy’s courts in Virudhunagar district, was the last man standing after introducing the trainees to a basic fitness module — leaving them breathless and panting, but acutely aware of the tough regimen he brings. “Indians have excellent skills and in the early rounds of top tournaments it’s fine. But can they maintain fitness levels on the seventh day of the tournament when it’ll be the finals? I’m going to push them hard to ensure they can handle the intensity,” he declares. The sport has changed since Misbun trained brothers Rashid Sidek (1997) and Roslin Hashim (2001) to their respective World No. 1 climbs. At Hatsun, he trains India’s reigning national champion Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar, hoping to level up his …

Where did Chinese Candidates contender GM Wei Yi disappear to, before re-emerging in 2024? ‘College, because…’

‘I don’t have great chances at Candidates’: Wei Yi ranks Praggnanandhaa above himself in tier list | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readFeb 17, 2026 06:26 PM IST China’s Wei Yi is certain that he is not one of the favourites to win the Candidates tournament that will be held at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus, between 28 March and 16 April. The winner of the eight-player Candidates will challenge Gukesh D at the World Championship later this year. When asked about his chances of winning the Candidates tournament in a conversation with Greg Mustreader for the Chess with Mustreader channel on YouTube, China’s Wei Yi said: “To be honest, I don’t think I have great chances to win the Candidates because if you want to win the Candidates, you need extensive experience. So yeah, that’s why I think Fabi (Fabiano Caruana) and Hikaru (Nakamura), also Anigh Giri, have great chances to win the Candidates.” Wei Yi also praised Praggnanandhaa, who will be the only Indian player at the upcoming Candidates. Pragg was also part of the last edition of the Candidates, where Gukesh won the event to earn a …

How Arjun Erigaisi hoodwinked Viswanathan Anand and Wei Yi at Rapid event of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess | Chess News

How Arjun Erigaisi hoodwinked Viswanathan Anand and Wei Yi at Rapid event of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess | Chess News

Published by Webster

Top-ranked Indian across all formats, Arjun Erigaisi is described by his mother as a jhala prasantamaina abbayi, a very calm boy. Yet that same calm boy transforms into a destructive beast the moment he steps up to the chessboard. Having finished third in the Rapid event of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata, Arjun began the Blitz portion with a blitzkrieg of his own. On Saturday, he took down five opponents one by one, starting with five straight wins, many of which were swindled in his favour at the very last second. Facing the Russian teenager and 2024 World Rapid Champion, Murzin, Arjun found himself in a precarious position after holding equality for 51 moves. Both players were down to mere seconds on the clock, and Arjun was hanging by a thread. In a sharp position, Murzin needed to find a winning sequence, but against a resourceful Arjun, that was never going to be easy. A pawn down, Arjun managed to snatch back a pawn and steer the game toward a draw …

Full list of qualified players after Sindarov Wei Yi & Esipenko confirm qualification via FIDE World Cup

Full list of qualified players after Sindarov Wei Yi & Esipenko confirm qualification via FIDE World Cup

Published by Webster

With Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, China’s Wei Yi, and Russia’s Andrey Esipenko having qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2026, only two spots remain for the eight-player World Championship challenger event. The tournament is scheduled for Cyprus between March 28 and April 16, 2026. Sindarov, Wei Yi and Esipenko qualified via the FIDE World Cup 2025 route, having finished in the top three positions. They join previously qualified players Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, and Matthias Blübaum. Caruana secured his place by finishing atop the 2024 FIDE Circuit leaderboard, while Giri and Blübaum earned their berths by placing first and second, respectively, in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss Open Section. This cycle presents a contrast for Indian chess. After three Indians — D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, and Vidit Gujrathi — qualified for the 2024 Toronto Candidates, no male Indian player has yet secured a spot for the 2026 edition. However, Praggnanandhaa is in a strong position on the 2025 FIDE Circuit leaderboard, currently holding a healthy lead of over 50 points against his closest rival, Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Although …

How Arsenal-Tottenham game, Novak Djokovic helped Russian win Candidates spot & overcome heartbreak against Wei Yi

How Arsenal-Tottenham game, Novak Djokovic helped Russian win Candidates spot & overcome heartbreak against Wei Yi

Published by Webster

Andrey Esipenko plans to get drunk tonight. The last few days have been a whirlwind for the 23-year-old Russian. He was on the brink of eliminating China’s Wei Yi in the semifinal tiebreaks of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025, but a catastrophic one-move rook blunder sent him crashing out of the title race. Just a few hours later, Esipenko faced the much tougher task of leaving that heartbreak behind to fight for the final Candidates spot. Still, he rolled up his sleeves and delivered a counterpunch, beating Uzbekistan’s Nodirkbek Yakubboev to book his ticket to Cyprus. “I don’t have too many emotions; I’m just very happy,” said Esipenko after qualifying for the Candidates. A relaxed undertone colored his answers, as if he were too exhausted and elated for deep analysis of his own games. “I will get drunk,” he laughed. “We (his second David Paravyan and him) found a new restaurant that we visited after the game against Wei Yi. The music was so loud we couldn’t even speak to each other. We’ll probably …