Viswanathan Anand

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen played out a draw in the top duel of the opening day as the second edition of the Global Chess League began with players from around the world squaring off here on Thursday. The game between the two heavyweights from India and Norway ended in a draw, with Carlsen managing to steady the ship after a tough middle game. In the first two matches of the day, American Gambits and Alpine SG Pipers emerged as victors, setting the pace for the competition. The packed venue at Friends House erupted in applause as players entered the playing hall, dressed in team jerseys in an atmosphere more akin to a football match than a chess tournament. The opening match of the season was played between the American Gambits and season one runners up Mumba Masters. According to league regulations, each match starts with a coin toss to decide the colours. For this round, the American Gambits played with the white pieces. As this is a round-ro

Overjoyed by India's remarkable dual triumph at the Chess Olympiad, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said that while this marks a promising beginning, there is still much work to be done for women's chess in the country. India scripted history on Sunday as both its men's and women's teams secured their first-ever titles, achieving a remarkable clean sweep of gold medals at the Chess Olympiad. But while in recent times, the men's game has surged in popularity with young Indian talents like R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh making waves on the world stage, in contrast, the women's game has struggled to match this trajectory. "It's a very good beginning. I think still a long way to go because we must continuously keep progressing," Anand told PTI, at the sidelines of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League. "And more important, get more and more girls to play and I think exactly this result will inspire more girls to play, and that is the hope," he added. The 54-year-old chess icon

"Slowly transitioning" from a world champion competitor to a mentor-cum-sports administrator, chess icon Viswanathan Anand feels the current crop of Indian players, that he has had a role in shaping, has turned out to be "great" in grabbing crucial opportunities. The 54-year-old, among the all-time greats of Indian sports with five world titles to his credit, is set to have a rare competitive outing at the Tech-Mahnindra Global Chess League come next month in London where he will be part of the Ganges Grandmasters team. In an interview to PTI, Anand shared his thoughts on India's chances at the Chess Olympiad starting on Wednesday, his impressions of the country's Olympic and Paralympic performance, the golden generation of young players that he has helped groom and also his own plans going forward. Widely credited for shaping the likes of youngest ever world championship challenger D Gukesh, and R Praggnanandhaa among others, Anand said he played a small part and shared the credit

The Toronto win makes D Gukesh the youngest World Championship contender in chess history

Teenaged Indian chess superstar R Praggnanandhaa defeated world champion Ding Liren of China in the fourth round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament here, a win which also helped him surpass the legendary Viswanathan Anand as the top-rated Indian player. After the victory late on Tuesday night, the 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa has 2748.3 points as against 2748 of five-time world champion Anand in the FIDE live ratings. The world chess body publishes the ratings at the start of each month. With the 62-move win with black pieces, Praggnanandhaa became the second Indian after Anand to defeat a reigning world champion in classical chess. Praggnanandhaa had also beaten Liren at the 2023 Tata Steel tournament. "That feels good!" Praggnanandhaa said after the win. He is now third in the standings with 2.5 points in the Masters event. The teenaged Indian GM has been in good form in recent times, having finished runner-up in the World Cup to Magnus Carlsen last year to qualify for the Candid

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Tuesday said he could not have asked for a stronger Indian chess lineup in the upcoming Asian Games. Indian chess has been on a stunning upswing, and in the recently-concluded Baku World Cup, an unprecedented four Indian players advanced to the quarterfinals, with R Praggnanandhaa making history by becoming the youngest to win a silver medal. Adding to this wave of success, last week saw Anand's 17-year-old protege, D Gukesh, ending his mentor's 37-year-long reign as India's No. 1 player. Gukesh achieved an impressive Elo rating of 2758, surpassing the Indian legend by four points and marking a significant milestone in the country's chess history. "I'm always nervous to just look at the rankings and think, oh, we're going to win this, we're going to win that," Anand said during a media interaction on the sidelines of Tata Steel Chess India here. "There are other very good teams. Uzbekistan is good. Vietnam is good. China will field a g

Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh has replaced the legendary Viswanathan Anand as India's top chess player after more than three decades. Anand has been India's No.1 since July 1986. The 17-year old Chennai GM, who recently lost in the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup in Baku to Magnus Carlsen, moved ahead of Anand to be ranked No.8 in the world. Gukesh broke into the top 10 of the FIDE rating list for the first time. Anand, a five-time world champion is currently ranked No.9. As per the FIDE ratings effective September 1, Gukesh's rating is 2758 while Anand's is 2754. Gukesh has gained three places in the rating list since August 1. Another teen prodigy R Praggnanandhaa, who made the world take notice of him by reaching the World Cup final where he lost to Carlsen, has risen to No. 19 in the list with a rating of 2727. He is India's No.3 player behind Gukesh and Anand. There are five Indians currently in the top 30 and that includes Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (no.27) and Arjun Erig

During the felicitation, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur congratulated Praggnanandhaa for making India proud

India now has 83 Chess Grandmasters, and going by the peerless Viswanathan Anand's reckoning, this generation will dominate for a decade or two

With India producing chess Grandmasters aplenty besides setting a name for itself on the world stage, legendary Indian GM Viswanathan Anand firmly believes that the current lot happens to be a golden generation in Indian chess. His comments came at a time when the Indian players have hogged the limelight in the Chess World Cup in Baku (Azerbaijan), where young GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is competing in the final against reigning world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Speaking to a weekly news magazine, Anand was quoted as saying that he was amazed by the fact that most of the current lot possesses a 2,700-plus Elo rating, especially below 20 years of age, terming it "special". I'm throwing in the title early, but they are a golden generation. They are all in the 2,700-plus group (Elo rating). And they're all under 20. That just does not happen; it's really something special." "And what this means, and the reason I call them the golden generation, is they're going to spend the next

Five Indians, four men and a woman reached the quarterfinals of the Chess World Cup 2023 being held in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is the first instance where more than one Indian has featured in last 8

Teenaged Grandmaster D Gukesh posted a win over home favourite Misratdin Iskandarov in a second round match of the World Cup here on Tuesday and overtook his idol Viswanathan Anand in live world (FIDE) rankings. The 17-year old Gukesh outclassed Iskandarov of Azerbaijan in 44 moves in the second game of their second-round match. "Gukesh D won again today and has overcome Viswanathan Anand in live rating! There is still almost a month till next official FIDE rating list on September 1, but it's highly likely that 17-year-old will be making it to top 10 in the world as the highest-rated Indian player," the international chess federation (FIDE) said in a tweet. The latest gain of 2.5 rating points took Gukesh's live rating to 2755.9, while Anand's is 2754.0. As a result, Gukesh replaced Anand as the World No. 9 in live rankings while the five-time World champion slipped to 10th. Anand, who first made it to the World's top-10 in July 1991, has remained India's top-ranked player in all

Five-time world champions Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen were picked up by Ganges Grandmasters and SG Alpine Warriors respectively in the Players' Draft for the inaugural Global Chess League on Wednesday. The Global Chess League will be held from June 21 to July 2 at the Dubai Chess & Culture Club in association with the Dubai Sports Council. Six teams Ganges Grandmasters, SP Alpine Warriors, Triveni Continental Kings, Chingari Gulf Titans, upGrad Mumba Masters and Balan Alaskan Knights took part in the player draft held in Mumbai, roping in 36 front-line men and women chess players from across the globe. The players were divided into six categories: Icon, Superstar Men 1, Superstar Men 2, Superstar Women 1, Superstar Women 2 and Prodigy. Anand, Carlsen and reigning world champion Ding Liren, who was drafted in by Triveni Continental Kings, were the pick of Icon Players. The most notable draft in the Prodigy segment was India's chess whiz kid R Praggnanandhaa, the ...

As Norwegian Grandmaster ends his last game as reigning No. 1, a look at the chessboard of ratings and stages to the top

Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand was on Sunday elected deputy president of FIDE, the sport's world governing body, while incumbent president Arkady Dvorkovich was re-elected for a second term

There's only one instance where a reigning world champion relinquished his title without playing: Bobby Fischer in 1975

Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly, Karthikeyan Murali, SP Sethuraman, Abhijeet Gupta and Abhimanyu Puranik comprise the third Indian team with Gujarat's first GM, Tejas Bakre as the captain

The Prime Minister launched the historic torch relay for the 44th Chess Olympiad today at Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi

India's Viswanathan Anand showed he still had a lot of fight in him despite cutting back on his schedule as he finished third in the Norway Chess 2022

Indian maestro Viswanathan Anand's campaign at the Norway Chess tournament suffered a setback after losing to Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the ninth round