CHESS#1314

There are high hopes of a medal at the Batumi Olympiad where the Open Team will field Viswanathan Anand, Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Krishnan Sasikiran and Baskaran Adhiban

It’s been an incredible week for Indian chess. First, R Vaishali, the 17-year-old elder sister of Praggnanandhaa, completed her Woman Grandmaster title with a third and final WGM norm at the Riga Technical University Open on August 12. On August 14, 14-year-old Nihal Sarin (he’s a month past his 14th birthday actually) completed his Grandmaster title at the Abu Dhabi Masters. India’s 53rd GM did it with a round to spare.

Then, on Independence Day, Arjun Erigaisi, who is a month short of his 15th birthday, became India’s 54th Grandmaster with a clutch win in the last round at Abu