Magnus Carlsen (Image credit: Vineet Ramakrishnan/TimesofIndia.com) TimesofIndia.com in PARIS: Lucas had come to watch chess with his family. His wife was there, so was his young daughter and his 11-year-old son, Marius, who has been playing the game for only about a year.By the time they left the Esports World Cup arena at Paris Expo…
Gukesh Dommaraju and Javokhir Sindarov (Photo PTI/IANS) NEW DELHI: The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced Geneva, Switzerland as the host city for the 2026 FIDE World Championship Match, where reigning champion Gukesh Dommaraju will defend his crown against Uzbek challenger Javokhir Sindarov in what promises to be a historic clash.The World Championship match will…
Viswanathan Anand (PTI Photo/Sailendra Bhojak) Viswanathan Anand he reversed his previous decision and will now contest the FIDE elections as Vice-President alongside Timur Turlov, who is a candidate for the organization’s top post. Anand had earlier said he wanted to step away from the role to spend more time with his family, but changes in…
My first memory of chess is from when I was seven years old.Entering the venue of my first international tournament, hand tucked into my mother’s, I signed under the emblem of FIDE, the international chess governing body. Three words, printed in a language I did not understand, caught my eye. Gens Una Sumus.As I stood…
File Pic: R Vaishali, R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh after India won both titles at Chess Olympiad 2024. (PTI Photo) NEW DELHI: Defending champions India have named formidable men’s and women’s teams for the FIDE Chess Olympiad, with world champion D Gukesh, in-form R Praggnanandhaa and Women’s Candidates winner R Vaishali leading the country’s bid…
Arkady Dvorkovich (left) and Viswanathan Anand (PTI Photo) NEW DELHI: International Chess Federation (FIDE) president Arkady Dvorkovich has stepped down from his role after being included in the latest European Union sanctions list linked to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The decision means FIDE Vice President and former world champion Viswanathan Anand he will serve…
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with Mahatma Gandhi and Anshul Bhatt with chess legend Viswanathan Anand NEW DELHI: As a young lawyer in Ahmedabad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel he spent his evenings at the Gujarat Club, where he played bridge and smoked cigars, and it was there that he first heard of a man named Gandhi returning from…
NEW DELHI: French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja was crowned champion of the fourth edition of the Chennai Grand Masters after holding Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi to a par in the grand final on Wednesday, while world champion D Gukesh endured a disappointing campaign, finishing last in the elite tournament.Firouzja finished the competition with 4.5 points after…
Pranesh gives Gukesh another defeat (X-Chess Base India) GM M Pranesh continued his impressive run at the Chennai Grand Masters by defeating reigning world champion D Gukesh for the second consecutive time, while GM Nihal Sarin outclassed Arjun Erigaisi in a crucial Round 6 clash on Tuesday. The results reshaped the standings, with French Grandmaster…
School students hold chess placards designed to welcome Indian chess grandmaster Dommaraju Gukesh after the victory of their candidates. (PTI Photo/R Senthilkumar) The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has announced financial support for 42 of India’s most promising young chess players, with the aim of helping them continue practicing the sport without worrying about the…
India’s 99th Chess Grandmaster Rathanvel VS (Designated by TimesofIndia.com) NEW DELHI: Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, felt like the wait was almost over. Almost a decade after the end of the ten-year Trojan War, he and his crew were finally within reach of home, only to find themselves on the verge of losing all hope…
R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, and Divya Deshmukh (PTI/ANI Photos) India’s dominance in world chess has found another major endorsement, with reigning world champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh leading a strong Indian contingent in the shortlist for the inaugural FIDE Awards of Excellence.The International Chess Federation (FIDE) on Friday…
Survival Story of 16 Year Old Md Imran (Special Arrangements) NEW DELHI: The bus pulled away shortly after 8 pm. Md Imran, famished after an eight-hour drive, had pulled away during a scheduled ten-minute stopover in Bratislava, Slovakia, looking only for biscuits and coffee. He returned to the platform in time and frantically motioned for…
2026 Female champion candidate Vaishali with her mother (FIDE Photo) The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has approved a new qualification system for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2028 and the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2028. These events decide who will challenge for the World Championship titles. The updated rules are designed to make ranking fairer, rewarding…
FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 Divya Deshmukh and FIDE World Cup 2025 winner Javokhir Sindarov (PTI Photos) The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has approved a major overhaul of the World Cup and Women’s World Cup formats from 2027, with the aim of making the tournaments shorter, more inclusive and more rewarding for players.The biggest change…
NEW DELHI: Do you remember the feeling of doing your class 10 exam? Very few do not feel the butterflies in their stomach first. For the 98th Grand Master (GM) Aswath S of India, the court exam meant putting the chessboard, his lifelong partner, aside for four months, from the beginning of the year until…
D Gukesh and Hans Niemann The Chennai Grand Masters 2026 returns from July 16 to July 22 at the Westin Chennai Velachery. It will bring together some of the world’s best chess players for the fourth edition of India’s strongest classical chess tournament. With World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju leading the field, the event has…
Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi (PTI Photo) Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi’s bid to qualify for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026 ended in a heartbreak as Dutch Grandmaster Benjamin Bok beat him 2-1 in straight sets in the final of India Rising: Road to EWC at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai last Saturday.Bok sealed…
Russian chess master Vladimir Kramnik (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP) Former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik has been banned for two years by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) after its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission found he violated several rules related to player conduct and public accusations. The case is centered on a series of statements and…
Follow Bordoloi becomes India’s only medalist in World Youth Chess NEW DELHI: Last week, 13-year-old Woman FIDE Master (WFM) Follow Bordoloi created history for India in Montesilvano, Italy. Competing at the 2026 FIDE World Youth Chess Championship, the Bengaluru-based youngster won the silver medal in the Under-18 Girls category.Entering as the 16th seed with a…
Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy The player draft for Season 4 of the Global Chess League (GCL) produced a lot of excitement on Monday, with Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin emerging as one of the most sought-after players. After a bidding battle, Sarin was signed by American Gambits, adding more strength to…
Grandmaster Harshavardhan GB with his parents (Designed by TimesofIndia.com) NEW DELHI: As India moves a step closer to the landmark of producing 100 Grand Masters, Chennai, long hailed as the ‘Mecca of Indian chess’, finds itself as the protagonist.On Sunday, Harshavardhan GB became the 97th Grand Master (GM) of India from the same land. He…
The 96th Grand Master of India Ethan Vaz NEW DELHI: The exact date was March 11, 2011, when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and subsequent tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three reactor cores have melted, resulting in the largest release of radioactive material since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. At that time, Linda Fernandes…
Divya Deshmukh and Magnus Carlsen (Agency Photo) The Global Chess League (GCL) is all set to return for its fourth season with the highly anticipated Season 4 Player Draft scheduled to take place in Mumbai on June 29. The league will once again bring together some of the biggest names in the world of chess…
The great Indian masters Pravin Thipsay, SL Narayanan, Abhimanyu Puranik, Srinath Narayanan, SP Sethuraman, and Shyam Sundar M (Designed by TimesofIndia.com) NEW DELHI: Earning an official FIDE rating (the primary governing body of chess) has never been easy. A player must participate in FIDE ranked tournaments, which are organized under strict regulations and often require…
D Gukesh (@FIDE_chess X Photo) NEW DELHI: World champion D Gukesh is set to defend his title against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov later this year, and Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran believes the young Indian needs to fine-tune some areas of his game to stay ahead. According to Sasikiran, Gukesh’s habit of creating very complicated positions makes him…