Our youngsters have the attitude to move on... and improve, says Anand
The initiative seeks to provide a structured platform for early-stage, talent development particularly among children showing promise at the grassroots level. Chola Chess aims to catch the talent young and shape them into better players. Led by GM RB Ramesh who will combine elite mentorship, training, and mental conditioning. A standout feature of the initiative will be its hybrid delivery model: CholaChess.com will ensure players from across the country, including rural areas, can access high-quality mentorship regardless of geographical region.
"With Chola Chess, we are keen to help budding players from the grass root level to give them a platform to be better players. Even mid-level players and those who are experienced can hone their skills,'' said prominent coach RB Ramesh.
Viswanathan Anand who was a special guest lauded the initiative and spoke highly about the talent pool in the country. ''It's (talent pool) pretty self explanatory that we have so many people in the top of world chess. You saw it at the Olympiad last year. Something that makes us very proud,'' said Anand.
D Gukesh is the world champion, but he has been run down by several players including Magnus Carlsen.
Anand felt Gukesh should 'ignore' the comments and keep improving. ''I mean, you cannot go on living by your critics. That's part of the world. You just try to get better. But I am happy that all our youngsters have this attitude. This desire to question yourself and keep improving. And they should continue doing that,'' said Anand.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
10 hours ago
- Indian Express
Divya Deshmukh's FIDE win at FIDE Women's World Cup and a turning point in Indian women's chess
Over the span of 25 days in Batumi, little cracks started to appear in China's dominance of women's chess. A nine-woman contingent made its way from China to the Georgian city to try and win the FIDE Women's World Cup, only to see two Indians — the 19-year-old champion Divya Deshmukh and the 38-year-old finalist Koneru Humpy — fighting it out for the title at the end. The contrast in India and China's fortunes was most visible during the final: While Divya fought against Humpy for the title, the Chinese duo of Tan and Lei were fighting for the third place. 'Indian chess is just unbelievable!' wrote chess legend Judit Polgar in a post on her X account. Having two Indian women fighting in the finale was a moment that could be an indicator of a seismic shift in the world of women's chess. After all, this comes on the back of the Indian women's team claiming the Chess Olympiad gold medal just last year. China has been a dominant force in women's chess for decades now. While they have not had a World Cup winner in three editions, their prowess in women's chess is strongly reflected in women's world championships, the pinnacle of women's chess. Six out of the 17 women's world champions in history have been from China. The first of these was Xie Jun, who became the first-ever women's chess champion from Asia when she claimed the title in 1991. After claiming the title thrice more, she passed the torch to Zhu Chen and Xu Yuhua. Then came the era of Hou Yifan, who won the title four times starting from 2010. The 15 years since that title from Yifan have seen three women from China claim the women's world champion's crown — Tan Zhongyi and Ju Wenjun being the other two. This reign of China on the women's world champion's throne since 2010 was only briefly interjected twice. 'Divya's win is a great thing for India because of the way the country's players dominated the World Cup. Women's chess especially was always dominated by Russia and China, two very strong countries,' points out grandmaster Abhijit Kunte, who was the captain of the Indian women's team at the Olympiad last year where the first blow to China's dominance was struck by Indian women. At the Olympiad, a team event, China had sent a second-string team without stars like women's world champion Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie. At the Women's World Cup, though, it had one of the strongest contingents, missing only two top stars: World No 1 Hou Yifan, who is semi-retired at this point, and women's world champion Ju. China's nine-player contingent was matched in numbers by India's nine players among the 107 contenders from 46 countries. 'The way India dominated the World Cup, it showed that our players are ready to take on everybody. China cannot take India lightly now, because we have gold and silver medals in the World Cup, we won a silver medal at the Asian Games and we were gold medalists in the Chess Olympiad. Having two India versus China semi-finals shows how stiff the competition between the two countries is,' says Kunte. What makes the one-two finish by Indian players even more remarkable is that the FIDE Women's World Cup is the trickiest format in the sport to navigate. It's a minefield where each round involves one-on-one battles in the two-game mini matches in the classical format. If the two classical games do not yield a winner, the battle enters a third day where there are skirmishes in the rapid format and then blitz if necessary until there's a winner. On paper, it should have been an exhausting format for someone like Humpy. And a daunting one for someone as inexperienced as Divya. But eventually, the grizzled veteran and the tenacious teenager were left standing to fight for the title. Away from the two players too, there are plenty of positives: Be it Woman International Master Priyanka K outlasting Women's Grandmaster Zsoka Gaal in tense tiebreaks, or I M Vantika Agrawal taking out former women's world champion Anna Ushenina, or India having more players in the quarter-finals (four) than China (three). 'Our Olympiad team members, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Harika Dronavalli, also made it to the quarter-finals. So if you look at the bench strength of the Indian women's players in this World Cup, we can say that for the very first time in women's chess, we sort of outperformed the Chinese players. That in itself is a show of dominance. Along with the fact that we are better, we also have players that are currently improving. Divya, for example, is far away from reaching her peak,' says Kushager Krishnater, who has been Humpy's second since August 2022. The Olympiad victory, coupled with the one-two at the World Cup, have raised hopes that the final frontier — the women's world championship title — can also be breached by an Indian woman soon. 'Chess in India was ruled by Humpy and Harika for almost 20-25 years. Humpy recently became a World Rapid Champion, her second title in the format. Humpy and Harika have performed very well at the international level. But the Women's World Championship title has always been missed by Indian players. And now the way Gukesh has come and won the World Championship title, we expect that Divya will also follow the same path. This new generation will bring these titles back to India. They are not just ensuring that the legacy of Humpy and Harika continues, they will take that flag even higher,' predicts Kunte.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
a day ago
- First Post
'This result has been a long time coming for Divya': Viswanathan Anand applauds Divya Deshmukh's historic win for India
In an exclusive chat with Firstpost, 5-time world champion of chess, Viswanathan Anand, expressed his thoughts on India's Divya Deshmukh scripting history by winning the FIDE Women's World Cup. read more Teenage chess sensation in the tie-breaker of the all-India finale to clinch the FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia. With the victory, Deshmukh has etched her name in history as the first World Cup winner from India. At 19, she is the youngest to achieve the feat. Additionally, Divya has become eligible to be bestowed with the coveted title of Grandmaster. The sound of her victory is making reverberations in the chess community. This sentiment was echoed when 5-time chess world champion and the greatest ambassador of Indian chess, Viswanathan Anand, joined Rupha Ramani on Firstsports and shared his thoughts on Divya's achievement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD #FirstSports LIVE: @DivyaDeshmukh05 has etched her name in Indian chess history by becoming the first Indian woman to win the world title. Join @RuphaRamani as she brings you the post-win celebrations. — Firstpost (@firstpost) July 28, 2025 Viswanathan Anand acknowledges Divya Deshmukh's achievement Talking about the clash between Humpy and Divya in the final and the eventual victory of Deshmukh, Vishy expressed that he was looking forward to witnessing which generation would triumph. He praised the composure shown by Divya to play error-free chess, but also held veteran Humpy in high regard. 'It's fantastic. And in fact, there was no suspense going into today because we knew an Indian was going to be the World Cup winner. But for me, the real suspense was which generation is going to do it? Hampy has really been carrying the torch for a long time. And then we have Divya, who's so young, first chance to win the World Cup. And the nice thing for both of them is they were playing exclusively for this. They both already qualified for the candidates. And Divya once again showed that calm composure under pressure,' Anand said. Anand also mentioned that success was long overdue for Divya following India's Olympiad victory, but a form dip prolonged her march to glory. Nevertheless, she eventually got there. 'You could In fact, you could see it more in Humpy part at some point, and that's just the nerves of the title and the stakes that are up for grabs. But Divya managed to play relatively error-free, kept control, and showed a lot of maturity, and I think that bodes very well for her. Also, I think this result has been a long time coming for Divya. She's generally been seen as a very talented player with a lot of potential. But somehow after Olympiad, the follow-up didn't really happen, but now it's happened in full here, and this is all of it in one goal,' he added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
News18
a day ago
- News18
‘Divya Is Like MS Dhoni, Can Perform Incredibly Well Under Pressure': Ex-Coach Srinath
Divya Deshmukh became India's 88th Grandmaster by defeating Koneru Humpy in the FIDE Women's World Cup. Her ex-coach praised her composure, likening her to M S Dhoni. Divya Deshmukh on Monday became India's 88th Grandmaster as she defeated the seasoned Koneru Humpy in the FIDE Women's World Cup with a tie-break win. The victory came after the two classical games played on Saturday and Sunday ended in draws. Divya's former coach, Srinath Narayanan, described her as abundantly talented but more significantly, incredibly cool in crunch situations. Speaking with PTI, Srinath also said he feels the 19-year-old chess wizard's composure is comparable only to cricket great M S Dhoni. 'She's quite an aggressive player. But with time, Divya has become more all-round, more versatile. I think she's equally good across all the different formats… Classical, Rapid and Blitz," Srinath was quoted as saying by the PTI. 'And her strength is, I think, turning up in those big moments, crunch situations. Like how Mahendra Singh Dhoni used to win the matches in the last over. 'I saw something similar in Divya in those last-round situations or situations where everything was hanging in the high-pressure moments. She used to perform incredibly well under pressure in important matches," he added. 'So, it (association) started around 2018. We met at the World Under-16 Olympiad. The team was going to Turkey. I was the coach of the team, and I met her for the first time at the airport. 'She was incredibly talented. And she also had a certain kind of ability to win these big games and tournaments. So, in the very first tournament that I coached her, she won a very important game in the last round against Iran," said Srinath about the chess prodigy from Nagpur, whose parents are doctors. 'And because of that victory, we were able to win the silver medal in Turkey. I worked with her until 2020. And after that, during the (COVID-19) lockdown, the interactions became less." With her achievements, Srinath feels she was already 'overqualified in terms of her playing level when she came into the women's World Cup." 'She is very strong. And in terms of her potential, she was very much there (at the GM level even before the tournament started)," he added. A three-time gold medallist at the Olympiad, Divya has also won multiple gold medals at the Asian Championship, the World Junior Championship as well as the World Youth Championship. However, coming into the women's World Cup and beating some of the biggest names in the business needed more than just luck, and here's where her talent came to the fore. (With PTI Inputs) view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
