Latest news with #Awonder
Indian Express
13-08-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Vincent Keymer breaks into world top 10 and edges closer to Chennai Grand Masters title
Vincent Keymer barged into the world's top 10 ranking spots in the FIDE live ratings that are updated in real time on Wednesday after his victory in 39 moves with black pieces against Awonder Liang, the Cinderella story of the Chennai Grand Masters tournament. The win also helped Keymer put daylight between him and his pursuers — India's Arjun Erigaisi and Awonder himself — at the top of the standings as he leads by a 1.5 points with just two more rounds left. Arjun Erigaisi played out a short draw against Anish Giri, which he explained was forced partially because he was under the weather coming into the game. Keymer, who helped Gukesh become the world champion last year as part of the Indian teen's team, has played some pragmatic chess in Chennai. After defeating three players who were rated below the 2700 mark in the first three games (Nihal Sarin, Pranav V and Karthikeyan Murali), Keymer played out draws against the strongest men in the event, Anish Giri, Vidit Gujrathi and Arjun. Then, finding himself taking on Awonder in the seventh round, he struck again. It was a result that Awonder saw coming. A day before he sat across the table to take on tournament leader Keymer, the American grandmaster with one of the cheeriest dispositions in the sport, had a grim take on his chances the next day against the German GM. Having breached the 2700 rating threshold for the first time in his career, Awonder said he was suddenly feeling a sharp stab of pressure to keep his rating stable at that mark. That pressure, he felt, could hurt him and cost him the game against tournament leader Keymer, he prophesied. Awonder's prediction came true on Wednesday. Awonder had told Chessbase after the previous round how he was riding the wave of his unpredictability in Chennai: because he usually plays in open tournaments, his openings are slightly different — 'weaker' was the term he used — than what his opponents had been expecting at Chennai. But with six rounds behind them, the element of surprise was gone. Keymer took a healthy edge in the game from the 19th move itself, a blunder by his opponent. Soon, by the 29th move, Keymer was up a rook in return for two less pawns, a sizable material advantage besides the edge on the board. He converted that advantage into victory without breaking into sweat. For Awonder, it was only his second defeat of the tournament. For Keymer, who has already won a Freestyle Chess event earlier in the year, even a simple draw on Thursday will be enough.
Indian Express
12-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Fans inside competition venue, allowing noise and making players wear headphones: How chess's perennial quest to become a spectator sport is playing out
During the 2024 edition of the Chennai Grand Masters, where fans had direct access to the playing hall – the tournament was held at Anna Centenary Library – there was a moment when all the players paused and scanned the auditorium. A tired fan, snoring inside the otherwise silent arena, was enough to disturb the players and the volunteers would take the fan out in no time. For this edition also, being held at a private hotel, the organisers haven't shut the door completely on the fans. Spectators are allowed entry inside the playing arena for the first 15 minutes of proceedings. After that, they have a designated area where one of the most recognisable faces in the Indian chess Sagar Shah provides them with live commentary and there are multiple television screens set up for the fans to keep track of what is happening inside the playing hall in real time (the rest of the world gets a delayed feed of 15 minutes). The Chennai event is one of the many where chess is becoming more ambitious in its attempts to make it a spectator sport. At the recent eSports World Cup and the Freestyle event in Las Vegas, fans had access to the playing hall throughout the contest like any other sport. Unlike the 2024 event in Chennai, where spectators were barred from using mobile phones inside the playing hall, these two events had no such restrictions. The spectators even had the liberty to cheer loudly with players having to wear noise-cancellation headphones. As chess steps out of its tradition and tries to become a spectator sport, the young players don't seem to be perturbed about the change. Liang Awonder, for one, didn't watch world champion D Gukesh take down Magnus Carlsen at Norway Chess, but watched the five-time world champion bang the table as it had drama in it. 'I think it definitely can work,' Awonder says. 'Although, I think I'm part of the problem because I don't actually watch chess. I just watch the drama. My friend told me about the game (Gukesh vs Carlsen), I didn't even see it. But I watched that video a hundred times. I don't know what happened.' 'Whenever Hans (Niemann) tweets, I instantly get a notification on my phone. I don't actually find chess that interesting to watch, but I like it when people are arguing in the comments. When I'm watching the big tournaments, I don't even watch the commentary. I watch the comments. That's where you find the real gems.' The drama is what makes Awonder glued to basketball on television back home. It is the reason that has made him aware of cricket, a sport, he says, where he has heard people say 'there is a lot of drama'. 'I think everyone finds their own entertainment. For me, it's not the games and the players. They're not that entertaining. The moment someone's beefing, I see it right away. Chess has a really bright future, especially for people like me. I feel like there's always drama,' Awonder adds. Vincent Keymer, who sits in sole lead at the Chennai Grand Masters event, reckons there is huge potential for chess to become a spectator sport, provided the players also get used to having fans around when they are at the board. While no player had an issue at the eSports World Cup, it was different at the Las Vegas freestyle tournament. 'There's still some work to do, firstly, because it's not really popular (as a spectator sport). You first need to get into people's heads that it can work. Secondly, you need to figure out a way to make it appealing to the masses and at the same time, keep the conditions such that the players can produce the high level that we are used to. You have to find the fine line where both are possible. Once we start having many tournaments which are going in that direction, you get feedback from both tournaments and players, and it will be possible to find that mixture,' Keymer says. However, Dutch GM Anish Giri doesn't prefer all tournaments taking the same route for the sake of maintaining originality. 'Headphones were a nuisance, but the games were very short. If every tournament were like this, the chess world would have gone in a direction in which I don't want it to go. But this is not what they are saying. They are saying, like, should all tournaments be like this? I think not. Should one tournament be like this? For sure,' Anish says. The noise-cancellation headphones weren't preferred by many players at Las Vegas. Having begun the tournament without them, the organisers made it mandatory to wear them. Fabiano Caruana, for one, didn't like the concept of allowing fans inside the playing hall. Despite wearing headphones during his game against Hikaru Nakamura, he complained about the noise from the gallery as he felt it was in some ways outside influence. Arjun Erigaisi, who didn't mind the spectators, did have once concern though from the eSports event. 'During the event, I felt this is exactly what needs to happen for chess to become a spectator sport. It's more entertaining that way. But some things need to be adjusted. One of the things I disliked was that players are forced to wear noise-cancelling headphones,' he says. But the day may not be far when fans sit in the galleries with placards, and chess players hear the odd comment.
New Indian Express
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Finance professional by day, self aware GM by night: The Awonder story
CHENNAI: Across Monday and Tuesday, a lot of chess players spoke to the media as part of their obligations ahead of the Chennai Grand Masters. Most of these interviews were rather serious. It's how interviews with chess players tend to go, especially with an important closed Classical tournament on the horizon. Vincent Keymer spoke about wanting to visit the swimming pool Magnus Carlsen dived into after winning the World Championship for the first time in the city in 2013. "This hotel has a lot of (chess) heritage," he quipped. This tournament, for D Harika, has a lot of meaning. "It's the first time my daughter is ever travelling with me for an event." For Arjun Erigaisi, it's to get back in shape just before the Grand Swiss and the World Cup, two tournaments with Candidates spots. US' Awonder Liang, though, comes as a breath of fresh air. "I'm just happy to be here," he says, a big, goofy grin as wide as an airport hangar on his face. Usually, he doesn't play in tournaments like these. The 22-year-old, whose main gig is in finance, says chess is a side hustle. "I think it's been over a year since I played an event of this magnitude," he says. "I play in a lot of local tournaments, maybe win a couple of $1000 or $100... when I played for my university, not even that. I make more money streaming than playing chess and I never stream. I do not make money playing chess. I just play for fun." So why is he here? His wit again shines out. "A few of my friends had noticed that Arjun (Erigaisi) had lost a few ratings points. He was back from 2800 to 2700-odd. So I thought maybe I can go and donate my four points to him (laughs)." Liang wasn't always like this. In fact, just a decade ago, he was very serious about his chess career. An age-group world champion who owned a lot of records — he still does — he used to obsess over the board game like all his peers. Then, something snapped. "Just pressure." His rating is very good — 2696 — and it kind of partly explains why he wanted a taste of elite chess. "Yeah, I was surprised as well (with the decision to come here)," he says. "I think I was beating up all the local guys. So, at some point, you know, I was still playing the local tournaments, but I had some, you know, a big rating like 2650 or something..." The other thing that makes the Chicago resident unique from the chess world is prep before games. "Probably I do something like five minutes (laughs)," he says. It's common for players to read and revise all the mainlines. Awonder? "Maybe I will read a couple of lines for a few minutes." He also claims that his opponents are fairly versed with the way he prepares or lack thereof. "I think they look at my games and they are like, '... why is he here?' Who let him play in the tournament? Let's see, I think it will be fun." As luck would have it, on Thursday, Round 1 of the Chennai Grand Masters, Awonder was paired to face Erigaisi. And the Math and Economics graduate showed why he's rated that highly, at least initially. Playing Black against the top-seed, Awonder's pieces had structural integrity out of the opening. For a long time, he was pretty much neck and neck against Erigaisi. Per the eval bar, it was stuck dead centre as both players registered very high levels of accuracy (greater than 98%). But Erigaisi, a year younger than his opponent, started making serious inroads in the middle game. When Awonder was presented with the opportunity to initiate a trade of queens in the 35th move, he opted to keep them on the board. Per the eval bar, this hurt his chances of staying in the game. With the Indian GMs pieces in harmony, a multi-pronged attack came. After 48 moves, Awonder resigned. Even as the Indian came and obliged a few autograph hunters in the fan zone, the US GM went for the comfort of his room to chew on the opening day defeat. It will sting but he will not lose sight of the larger picture. "I think it's good to be pretty happy," he had said before the start of the tournament. "I generally value my happiness. Maybe if I lose all my games here, I may start working seriously." For the time being, though, he has mapped what he would do in the next 10 days or so. "I think I will complete a few books, I generally like to keep myself busy." Results Masters: V Pranav drew with Karthikeyan Murali, Vincent Keymer bt Nihal Sarin, Anish Giri drew with Ray Robson, Vidit Gujrathi drew with Jorden van Foreest, Erigaisi bt Liang. Challengers: Diptayan Ghosh bt D Harika, M Pranesh bt Aryan Chopra, Leon Mendonca bt GB Harshavardhan, A Baskaran drew with A Puranik R Vaishali drew with P Iniyan.
Indian Express
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Chennai Grand Masters: Meet GM Liang Awonder, laidback, witty and ‘not intense'
Through the course of a 20-minute conversation, listening to GM Liang Awonder, it is impossible to sit with a straight face. At the hotel lobby, his laughter, while narrating his own career, is good enough to gain everyone's attention. In the city for the third edition of the Chennai Grand Masters chess event, the American's laidback style strikes a total difference to his peers. With the World Cup round the corner, for some the tournament is to find some form, for some the target is improving the rating points. Arjun Erigaisi, who was Awonder's opponent in the opening round, wants to find his groove before the big tournaments come calling that through the last couple of days, he has hardly sported a smile. The message from most is as common as it goes, 'here to win.' But Awonder is definitely cut off a different cloth. 'I was surprised as well,' the 22-year-old says about his participation in the tournament. 'I was beating up all the local guys. I had a big rating like 2690. And at some point my friends and I saw Arjun Eragaisi's rating go to 27-odd from 2800. I saw that. I was like, how is that possible? We got to get him back to 2800. And so, I was like, let me come here. I'll donate my four points, right? I have plenty of ratings to spare, you know. So, I was like, well, we got to get him back up. So, I thought it was a perfect tournament to get his motivation and self-confidence back. So, I thought, I've never been to India before. It looks like a beautiful country. So, it just seemed like everything was coming together again,' he says with a chuckle. Before coming to Chennai, Awonder had been busy finishing his degree in mathematics and finance that chess was more or less restricted to a leisure activity. A world champion twice in his age category, off late, much of his time has been playing in low-rated events. 'I was actually doing some financial work. That was taking up a lot of time. So, I wasn't really playing or studying much chess. In my university, we had the chance to travel together for a tournament with friends. And we'd be like, 'okay, let's fly here together and just hang out with a group of friends and maybe get drunk. I would sometimes just play with friends, for just hanging out. I was pretty much out of chess for a long time. Sometimes, I basically wouldn't play any big events. Mostly just some small tournaments against local players, you know, and just have fun. It could be a couple of thousand, sometimes a couple of hundred,' he says. On Thursday, Awonder was pitted against the tournament top-seed Erigaisi. Playing with black pieces, he fought hard, stretching the Indian GM for a while before the top-seed sealed the game after 48 moves. The difference in the end, though, wasn't on unexpected lines. 'It's been a while. I think probably in the last year, I haven't actually played anyone within 100 rating points with me. So I mostly just play the local guys. I play the US Championship every year. But I think that is a much easier tournament. I mean, we're from America, so we're really lazy. So I was just going there and sleeping during the game. But yeah, we have some decent players in the United States as well. But yeah, they're all really old, so we're not too scared of those guys,' he says. Even with regards to preparation, Awonder admits he isn't as intense as others. While most professionals have a habit of following set routines and dedicating a major part of their time to preparations ahead of big tournaments, Awonder says he is too light on that front too. 'I probably do like five minutes of work a day. I send an email to the guy or sometimes WhatsApp if I'm feeling really lazy. I'll be like, 'hey, what do I play today? That takes like five minutes of my time. And then he sends me files, files and more files. Sometimes I look at it, sometimes I don't. That's all the work I do. I think people study in very different ways. When I was coaching, I would just be like, 'memorise these thousands and thousands of moves'. And then they'd be like, 'no'. And then I'd be like, 'well, how do you forget this when you play the game? What the heck? But then when I play the game, I just don't do anything at all,' he chuckles. All of this means his opponents across the table always seem to have a common question. 'I think they look at my games and they are like, 'why is he here?' Who let him play in the tournament? Let's see, I think it will be fun,' he says before admitting. 'I think I should be more serious about it again since I play these kinds of events. But I don't know. we'll see, you know, I lose every game here. Maybe it's time to start working seriously. But as long as it's going well, you know, it's good to.' As he gets up to leave, Awonder sums up the person he is. 'I think generally I value my happiness. I think it's good to be happy. it's good to enjoy life a little bit.' Results: Masters: V Pranav drew with Karthikeyan Murali, Vincent Keymer bt Nihal Sarin, Anish Giri drew with Ray Robson, Vidit Gujrathi drew with Jorden van Foreest, Erigaisi bt Liang. Challengers: Diptayan Ghosh bt D Harika, M Pranesh bt Aryan Chopra, Leon Mendonca bt GB Harshavardhan, A Baskaran drew with A Puranik R Vaishali drew with P Iniyan.
