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Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Is chess ready for vocal audiences during tournaments who have access to the eval bar?
A loud gasp reverberated around the playing hall which was created in Las Vegas' Wynn as the game between Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So entered the end game and the world no 1 made a blunder with his rook that allowed him to be checkmated in a few moves. The gasp from the fans was so loud that it was even audible on the live broadcast. Carlsen at that stage was wearing noise cancellation headphones. So wasn't Wesley. These were unique quirks of the recently-concluded Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour: live audiences in the arena who had access both to live commentary and to the eval bar and players wearing noise cancellation headphones. Thanks to the first quirk, some nuances of games — like the fact that checkmate was inevitable in a few moves — that probably would have been lost on the chess-following folks was now apparent. That access to information for fans led to plenty of criticism of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam event by players like Fabiano Caruana, who unlike players like Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are much more measured in their opinions. But so incensed was Caruana by the fact that fans were allowed to hear commentary and see the eval bar in real-time and were reacting loudly like at any other sports event, that he criticised the organisers in an interview to their own social media handle after the event was over. Caruana complained that in his own critical game with Nakamura later on in the tournament — by which time organisers had made the wearing of noise-cancelling headphones mandatory for the players — he could hear the audience's reactions despite wearing the headphones. 'In the match (against Nakamura which he lost), I started to get very annoyed at the whole tournament. I don't think it should come down to outside interference. Not to make excuses, but I mean, the spectators are basically just yelling when we have five seconds each. Hikaru was crushing me and then, he probably had some mating chances, but it wasn't easy. He had 5 seconds. He went back with the queen. I was back in the game. And around this moment there was just yelling (from the fans). I mean like very (loud yelling). I'm not exaggerating at all. It was just screaming in the audience and you can't play (like that) with five seconds. So we both blundered. I could basically have mated him and also won his queen on two different occasions. It just leaves a bad taste,' Caruana had told the media team of Freestyle Chess after the tournament ended. This issue was such a sticking point that it was debated extensively for during the players' meeting before the Las Vegas tournament started, where multiple players raised the issue. Allowing in-arena fans this crucial piece of insight during a game is a debate that is likely to rage louder in the coming days, especially with chess also embracing itself as an esport: the world's top players are currently in Riyadh playing at the Esports World Cup, where the noise cancelling headphones are back as players play in front of a much bigger arena filled with fans. Allowing access for fans to commentary and the eval bar in the playing hall was an attempt from Freestyle Chess to make the game much more accessible. And interesting. To make a spectator sport out of chess. Because that opens the doors to invite a wider cross-section of fans into the arena and make them understand the drama that's happening on the chess board. After all, that's eventually how you can raise some money from ticket sales as well. But the ploy seems to have backfired. Walk into a playing hall during games of a chess tournament — almost every chess tournament from Norway Chess to the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz event in Kolkata — and you will be greeted with pin-drop silence. Try as much as whispering something into the ear of the person sitting next to you, and you will have stern librarian looks thrown at you. Try and peek at your mobile phone during a game, and chances are you will be politely asked to leave. There is a reason why chess tournaments have not tried to make it a spectator sport and why they have people assigned to remind fans walking into the playing hall that they need to keep their phones tucked away into their pockets at all times. As Caruana pointed out on his own podcast later, unlike a tennis tournament — where chair umpires also frown upon fans shouting in the middle of points — a shout or a loud gasp at a chess tournament can hand a player a key piece of information that could be the difference between winning and losing. A gasp from the audience could alert a player that their opponent had blundered. 'They didn't take the security as seriously as it should have been,' Caruana added. If this seems like regular chess grandmaster paranoia, it might be crucial to remember that at a previous Chess Olympiad, one player had cheated just by having their team captain standing at a different spot to view the game which would send a signal to the man on the board that he had to move a particular piece on the next move. It's absurd to have players be put through stringent fairplay safety checks before the games start only to have neutral fans hooting and gasping during games, which is almost like allowing the players to get a peek at the eval bar themselves. This is why at the World Championship events — the most prestigious tournament in chess with millions of dollars at stake — the players are behind sound-proof and one-way glass rooms. Caruana said that while he was all for chess tournaments trying to monetise viewing experiences, this was not the way to do it. 'Let's say you want to make chess a business, I'm not an expert, but I can't imagine that the way towards that is live ticket sales. I just don't see it. I think if you want to make chess a business, you have to sell it to Amazon Prime or Netflix,' Caruana said. The noise from the chesshall is clear: stay quiet or go home. Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Fabiano Caruana's blunt interview slamming Freestyle Chess event deleted, then restored, claims player
Fabiano Caruana's blunt interview slamming the organisers of Freestyle Chess for allowing live audiences in the playing arena was reportedly deleted from their YouTube channel and was later restored, the player claimed on his own podcast, C Squared. Caruana had said that he was 'mostly glad' that the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour was over. Caruana had defeated Arjun Erigaisi to end in fifth place at the event, thus taking home $50,000 (approximately Rs 43 lakh). On his podcast C Squared, Caruana was told by Christian Chirila: 'They deleted your interview, man.' To this, Caruana replied that the organisers had put it back up on the handle. 'I don't think they had any need to to remove it in the first place. But yeah, eventually they put it back up.' Asked by Chirila if he was offended by the video being deleted, Caruana said: 'Not really, but you know, the thing is obviously they're not censoring me, right? I can speak pretty freely. I don't think their intention was to (do that). I just don't don't know why they decided to delete it. I guess to have time to discuss what to do, but you know, it usually doesn't work very well to do that. If you try to hide something, usually it tends to come out in a more… Caruana continued: 'I had some complaints which I'm sure they'll work on in the future to to do better. I don't think it really made sense to not say anything because they're going to have more events. I'm probably going to play more of their events. So, why should I not let them know that there's an issue?' But what were the complaints in Caruana's interview that the organisers deleted and then restored it? Caruana was unhappy with the fact that the spectators who were going to be in the playing hall would have access to live commentary with a few seconds delay and that they could also know via the eval bar what each player's standing was in the game happening in front of them. 'The match (against Hikaru Nakamura which he lost), I did like start to just get very annoyed at the whole tournament. I mean, it's fine to play the super long days, but I don't think it should come down to basically like outside interference. Not to make excuses, but I mean, the spectators are basically just yelling when we have five seconds each. Hikaru was was crushing me and then, you know, he probably had some mate, but it wasn't easy. He had 5 seconds. He went back with the queen. I was back in the game. And around this moment there was just like yelling. I mean like very (loud yelling). I'm not exaggerating at all. It was just screaming in the audience and you can't play with five seconds. So we both blundered. I could basically have mated him and also won his queen on two different occasions. It just leaves a bad taste,' Caruana had told the media team of Freestyle Chess after the tournament ended. Caruana said that he only found out during the players' meeting before the tournament started that audiences would have access to evaluation bar. The evaluation bar is an indicator of the match situation. 'I thought there would be some perhaps whispers that we would hear. But it was much more than that. They were just yelling and we could hear that even through headphone, even through noise-cancelling headphones and like very audibly. It wasn't some noise in the background like it was very audible,' Caruana had said.
India Today
18-07-2025
- Sport
- India Today
Las Vegas Freestyle chess: Praggnanandhaa out of title race, Erigaisi into semis
Arjun Erigaisi stormed into the semi-finals of the Las Vegas Freestyle chess by defeating Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, but R Praggnanandhaa bowed out of the title race after losing to USA's Fabiano Caruana. Erigaisi prevailed over Abdusattorov 1.5-0.5 while Praggnanandhaa went down fighting against Caruana in an intense battle. Erigaisi looked a class apart in both games against the Uzbekistan ace and enjoyed the advantage from the word go. Playing white in the second game, the Indian won a rook for a Bishop early, and very soon, he simply overpowered Abdusattorov with his extra material, making it not like a freestyle and Caruana were involved in an intense battle that saw as many as seven decisive games being played by the two and the Indian was in the lead on three occasions. Praggnanandhaa won the first, lost the second, and this trend continued till the sixth, until Caruana pulled away before winning the decisive seventh game. The American duo of Levon Aronian and Hans Moke Niemann made their way into the semifinals by beating Hikaru Nakamura and Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan respectively. In the semi-finals, Erigaisi will face Aronian while Caruana will take on Niemann. In the lower bracket, Magnus Carlsen returned to winning ways by beating India's Vidit Gujrathi 2-0 and ousting him from the competition. Vincent Keymer, Wesley So also found themselves in the winners column. Results: Las Vegas Freestyle chess quarterfinals and lower bracketResults quarterfinals: Arjun Erigaisi (Ind) beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 1.5-0.5; R Praggnanandhaa (Ind) lost to Fabiano Caruana (Usa) 3-4; Levon Aronian (Usa) beat Hikarru Nakamura (Usa) 2.5-1.5; Hans Moke Niemann (Usa) beat Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) bracket: Lenier Dominguez Perez (Usa) beat Bibisara Assaubuyeva (Kaz) 1.5-0.5; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) beat Vidit Gujrathi (Ind) 2-0; Wesley So (Usa) beat Samuel Sevian (Usa) 1.5-0.5; Vincent Keymer (Ger) beat Robson Ray 2.5-1.5.- Ends
Indian Express
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Praggnanandhaa loses to Caruana after 7-game marathon lasting over 10 hours; Arjun Erigaisi, Hans Niemann in semis
Arjun Erigaisi entered the semi-final of the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour on Friday after prevailing over Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a straightforward two-game contest at the Wynn casino hotel. But what Arjun's game lacked in drama — and in length — his good friend Praggnanandhaa delivered: the Indian played out a seven-game royal rumble against Fabiano Caruana that lasted just over 10 hours. In the end, unfortunately, Praggnanandhaa lost. Arjun and Caruana will be joined in the semi-finals by Hans Niemann and Levon Aronian. The Praggnanandhaa vs Fabiano Caruana, which lasted for 10 hours, had plenty of drama: rooks being blundered, both players winning on demand, and even a unique Armageddon game where players had to make secret bids on time they would get on their clock. 'It's amazing. I've had a few of these matches, but none quite this long. And also with so many swings, you know, losing the first game and then coming back and then also losing with white… I thought it should be over at that point, but then somehow coming back in the rapid and then reversing. The Armageddon was also crazy. It was very, very complicated. And then he was also trying to flag me, but at some point I looked at the clock, I saw I had 17 seconds. I looked like a few minutes later, I still had 17 seconds. I thought, okay, I'm probably not going to get flagged,' Caruana told the official Freestyle Chess YouTube handle. The first game of the Praggnanandhaa vs Caruana showdown saw the Indian claim a win with white pieces, which meant that the American needed to win on demand in the reverse game with white pieces himself. Caruana did just that after a little help from Praggnanandhaa, who suddenly blundered his rook under time pressure. With the two 30 min (+ 30 sec per move increment) games proving inconclusive, both players were back on the board to battle it out in two 10 min (+ 10 sec per move) games. Here too, Praggnanandhaa won the first game, this time with black pieces. Then, he lost the reverse fixture with white pieces. Now the matter would be decided with an even frenetic pace: two games of 5+2 blitz games. In the first one, there was a wild time drama on the board was reflected on the evaluation bar which rocked up and down like a plane in turbulence with every couple of moves. Finally, Caruana emerged victorious. Now Praggnanandhaa needed to win on demand. And he did, thus forcing a unique Armageddon battle. The Armageddon format usually sees the player with white pieces have more time on the clock, but they need to win. The player with black pieces have less time on their clock, but they just have to hold out a draw to secure victory. At the Las Vegas event of the Freestyle Grand Slam Tour, there was a unique twist to this, with both players bidding the time they would want to play as black. Praggnanandhaa bid 4:27 for playing black, Caruana bid 4:02. So Praggnanandhaa played with white with five minutes on the clock while Caruana had draw odds with 4:02. It was there that Praggnanandhaa finally yielded. Caruana has played a few Armageddon games in the past and drew from those experiences. 'I got black in Armageddon every single time. I think that I realized probably it's good to have black I don't know why, but it feels better to have black, even if you're down a minute. In each Armageddon game, I felt like it's easier to play a bit faster. With black, you have less to worry about. With white, you always have to consider so many things and it gets in your head that you have to get an advantage or something. So, it feels a bit easier to play freely with black, which is why I went a bit lower (with his time for black bid).' In the other games of the tournament, Arjun defeated Nodirbek by winning the second 30+30 game after a hard-fought draw in the first game. Meanwhile, in the Lower Bracket, Carlsen defeated Vidit Gujrathi in both games. Besides Carlsen, Wesley So, Vincent Keymer and Leinier Dominguez also won their ties, thus eliminating Gujrathi, Sam Sevian, Ray Robson and Bibisara Assaubayeva — all four players were eliminated and shared 13th place at the tournament.
Time of India
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Freestyle Grand Slam Tour: Arjun Erigaisi storms into semi-final; R Praggnanandhaa out of title race
File photo of Arjun Erigaisi. In a dramatic quarterfinal at the $750,000 Freestyle Grand Slam Chess Tour in Las Vegas, Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi advanced to the semifinals by defeating Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov 1.5-0.5, while compatriot R Praggnanandhaa lost to USA's Fabiano Caruana in an intense 3-4 battle. Americans Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann also secured victories in their quarter-final matches. Aronian defeated Hikaru Nakamura 2.5-1.5, while Niemann overcame Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov 4-2. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The semifinals will see Arjun facing Aronian, and Niemann competing against Caruana. In the lower bracket matches, world number one Magnus Carlsen defeated India's Vidit Gujrathi 2-0, showing a return to his winning form. American Wesley So claimed victory over Samuel Sevian with a score of 1.5-0.5, while Leinier Dominguez Perez secured a comfortable 1.5-0.5 win against Kazakhstan's Bibisara Assaubayeva. Vincent Keymer of Germany, who won the first leg, continued his success by defeating American Robson Ray 2.5-1.5. Arjun displayed exceptional skill in both games against Abdusattorov, maintaining an advantage throughout. In the second game, playing with white pieces, he gained an early advantage by winning a rook for a bishop. In the first game, despite holding an early advantage, some unforced errors by Arjun in the later stages allowed Abdusattorov to secure half a point. The match between Praggnanandhaa and Caruana was particularly intense, featuring seven decisive games. Praggnanandhaa took the lead three times during the match, with both players trading victories until the sixth game. Caruana ultimately prevailed by winning the decisive seventh game. However, Praggnanandhaa still has a chance to continue in the tournament through the lower bracket, where he joins seven other players in another knockout format. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
