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Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Chess: Four Indians in world's top 10 for first the time
Bengaluru: Away from the pitched battle between current and former world champions in the Norwegian city of Stavanger – which has India's D Gukesh sweeping the headlines – another Indian is quietly breaking barriers and raising the roof. For the first time ever, India has four active chess players in the top 10 of the live ratings – Gukesh - world No.4 (Elo 2782.3) Arjun Erigaisi - world No.5 (Elo 2772.6) R Praggnanandhaa - world No.7 (Elo 2765.9) and Aravindh Chithambaram - world No.10 (Elo 2753.5). The newest entrant to this elite group is 25-year-old Aravindh. The Grandmaster from Madurai breached Elo 2750 for the first time in his career over the last weekend after a dominant 27-move win against Xu Xiangyu in Round 3 of the Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Armenia. Praggnanandhaa is the other Indian in the field and the only other player rated above 2700. Apart from these four top-ten players, the three other Indian players in the 2700+ bracket are Viswanathan Anand (Elo 2743), Vidit Gujrathi (Elo 2720) and P Harikrishna (Elo 2703). Twenty-year-old Nihal Sarin broke into the Elo 2700 club at the Dubai Open last week, but has since slipped. For Aravindh, the climb up the rankings, even if belated, has been impressive. He broke into the scene as a 14-year-old who took down a clutch of Grandmasters to win the Chennai GM Open in 2013, held on the sidelines of the World Chess Championship between Anand and Magnus Carlsen. He was touted as the next big thing in Indian chess but inexplicably flew under the radar before returning with noteworthy performances last year. In recent times, he has pulled off a string of upsets – defeating American GM Hikaru Nakamura (2024 World Blitz Championship), Erigaisi (2024 Chennai Grand Masters), Alireza Firouzja (2025 Superbet Poland) and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2025 Superbet Poland) and won the Prague Masters earlier this year. 'Aravindh should have perhaps reached this level five years ago,' says coach RB Ramesh, 'He had the potential but confidence was an issue. It was holding him back. He now realises that he's getting older and the younger players are getting ahead of him, Typically, in such situations a player can give up and begin to believe that their time is over with younger players taking over. But Aravindh has not given up, he is motivated to push back. There is a sense of urgency now.'
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Young Charvi's life in a chess bubble
Stavanger, Norway: The Norway Chess Open tournament — held at walking distance from the hotel that hosts the starry GMs — is a beehive of norm-chasing chess players, ranging from age 6 to 60, and local Norwegians to Indian expats. Unlike the main acts who are escorted for official post-game interviews and soon into the car, they all have things to do once their games are done: grab a snack, look for their chaperones, dial their parents for pickup. Charvi A had something else in mind. Right after coming out of the hall, the 11-year-old left the water bottle with her mother, searched for her opponent and stood talking with the older man for an extended time. Why? To analyse the game. Such post-game analysis chats can go from five minutes to thirty, said her mother, Akhila. And almost always, it is Charvi initiating them, if her opponent is willing and speaks English. For this 11-year-old, chess is not a chore, it is compulsive. And she is quite promising at it. A Woman FIDE Master (WFM) with a 1961 Elo rating, Charvi won the U-8 girls World Championship in 2022, a feat that made Viswanathan Anand post on X: 'Rise of a new star.' Charvi has picked up more accolades at the national and Asian level — she was conferred the 2024 Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, India's highest civilian honour for children, for which her parents had applied — thinking about the game in overdrive. 'Sometimes, she thinks about the moves in her dreams also,' said Akhila. It is not, however, thrust upon her. This year so far, she has played in around seven tournaments, in India, Austria, France, Uzbekistan, Budapest and Norway. Even in the few break days she gets in between, the kid is eager to do stuff around chess and puzzles. 'She has decided that she wants to only do this. We have asked her many times, but she likes the sport,' Akhila said. 'Instead of us parents forcing her to do something, we wanted to support her in what she was interested in. We realised she is really interested in chess.' And realised her ability and promise after she won the U-8 world title. Having picked up the game in her day care at age 5, chess got Charvi mesmerised, and her parents were left scrambling for YouTube videos that she demanded they watch and play with her. After finishing runner-up in a U-6 state competition, she began training with IM Shivananda BS in Bengaluru. As she progressed, Charvi was coached by GM Swayams Mishra, WGM Aarthie Ramaswamy, and even briefly by her husband RB Ramesh, R Praggnanandhaa's coach. She is now training with a 'few new coaches', names of which her mother said she could not reveal. Partly sponsored, Charvi's father has continued his IT job while Akhila, a professional in the same sector for over a decade, quit her work a couple of years ago to travel with her. Her school lessons are sent online, which Akhila oversees amid all the travel. 'I have to do this because she is very young, and may not understand what she is going through,' she said. The mother does not understand the game, nor does she discuss it with Charvi. Results are never asked until, if at all, told. The kid was a centre of attention when she met PM Narendra Modi for the award, and yet wasn't frazzled. 'She doesn't get too excited. Even after she won the world championships, she was very normal. She can handle winning, losing or the attention,' Akhila said. 'She is playing just out of passion.'
Business Wire
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Aizip Creates First Arena for Benchmarking Small Language Models
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As many AI applications move beyond prototyping and into production at scale, developers are increasingly confronted with real-world requirements such as latency, privacy, and cost efficiency. This shift has prompted a growing interest in replacing generic large language models (LLMs) with specialized small language models (SLMs). However, selecting the right SLM for a given task remains a complex and evolving challenge. To address this growing need, Aizip has launched the world's first small language model (SLM) arena for retrieval-augmented generation. The SLM RAG Arena is a benchmark platform for developers to compare and evaluate compact, efficient language models. Now available on Hugging Face, the platform invites the AI community to compare models with fewer than 5 billion parameters head-to-head and find the best performers. It's an important step toward a future of practical AI tools that solve real problems without needing massive computing resources. 'One-size-fits-all AI models are no longer the answer for most applications,' said Weier Wan, CTO at Aizip. 'With the SLM RAG Arena, we're helping developers make informed decisions about which specialized models excel for specific document tasks based on blind, crowdsourced rankings. These rankings can better reflect human preferences in real-world use cases than results measured on popular RAG benchmark datasets.' The SLM RAG Arena differs from existing benchmark platforms by testing models under 5B parameters on real-world document-based applications. It prioritizes models that developers can integrate into production systems immediately and focuses evaluation on RAG-specific qualities like completeness, accuracy, and relevance. Unlike general LLMs, where versatility is the primary metric, SLMs succeed through specialization and efficiency, making task-specific comparative evaluation crucial. The platform features a straightforward interface that presents evaluators with a random question and supporting document context, including highlighted key information that should appear in high-quality answers. Participants see two anonymized responses labeled as 'Model A' and 'Model B,' and vote based on answer quality. The system employs the same Elo rating method used in chess tournaments to create statistically meaningful rankings, with models gaining or losing points based on the rankings of the models they're up against. The arena already features 17 models for RAG applications across various parameter sizes and architectures. Developers can also submit requests to add new models to the arena for evaluation. Notably, Aizip has placed its own model (codename "icecream-3b") in direct competition with offerings from industry leaders, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and IBM. The arena, built upon Aizip's open-source RAG datasets and evaluation frameworks, represents the next step in the company's effort to empower developers to build personalized, private local RAG systems. The company plans to expand the platform based on community needs, potentially adding specialized evaluations for multi-turn conversation coherence, citation tracking, and other focused applications. Developers, researchers, and AI enthusiasts can begin using the SLM RAG Arena today through the Hugging Face platform. About Aizip, Inc. Situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, Aizip, Inc. specializes in developing superior AI models tailored for endpoint and edge-device applications. Aizip stands apart for its exemplary model performance, swift deployment, and remarkable return on investment. These models are versatile, supporting a spectrum of intelligent, automated, and interconnected solutions. Discover more at
Gulf Today
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Gulf Today
‘Messi of Chess' graces Sharjah Masters, Giri and Indjic share 4th round lead
The eighth edition of the Sharjah Masters International Chess Championship, organised by the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, welcomes Argentine chess prodigy Oro Faustino — widely known as the 'Messi of Chess' — among its distinguished participants. At just 12 years old, Faustino became the youngest player in history to surpass the 2300 Elo rating mark, breaking the previous record held by Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov by seven months. Faustino, who is making his first appearance in the championship, has remained unbeaten so far, scoring one win and three draws. He expressed his delight at participating in such a prestigious event, emphasizing that he is aiming for a new milestone and hoping to achieve an international title. He noted that the 'Messi' nickname serves as a great source of motivation, and he is always pleased when people draw parallels between him and Argentina's football legend Lionel Messi. 'I follow football in Argentina and I believe Messi is the greatest player in its history,' he said. 'But I don't have much time to attend matches due to my chess training and academic studies.' Faustino is scheduled to travel to Italy on June 1 to take part in a friendly match against Indian legend Viswanathan Anand, the youngest world titleholder in chess history. The match will be held on the sidelines of the 'Chess Routes' exhibition, which features 40 rare and original chess sets from Asia and Europe. Meanwhile, the lead in the Sharjah Masters shifted following the conclusion of the fourth round, with Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri and Serbian Grandmaster Alexsandar Indjic sharing the top spot with 3.5 points each. Ten players are tied for third place with 3 points. UAE star Salem Abdulrahman bounced back with a win over Uzbekistan's Mukhiddin Madaminov to raise his tally to 2.5 points. The fourth round of the championship was ceremonially opened on the top board of both the Masters and Challengers sections by Sheikha Ali Al Naqbi, Chairperson of the Committee on Education, Culture, Media, and Youth Affairs at the Consultative Council of Sharjah, alongside tournament director Omran Abdullah Al Nuaimi. Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club and President of the Arab Chess Federation, also attended the matches and closely followed the proceedings. Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfa, Chairman of the Bridge Committee at the UAE Chess Federation, was also present as well. In the third category (rated 1900–1400), the round was officially opened by Engineer Talal Al Zaabi. Sheikha Ali Al Naqbi expressed her delight at visiting the Sharjah Cultural and Chess Club and inaugurating the fourth round of the championship. She noted that the visit was part of a series of field visits to cultural and sports institutions in the emirate, and coincided with a world-class event that has attracted elite chess players from around the globe. She praised the club's organizational capacity and cumulative expertise in hosting top-level tournaments and hoped the event would yield medals and achievements that reflect positively on the UAE's sporting profile.
Time of India
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Pragg-matic with ambition intact
R Praggnanandhaa R Praggnanandhaa once again stole a march over D Gukesh in an elite classical tournament this year. At Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands, he needed Erigaisi Arjun to win the last game of the classical phase before beating world champion Gukesh in tiebreak playoffs. But at the Global Chess Tour (GCT) Romania tournament, Pragg left his more celebrated compatriot far behind. It was not a high-scoring tournament. World No. 7 Pragg (Elo 2758) needed just two wins (over Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Wesley So) in nine games to be in a three-way tie and then proved himself to be better than Frenchmen Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Lagrave in blitz playoff. He had lost all three games, including one against Gukesh, in last year's four-way playoff in the same tournament. Though Pragg reached the 2023 World Cup final and defeated Magnus Carlsen multiple times in speed chess, Gukesh and Arjun made more definitive progress in classical chess last year. Pragg is turning a new leaf now with solidity and pragmatism without compromising much on an ambitious approach. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Cost Of Amusement Park Equipment From Mexico Might Surprise You Amusement Park Equipment | search ads Click Here Undo Former seven-time national champion Pravin Thipsay told TOI: 'He played speculative chess in 2023 and thereabouts. The Candidates 2024 was a great opportunity which made him fully understand that speculative play can't be the strategy in a classical game. He now plays more accurate openings and consistently follows the strategic ideas in the sharp positions he chooses.' With two defeats and eight wins at Wijk and Bucharest in 22 games among elite rivals, what is he doing differently this year? 'Nothing specific,' Pragg said. 'I am trying to be more ambitious whenever I play, trying to go for tournament wins. Thanks to Ramesh sir too, when things were not going my way last year, we were trying to improve on things. I think we are seeing the results of that hard work.' Get IPL 2025 match schedules , squads , points table , and live scores for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
