Latest news with #FIDEGrandSwiss
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Chennai Grand Masters: Nihal Sarin outwits Arjun Erigaisi in slow-burn duel
Nihal Sarin A fan of rapid and blitz, Indian shows his mettle in classical CHENNAI: Long known as a 'speed demon' for his exploits in rapid and blitz, Nihal Sarin decided last year to change lanes and focus on classical chess. With blue-ribbon events like the FIDE Grand Swiss and the FIDE World Cup on the horizon, he sought out Vishnu Prasanna, world champion D Gukesh's former coach. And, the results began to show when he claimed silver at the Asian Continental Chess Championship in May. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! But at the Chennai Grand Masters, he had a difficult start: a first-round loss to Vincent Keymer, a hard-fought draw with Anish Giri, and a tough setback against Vidit Gujrathi. However, on Sunday in the fourth round, Nihal broke through and eked out his first win of the tournament against the top seed, Arjun Erigaisi in a humdinger. Poll Which player do you believe has the best chance of winning the Chennai Grand Masters? Vincent Keymer Arjun Erigaisi Anish Giri 'He has a great passion for rapid and blitz. But he feels that he has stagnated and is underrated in the classical format. So that's something that has been bothering him. We started working together in March this year. He approached me at the closing ceremony of the Global Chess League last year, but we only picked it up around five months later,' Vishnu told TOI. For someone trying to slow himself down to the pace of classical chess, the 21-year-old from Thrissur couldn't quite resist the occasional yawns and strolls during his games here. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like At 62, Laura San Giacomo Is Still Turning Heads The Noodle Box Undo 'Classical games are very long… all my games went about for almost four hours,' Nihal said with a smile. 'I was not happy with how it (the tournament) was going. But in general, I'm happy with the way I'm playing. I'm just trying to play some exciting chess. Trying to not think too much about the result. Obviously, losing hurts. It was quite hard for me after yesterday's game. I just tried my best to somehow find the motivation to keep playing. And, today Arjun defended like an absolute machine, but I think I did get quite lucky. ' Despite the defeat, Arjun (2.5 points) remains second in the standings, right behind Vincent Keymer (3.5 points) who split the point with Anish Giri. Vincent is the favourite: Anand For a brief moment, the focus shifted away from the games to Viswanathan Anand, as he walked into the venue. The five-time world champion sized up the tournament favourite: 'Vincent is obviously the favourite. Until today (Sunday), Arjun was placed just as well. But his defeat today means Vincent now leads by a whole point. While Arjun can definitely score, a point is a point,' Anand told TOI. W hen asked what advice he would give young players to stay at the top, Anand joked, referring to his own five titles: 'I think 'Mere Paas Panch Hai' (I have five) is a good starting point. I think he (Gukesh in this context) knows what to do.' He went on to add: 'In general, sport is evolving very formats, new things. The only thing I can do is, if they ask, describe how I face a certain situation, and then it's their job to convert that.' Results (Round 4): Masters: Murali Karthikeyan bt Jordan van Foreest; Ray Robson drew with Liang Awonder; Nihal Sarin bt Arjun Erigaisi; V Pranav drew with Vidit Gujrathi; Vincent Keymer drew with Anish Giri. Challengers: Diptayan Ghosh bt GB Harshvardhan; Pa Iniyan bt Aryan Chopra; B Adhiban drew with M Pranesh; Leon Mendonca bt D Harika; Abhinmanyu Puranik bt R Vaishali. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Indian GM Nihal Sarin turns to D Gukesh's ex-coach, former trainer brutally remarks ‘He has certainly stagnated'
Considered to be one of the best in faster formats of chess, Nihal Sarin is attempting to shift his focus to classical chess. The Indian Grandmaster has now moved to D Gukesh's former trainer, GM Vishnu Prasanna. Prasanna was Gukesh's trainer until Grzegorz Gajewski took over in 2022. Nihal Sarin has now moved to D Gukesh's former trainer.(Instagram) He has been working with Nihal since March this year, and their main work has been on improving the youngster's classical rating, so that he performs well in the FIDE Grand Swiss and the FIDE World Cup later this year. Speaking to ESPN, his new trainer said, 'We're trying to figure out what can we do to make him show results based on the way he approaches chess, based on his talent.' Meanwhile, Nihal also conducts most of his training online at According to his profile, he has played 55,282 games on the platform. 22,823 of those have been in bullet chess, a one-minute format. Vishnu further added, 'I have to adapt to Nihal. Definitely, there's a lot of talent. I've never seen someone like him. But we're seeing how to make it more practical, how to turn that talent to results.' 'He has certainly stagnated' Meanwhile, his former trainer Srinath Narayanan told ESPN, 'He has certainly stagnated.' 'It is important to look forward, you cannot keep looking backwards. Stagnation is natural for someone so young at the elite level, but the next push can come only with confidence,' he added. At the ongoing Chennai Masters, Nihal lost to Vidit Gujrathi, collapsing from a winning position in his third round fixture. He only has half a point out of three games. He also threw away a winning position against Anish Giri in the second round and should have drawn against Vincent Keymer in his opener. He ended up losing to Keymer.
Indian Express
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
FIDE Grand Swiss: Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura, Vishy Anand missing
The lineups for the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament, to be held in Samarkand from September 2 to 16 this year, are missing plenty of big names, including former world champions like Magnus Carlsen, Ding Liren, and Vishy Anand besides world no 3 Fabiano Caruana and world no 2 Hikaru Nakamura. The FIDE Grand Swiss is a prestigious event where the top two qualifiers in both the Open and the Women's competition will qualify for the 2026 Candidates tournament, where the challenger for the title of World Champion will be determined. The FIDE Grand Swiss is the event that helped Vidit Gujrathi and Vaishali Rameshbabu secure spots at the Candidates tournaments in Toronto in 2023. The FIDE Grand Swiss will have 172 players taking part, of which 116 will be in the open section while 56 will compete in the women's tournament. There are 12 Indians in the open section out of the 101 players who have qualified (the rest of the 15 players will get picked by nomination from organisers or the FIDE president or continental quotas). World champion Gukesh leads the Indians, along with Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa. The other Indians who will be in action are: Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani, Murali Karthikeyan, Abhimanyu Puranik, Aryan Chopra, Leon Luke Mendonca, and SL Narayanan. Meanwhile, the women's event has Humpy Koneru, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal in the fray. The time control for each game is: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. Interestingly, a player like Carlsen could not have qualified for the event because as per the regulations in place by FIDE, only players who played at least 30 rated games counted in any of the 12 standard rating periods from July 2024 to June 2025 are eligible. Carlsen has sworn off of classical chess and only makes an exception for the Norway Chess event at his home country. But had he expressed an inclination to compete at the event, he could have earned a spot through nomination, since the FIDE president has six FIDE wildcards to allot while the local organiser too will have five spots at their disposal. The prize fund in the Open is $625,000 (increased from $460,000 in 2023) and in the Women's competition features a $230,000 prize fund (up from $140,000 in 2023). While the world's top 3 ranked players are missing, the Indians will have to battle their way against some top players like Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Boris Gelfand, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Fedoseev, Hans Niemann, Vincent Keymer and Javokhir Sindarov.
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First Post
08-07-2025
- Sport
- First Post
FIDE announces list of players for the 2025 Grand Swiss: Will Magnus Carlsen participate in the event?
FIDE has announced a star studded lineup for the upcoming Grand Swiss event. It will be the tournament's 4th edition, and be held from September 3 to 16. read more Advertisement A still of Magnus Carlsen. Image: Norway Chess 2025 The FIDE Grand Swiss is set to return for its fourth edition, featuring a star-studded lineup of young talents vying for top spots ahead of the 2026 Candidates. The tournament will take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 3 to 16, promising another thrilling competition in a Swiss system format. Also Read | 'He deserved a D…': Viswanathan Anand grades Gukesh's performance at Norway Chess 2025 Total players taking part in FIDE Grand Swiss It is one of the most significant tournaments in the Chess calendar and will serve as a gateway to reach the Candidates tournament. The 11-round Swiss format competition will witness 172 players take part – 116 in the Open and 56 in the Women's tournament. As per the rules, those who finish top two in both Open and the women's competition will qualify for the 2026 Candidates tournament, where the challenger for the current World Champion will emerge. Aside from pushing the rightful qualifiers for the Candidates, the 2025 Grand Swiss will also render a notable prize fund, which has been considerably increased from the last edition. The prize fund in the Open is $625,000 and $230,000 in the Women's competition. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Also Read | Kasparov feels Gukesh not yet ready to conquer Blitz after sudden loss of form in Croatia: 'Something is wrong…' The Open tournament Out of 116 players in the open, 101 have qualified by rating and the rest of the spots have been allocated to Continental representatives, six FIDE wildcards and five are nominated from the local organiser. From India, No.1 seed Arjun Erigaisi and World Champion D Gukesh will be there in the tournament along with R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin. Moreover, prominent players like Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja, two-time world champion candidate Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Fedoseev will take part in the tournament too. Further bolstering the young presence at the event are Hans Niemann (22), Vincent Keymer (20), Javokhir Sindarov (19), and Awonder Liang (22), who are all among the top 20. Former candidate for the title of world champion Boris Gelfand and former Women's World Champion challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina have also received wildcard invitations and will feature in the tournament. Also Read | Carlsen downplays victory at SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia: 'I had one good day… that turned out to be enough' The Women's tournament In the Women's Grand Swiss, 44 players have qualified by rating. Four additional players will join them from Continental spots, four via FIDE wildcards, and another four as nominations from the local organiser. The Women's Grand Swiss features a strong lineup, including top players like Tan Zhongyi, Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, and Kateryna Lagno. Past winners Vaishali Rameshbabu and Lei Tingjie are also participating, alongside young talents like Divya Deshmukh, Lu Miaoyi, and Leya Garifullina, promising an exciting competition. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The full list of participants of the Women's Grand Swiss can be found here: Open: Women: Major Misses While the tournament will feature most of the heavyweights, the final boss, Norway's Magnus Carlsen won't be present at the event. Plus, Viswanathan Anand, as well as heavyweights who participated in previous Grand Swiss tournaments – Le Quang Liem and Peter Svidler, will not participate. Former World Champion Ding Liren will also remain absent from the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. With Carlsen missing the event, there will be no Gukesh vs Magnus at the tournament. The rule requiring 30+ classical rated games between July 2024 and June 2025 is the reason behind the exclusion of several high profile names.
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Business Standard
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Business Standard
World champion Gukesh headlines 15 Indians in Grand Swiss chess tournament
As many as 15 Indians, including world champion D Gukesh, R Praggnanandha, Vaishali R and Koneru Humpy, have qualified for the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and Women's Grand Swiss, to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 3-16. Besides Gukesh and Praggnanandha, the other nine Indians taking part in FIDE Grand Swiss (Open) are: Arjun Erigaisi, Chithambaram Aravindh, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani, Murali Karthikeyan, Abhimanyu Puranik and Aryan Chopra. Vaishali and Humpy will be joined by Harika Dronavalli and Divya Deshmukh in the Women's Grand Swiss. Vantika Agrawal has been named as a reserve player. As one of the most significant events in the chess calendar, the FIDE Grand Swiss offers players a direct pathway to the Candidates Tournament, the game's world governing body said. "The top two finishers in the Grand Swiss will secure spots in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, while the top two players in the Women's Grand Swiss will qualify for the 2026 Women's Candidates Tournament," the FIDE said on Thursday. The Candidates Tournament determines the challenger for the World Chess Championship. In addition to its importance as a qualifier, the event will feature an increased prize fund. "The Open prize fund has been boosted from USD 460,000 to USD 625,000a 36% increasewhile the Women's prize fund sees an even larger jump, from USD 140,000 to USD 230,000, up 64%," the FIDE said. Both tournaments will follow an 11-round Swiss format, with 170 players participating from across the globe: 114 in the Grand Swiss and 56 in the Women's Grand Swiss. So far, 100 players have qualified for the 2025 Grand Swiss by rating, while the Women's Grand Swiss has 44 qualifiers. Only players who played at least 30 rated games are eligible. The final lists of participants will be confirmed after Continent spots, players nominated by the FIDE president and players nominated by the organiser are announced, the global body said.
