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News18
4 hours ago
- Sport
- News18
World Chess Day 2025: History of Chess in India, India's Chess Legends, Rising Indian Chess Stars and Impact of Indian Players on Global Chess
Last Updated: World Chess Day celebrates chess as a global game that transcends borders, religion, languages and cultures. World Chess Day marks the foundation of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) in Paris in 1924. The day was first proposed by UNESCO before it was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2019. The day celebrates chess as a global game that transcends borders, religion, languages and cultures. Players, clubs and chess enthusiasts around the globe commemorate the day by organising tournaments, exhibitions and educational events about chess as not just a sport but also as a tool for intellectual development and peace. India leads the junior rankings with 21 boys and 10 girls in the world's top 100 players. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen praised Indian grandmasters Dommaraju Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun Erigaisi on the sidelines of the Norway Chess 2025. Among the prominent stars, the legendary Viswanathan Anand continues to inspire players from all over the globe with his meticulous planning and preparation strategies studied by other elite-level players. India hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai (2022), reflecting the growing influence of Indian chess in the world as the All India Chess Federation (AICF) also expands the sport's wings across the country and identifies wonderful talents at an early age. About the Author Lifestyle Desk Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: July 20, 2025, 11:47 IST
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First Post
a day ago
- Sport
- First Post
'Complete collapse of my nervous system': Magnus Carlsen opens up on tough Las Vegas stint of Freestyle Chess Tour
After attaining dominant wins over India's Vidit Gujrathi, world no.1 Magnus Carlsen revealed that his nervous system collapsed on Day 1 of the Las Vegas event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. read more After finishing fifth in Group White and being eliminated from contention for winning the Las Vegas event of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, Magnus Carlsen bounced back with two dominating wins against India's Vidit Gujrathi on Friday. In the follow-up, Carlsen revealed that he had suffered a 'complete collapse of his nervous system' on the first day of the event and was not happy about not being able to communicate with his wife, Ella or longtime coach Peter Heine Nielsen during the rounds. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The tournament format had the top four players from Group White and Group Black advancing to the Upper Bracket quarterfinals. The remaining eight players competed in the Lower Bracket. India's Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa made it to the Upper Bracket, while Magnus Carlsen and Vidit Gujrathi were left in the Lower Bracket. Carlsen bounced back strongly in the Lower Bracket, beating Vidit 2-0 to advance. This win eliminated Vidit from the event, he finished joint 13th with four others. Magnus Carlsen suffers nervous system collapse Speaking after the match, Carlsen explained what transpired on Thursday that led to the collapse of his nervous system. 'I think it started well yesterday. I felt all right, relatively rested at least compared to other days. And then I don't know, I didn't enjoy the whole process of just being pretty isolated there for many, many hours and not being able to talk to Peter or Ella in between rounds and not being able to to use my devices and so on. What happened then was just kind of a complete collapse of my nervous system,' Carlsen told the YouTube handle of Freestyle Chess after his win over Vidit. 'I could have scraped through of course with some help but it would have been completely underserved. So, it was a complete collapse and yeah, sometimes you have one bad day and I've had that in Freestyle before in the preliminaries, but then there's been a bit of a wider margin to get through. This time it wasn't. It's not an excuse. I should make it regardless.' He said he wanted to talk to his wife Ella and his longtime coach Heine Nielsen, to get out of the shackles. 'I just wanted to get out of the bubble, especially when things start going south a little bit. I feel like I'm just kind of left in my own head a little bit and it would have been probably a little bit easier to shake off if I could talk to somebody very familiar,' Carlsen explained. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Also Read | Hans Niemann posts powerful message after reaching Freestyle Chess Las Vegas final: 'Don't need an apology...' Carlsen's Shift After Elimination The pressure was off his shoulders after getting eliminated from title contention, and then he resorted to playing it for the love of the sport. 'It's been a thing recently that when things are going well, I play really well and then I'm not really able to sort of change bad trends. And when sort of my nervous system starts collapsing, then it's all quite bad. I have bad days in pretty much every tournament. It's just, you know, sometimes they happen at inopportune moments,' Carlsen said. 'I haven't felt — in Zagreb (at SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament) or here — at the top of at the top of my game, but at least, now that there's zero pressure that I don't have anything to play for, at least I can maybe enjoy the games a little bit more. Today more than anything else, I was just trying to play fun chess and play dynamically from the start and that worked out well. So that's the advantage of playing Freestyle Chess that even if you don't have anything to play for, it's kind of a little bit easier to play kind of for the love of the game than in some other forms of chess,' Carlsen concluded. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
News18
a day ago
- Sport
- News18
Freestyle Grand Slam: Arjun Erigaisi bows out in semis after loss to Aronian
Last Updated: Las Vegas (USA), Jul 19 (PTI) Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi's dream run at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam ended in the semifinals after a 0-2 defeat to Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian here. Erigaisi, who became the first Indian to reach the last four stage of the Freestyle Grand Slam with a stellar performance, ran out of steam in the match up against Aronian who is finding his magical touch back in the game. After beating Magnus Carlsen in the play-off for a top-four spot in the prelims and Hikaru Nakamura in the quarterfinals, Arjun failed to convert his chances in the first game. Aronian, despite being in a difficult position, held firm and was rewarded when Arjun could not capitalise on his advantage. In the return game, with Aronian needing only a draw to advance, he played subtly to gain a slight advantage out of the opening. As the game settled into a balanced position, it seemed headed for a draw, but Arjun, needing a win to stay in the match, took unwarranted risks that cost him dearly. Hans Moke Niemann of the United States was the other player to reach the finals, defeating compatriot Fabiano Caruana. Niemann arrived slightly late for the first game but managed to draw it. Two more draws followed before the younger American outmanoeuvred Caruana with some finely crafted middlegame play. R Praggnanandhaa, who had bowed out of the title race, defeated Vincent Keymer of Germany in the playoff for 3rd-8th place. Praggnanandhaa drew the first game as Black and outplayed Keymer in the return game to register a 1.5-0.5 victory. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen also won by the same margin against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan. In other matches, Wesley So of the United States defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan 3-1, while in an all-American duel, Hikaru Nakamura crushed Leinier Dominguez Perez 2-0. Results Semifinals: Arjun Erigaisi (Ind) lost to Levon Aronian (Usa) 0-2; Fabiano Caruana (Usa) lost to Hans Moke Niemann (Usa) 1.5-2.5 Other results: Lenier Dominguez Perez (Usa) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) 0-2; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) beat Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 1.5-0.5; R Praggnanandhaa beat Vincent Keymer 1.5-0.5; Wesley So (Usa) beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 3-1. PTI ATK view comments First Published: 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.
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First Post
a day ago
- Sport
- First Post
Magnus's menace: How young Indian Grandmasters are proving to be his toughest challengers
Though he remains the world's top-ranked player across formats and is still a force to be reckoned with, Magnus Carlsen has been on the losing side fairly frequently in recent months. And it's one group of players in particular that have accounted for those losses more than any other – young Indian GMs. read more Magnus Carlsen has lost to D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa in the last couple of months, including in the ongoing Freestyle Chess Las Vegas. Image credit: Grand Chess Tour/Norway Chess/Tata Steel Chess Magnus Carlsen's authority as the world's best chess player had hardly been challenged since he defeated Viswanathan Anand in 2013 to be crowned world champion, three years after he rose to the top of the FIDE ratings for the first time in his career. Carlsen would go on to defeat Anand in a rematch the following year, and thus began an era of domination rivaled only by legends of the game such as Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov in the board game's history. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD And even at the age of 34, more than two decades after attaining the title of 'Grandmaster', Carlsen continues to scale new heights in chess, having recently become the first player ever to breach the 2900 ELO rating barrier, albeit in Freestyle format. Nonetheless, at the same time, the Norwegian chess icon, who has been the world's top-ranked player continuously since 2011, finds his authority increasingly challenged with each passing tournament. And there's a particular group of players who have proven to be a thorn in the flesh for Carlsen more often than not – young Indian Grandmasters. Particularly, the current generation of rising stars, who have excelled over the last couple of years, has transformed India into a powerhouse of sorts in the world of chess. Losing against Indian players isn't a recent phenomenon for Carlsen – he had, after all, lost to veteran Grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna at the Lausanne Young Masters in 2005. Legendary GM Anand too had scored quite a few wins over Carlsen in the early years of his career – especially during his second reign as world champion from 2007 to 2012, and most recently at the 2022 Norway Chess. Magnus Carlsen's dominance in chess had rarely been challenged for more than a decade after he defeated Viswanathan Anand in 2013 to be crowned world champion for the first time. Reuters Karthikeyan Murali became only the third Indian to defeat the Norwegian at the Qatar Masters in 2023. Over a year later, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa would become the first of the current generation of stars to triumph over Carlsen in the Classical format – at the Norway Chess, his home event, of all places. Later that year, Arjun Erigaisi would outclass Carlsen in just 20 moves at the Tata Steel Blitz event in Kolkata STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'King' and 'weaker player' jibes intensify rivalry with Indians So why the spotlight on Carlsen's defeats against young Indians in recent months? It might have something to do with India's rise as a chess nation since 2024 – a year that witnessed Gukesh Dommaraju become the youngest champion in the history of the Candidates Tournament and the World Championship, besides India becoming only the third nation to achieve a golden sweep at the Chess Olympiad. That and Carlsen's feud with FIDE, in which the former not only criticised the Lausanne-based world governing body and how they ran the sport at a global level, but also slammed Classical chess in favour of the new Freestyle format. Some of those potshots were directed towards Anand, who has served as FIDE's deputy president since 2022. And it was only a matter of time before Gukesh and his cronies would be targeted. Carlsen and Gukesh had come face-to-face for the first time since the latter was crowned world champion at this year's Norway Chess. After beating him in dominant fashion in the opening round, Carlsen took a jibe at Gukesh by quoting a line from the popular HBO series, 'You come at the king, you best not miss.' A little over a month later, ahead of the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, Carlsen took a fresh dig at Gukesh by referring to him as "one of weaker players". STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Letting the chess pieces do the talking On both occasions, Gukesh responded with brilliance on the chess board to silence Carlsen without saying a word. In Norway, Gukesh fought back from a near-hopeless position to defeat Carlsen for the first time in his career, pulling off what surely was the biggest win of his career alongside his triumph over Ding Liren in the World Championship in December. What made the result even more dramatic was Carlsen's infamous fist-slam on the table in anger that elicited a shocked reaction from his opponent. World chess champion Magnus Carlsen slams table after losing to young chess prodigy — Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) June 18, 2025 And earlier this month in Zagreb, the teenage Grandmaster from Chennai defeated Carlsen for the second time in as many meetings, this time to shut him up for the 'weaker players' jibe. Also Read | Gukesh doesn't miss while coming at 'King' Carlsen, justifies the 'world champion' tag And unlike his victory in Stavanger, this was a win in the Rapid format – one he was considered weak in – in which he dictated terms from start to finish. The manner in which he lost even led to Russian icon Kasparov questioning Magnus' dominance. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD D Gukesh had defeated Magnus Carlsen twice in as many meetings recently, albeit in different formats. Image: Grand Chess Tour It wasn't just the traditional forms of the game that Carlsen has been challenged in. At the ongoing fourth leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Las Vegas, USA, Carlsen lost to Praggnanandhaa in just 39 moves after committing a couple of blunders. The defeat derailed his campaign after a strong start in which he had won his first two games and drew the third, and culminated in the Freestyle Chess co-founder shockingly failing to reach the quarter-finals. And if that's not all, Carlsen had nearly lost to nine-year-old Candidate Master Aarit Kapil in Titled Tuesday event last month ahead of his trip to Croatia. A spicy rivalry that makes chess so much more interesting And it's not just Indians who are getting the better of Carlsen over the course of the last one year – German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer, after all, had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent months after beating Carlsen in the semi-finals of Freestyle Chess Weissenhaus in February, the event that he would end up winning later. However, his equation with Indian GMs, especially the young trio of Gukesh, Pragg and Arjun, just has that extra spice which certainly has made chess all the more eventful. There's little doubt over the fact that Carlsen continues to reign supreme, as evidenced by the fact that he won the Norway Chess as well as SuperUnited Croatia, events where he made headlines for his losses to Gukesh more than anything else. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India's 'Golden' Generation', however, is leading the way when it comes to highlighting the fact that Carlsen isn't quite the unstoppable force he once was, especially when he voluntarily decided against defending his world title in 2022, as if to suggest he grew bored with the lack of competition.
The Hindu
a day ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Freestyle Grand Slam Chess: Arjun Erigaisi bows out in semifinals after loss to Aronian
Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi's dream run at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam ended in the semifinals after a 0-2 defeat to Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian in Las Vegas. Erigaisi, who became the first Indian to reach the last four stage of the Freestyle Grand Slam with a stellar performance, ran out of steam in the match up against Aronian who is finding his magical touch back in the game. After beating Magnus Carlsen in the play-off for a top-four spot in the prelims and Hikaru Nakamura in the quarterfinals, Arjun failed to convert his chances in the first game. Aronian, despite being in a difficult position, held firm and was rewarded when Arjun could not capitalise on his advantage. In the return game, with Aronian needing only a draw to advance, he played subtly to gain a slight advantage out of the opening. As the game settled into a balanced position, it seemed headed for a draw, but Arjun, needing a win to stay in the match, took unwarranted risks that cost him dearly. Hans Moke Niemann of the United States was the other player to reach the finals, defeating compatriot Fabiano Caruana. Niemann arrived slightly late for the first game but managed to draw it. Two more draws followed before the younger American outmanoeuvred Caruana with some finely crafted middlegame play. R Praggnanandhaa, who had bowed out of the title race, defeated Vincent Keymer of Germany in the playoff for 3rd-8th place. Praggnanandhaa drew the first game as Black and outplayed Keymer in the return game to register a 1.5-0.5 victory. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen also won by the same margin against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan. In other matches, Wesley So of the United States defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan 3-1, while in an all-American duel, Hikaru Nakamura crushed Leinier Dominguez Perez 2-0. Results Semifinals: Arjun Erigaisi (Ind) lost to Levon Aronian (Usa) 0-2; Fabiano Caruana (Usa) lost to Hans Moke Niemann (Usa) 1.5-2.5 Other results: Lenier Dominguez Perez (Usa) lost to Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) 0-2; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) beat Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) 1.5-0.5; R Praggnanandhaa beat Vincent Keymer 1.5-0.5; Wesley So (Usa) beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 3-1.
