Latest news with #chess
Times of Oman
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Times of Oman
"I want to give credit to my sister, family and coach": 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh
Nagpur: Divya Deshmukh, winner of the 2025 FIDE Women's World Cup, expressed her happiness for the people gathered to welcome her at the Nagpur Airport and gave credit for her victory to her first coach, Rahul Joshi, her Family and sister. She returned home on Wednesday and was given a rousing welcome by her family and supporters, who gathered at the Nagpur Airport to receive her. Divya, a 19-year-old rising sensation in the world of chess, became the first Indian woman to clinch the Chess World Cup after overwhelming Koneru on Monday evening in the final via tiebreaks. She became just the fourth Indian woman grandmaster and overall the 88th in the nation to clinch that title. "I am happy. I feel very good to see that so many people have gathered here to welcome me. My heart is very happy. I want to give credit to my sister, my whole family, and my first coach, Rahul Joshi," Divya said to the media. During the tense contest, a string of inaccuracies in the second rapid game contributed to Koneru's downfall. She found herself a pawn down in the rook endgame, which played out in Divya's favour. The veteran allowed the situation to sink in and resigned on the 75th move and fell short in a gripping final with a score of 2.5-1.5. Divya failed to capitalise on the two windows that Koneru left open for her with her inaccurate moves. However, on the third time, Koneru inflicted more damage on herself by capturing the f pawn on move 69, which changed the tide in Divya's favour towards the final moments of the contest. This time around, Divya made no mistake, played the right moves and forced Koneru to resign after six moves. Her eyes welled up with tears as she began to grasp the scale of her victory.
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Chess teacher accused of molesting 6-year-old boy in SW Miami-Dade, MDSO says
A Miami-Dade chess teacher was arrested Tuesday after a 6-year-old boy reported being inappropriately touched during a lesson, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. Authorities said Christopher Stormont, 50, faces charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child. The sheriff's office said the incident took place at 5 p.m., in the 8300 block of SW 124th St. The victim, whose identity was verified by his mother, attended a chess class with Stormont. Upon leaving the class, the boy immediately told his mother that Stormont touched his private area over his clothing, authorities reported. Stormont was taken into custody at the scene and taken to the Special Victims Bureau/Sexual Crimes Investigations Unit, according to the sheriff's department. After being read his Miranda rights, Stormont provided a statement, officials said. He was then transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK) for further processing.
Khaleej Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Indian PM Modi hails Divya's Fide Women's Chess World Cup win
Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his wishes to India's young chess star Divya Deshmukh for her sensational victory at the Fide Women's World Cup against the veteran Koneru Humpy in the final. Divya, a 19-year-old rising sensation in the world of chess, became the first Indian woman to clinch the Chess World Cup after overwhelming Koneru on Monday evening in the final via tiebreaks. PM Modi hailed the remarkable efforts of both players and believes Divya's victory will serve as an inspiration for the youngsters. "A historic final featuring two outstanding Indian chess players! Proud of the young Divya Deshmukh on becoming FIDE Women's World Chess Champion 2025. Congratulations to her for this remarkable feat, which will inspire several youngsters. Koneru Humpy has also displayed immense prowess throughout the championship. Best wishes to both players for their future endeavours. @DivyaDeshmukh05 @humpy_koneru," PM Modi wrote on X. President Droupadi Murmu also lavished praise on Divya and wrote on X, "My heartiest congratulations to Divya Deshmukh who has become the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup, that too, at a very young age of nineteen." During the tense contest, a string of inaccuracies in the second rapid game contributed to Koneru's downfall. She found herself a pawn down in the rook endgame, which played out in Divya's favour. The veteran allowed the situation to sink in and resigned on the 75th move and fell short in a gripping final with a score of 2.5-1.5. Divya failed to capitalise on the two windows that Koneru left open for her with her inaccurate moves. However, on the third time, Koneru inflicted more damage on herself by capturing the f pawn on move 69, which changed the tide in Divya's favour towards the final moments of the contest. This time around, Divya made no mistake, played the right moves and forced Koneru to resign after six moves.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Chess: Aronian takes big top prize in Las Vegas as Niemann celebrates Carlsen's downfall
Levon Aronian, at 42 the oldest in the tournament, scored what he described as 'one of the crown jewels' of his career to win the $200,000 (£148,000) first prize at the Las Vegas leg of the Freestyle Grand Slam last weekend. Aronian did it in style, winning matches against the world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, the No 2, Hikaru Nakamura and the No 5, Arjun Erigaisi en route to victory. Carlsen had to settle for the third prize of $100,000, plus the further indignity of finishing behind his arch enemy, Hans Niemann, whose game with the Norwegian at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup led to allegations of cheating and a $100m lawsuit, which was eventually settled out of court. Niemann was invited to join the commentary team for the final stages of Aronian v Carlsen and made the most of his triumph and a post-game reunion with the former. Carlsen blamed his defeat on a 'complete collapse' of his nervous system. Besides his failure against Aronian, he also allowed Wesley So a mate in four moves. In fairness, he recovered well from his expensive early errors, scored five successive wins before defeating Nakamura in the third-place match, and still leads the overall Tour standings going into the next multi-hub leg in September and the final in Cape Town in December. Niemann showed commanding form when he defeated the US champion, Fabiano Caruana, against whom he had previously had poor results, by 2.5-1.5. In their third game, Caruana settled for a draw by threefold repetition when he had an edge, prompting Niemann to say he was not surprised: 'I think that my nerves, when there's low time, are clearly better than his. I play a lot more blitz, I'm younger, and I also play much faster.' Niemann finally met his match in the final for the $200,000 top prize, which Aronian won 1.5-0.5, but only after a double blunder where the former could have won a pawn race to queen but missed a simple deciding move. Nakamura also failed to clinch a winning sequence against Carlsen before losing 0.5-1.5. It seems that the psychological burden of playing for a total of half a million dollars proved difficult for all of them. The Freestyle Tour's future is unclear. Its huge $3.75m prize fund dwarfs even the $1.5m for chess in the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia next week, but is related to a $12m investment by the venture capital firm Left Lane Capital, which was made on the apparent assumption that the Tour would attract major television coverage. That does not appear to be the case so far, even though the event was a sell-out for the hundreds of spectators, who were allowed to bring in mobile phones and could talk loudly, with the players protected from the noise by earphones. The time controls, which were originally slow classical to satisfy Carlsen, were speeded up to one hour rapid in the interest of a fast-paced event. The Tour suffers in the eyes of the majority of grandmasters because entry is in effect restricted to the top 25-30 players in the world, with ratings above Fide 2725. Beyond that, there remains the troubling problem that, although Freestyle Chess sparks creativity and greatly reduces the need for opening preparation, it also makes it harder for even strong players viewing the games to relate the positions to their previous experience. One of the more easily understandable games, and an elegant victory, was Nakamura v So, where the world No 2 trapped his opponent's queen in just 17 moves. Elsewhere, last weekend's English Championship at Kenilworth, Warwickshire, turned into a trial of strength between the country's top two grandmasters, the world senior champion, Michael Adams, and the former Russian champion Nikita Vitiugov, which continued right into a tie-break for first prize which Adams edged 2.5-1.5. It was an impressive performance by Adams, the 53-year-old from Taunton, Somerset, whose wins over the defending champion, Gawain Jones, and England's youngest grandmaster, 16-year-old Shreyas Royal, were both of the highest class. Adams's tie-break strategy against Vitiugov, keeping a tight grip on the position until his opponent lost patience, was also very effective. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Vitiugov lost little in defeat. He is a strong grandmaster in the Soviet tradition, and showed his quality by a fine attacking win against Ameet Ghasi in the final round. Royal had the best tie-break of those tied for third, played an excellent attack against John Emms, and appeared a potential 2600 player. Matthew Wadsworth, whose GM title has just been confirmed by Fide, looked the part. Final leading scores were Adams and Vitiugov 6/7, Royal, Wadsworth, Peter Roberson, and Jones 5.5. Elmira Mirzoeva retained the English Women's title. The old hands triumphed, while the losers were the ambitious amateurs and the teen or sub-teen juniors, groups that lacked outstanding performers. They will not have to wait long for another opportunity, though, because the British Championship starts at Liverpool next Thursday. Meanwhile Dan Fernandez, the 30-year-old England No 16, who is ambitious to break into the Olympiad team, has just scored a career-best result at the Ghent Open in Belgium, winning first prize with a spectacular 7.5/9, two points clear of the field and with a 2645 tournament performance rating. India's 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh defeated China's Tan Zhongyi 1.5-0.5 to reach Saturday's final of the Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia. Deshmukh will meet her compatriot Humpy Koneru, who won 5-3 against China's Lei Tingjie in the second semi-final. Finally, a word on American Chess Magazine, which is one of the best of its kind. The latest issue includes a rare account by Boris Spassky of his first meeting with Bobby Fischer, an analysis of the best queen sacrifices in chess history, advice on openings, and much more. 3982 1 Rxe8+! Rxe8 2 Nxf6+ gxf6 3 Bb5! Resigns. White wins the e8 rook or mates by Qg4+ and Qg7.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- The Guardian
Competition shows humans are still better than AI at coding
Computers have taken the crown in chess, Go and poker, but when it comes to competitive coding, humans still have the edge – just. Przemysław Dębiak, a Polish coder and mind sports champion, narrowly clinched a victory over OpenAI's entrant in the AtCoder World Tour Finals 2025 in Tokyo earlier this month. The elite coder, however, who goes by the online name Psyho, predicts he may be the last human to win the prestigious title given the incredible pace of technological progress. 'That's probable,' said Psyho, 41, who worked at OpenAI before retiring five years ago. 'I would prefer not, mostly because I like these competitions and knowing there's this magical entity that can do it better than me would be a little bit frustrating.' There is an irony, Psyho acknowledged, in the fact that coders have contributed to their own professional demise. 'Before the contest, I tweeted 'live by the sword, die by the sword',' he said. 'I helped developing AI and I would be the one who would be the loser of the match. Although I won, in the end, for now.' The AtCoder euristic division included 11 human participants invited on the basis of world rankings and a coding algorithm designed by OpenAI, which finished in second place, 9.5% behind Psyho's winning score. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, tweeted his congratulations. The 10-hour contest involves solving a complex optimisation problem. A classic in the genre is the 'travelling salesman problem', where the salesman needs to figure out the shortest possible route between various cities, each visited once. These problems are simple to state, but finding an optimal solution is computationally very complex. So while ChatGPT is now routinely used to write boilerplate code, the AI's performance on an open-ended logic problem will be viewed as impressive. 'At the current state, humans – top humans, to be clear – are still much better at reasoning and solving complex problems,' said Psyho. But humans are 'bottlenecked' by how quickly they can type code, while an AI can try out lots of small adjustments very rapidly. 'The model is like cloning a single human multiple times and working in parallel,' he said. 'AI might not be the smartest right now but it's definitely the fastest. And sometimes multiplying a single average person many many times produces a better result than a single, special human being.' The result comes as major tech companies, including Meta and Microsoft, are turning to AI to write software code. The Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, said in May that AI could take 20% of white-collar jobs in the next one to five years. 'Every profession has this right now, more or less,' said Psyho. 'Some people have it coming right now – all of the white collar jobs. For manual jobs, robotics is lagging by several years.' Like many in the industry, Psyho is ambivalent about the potential impact of ever more powerful AI models. 'We have a tonne of issues,' he said. 'Disinformation, social impact, humans not having a purpose in life. Historically society moves at a very slow pace. Technological progress right now is moving at a faster and faster and faster pace.'
