Chess

The world No. 1 needed just two games to take the seventh leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, ending Erigaisi's challenge 2-0. It is Carlsen's fourth tournament win of the Tour season and extends his advantage at the top of the overall leaderboard. For 19-year-old Erigaisi, he can take huge credit for a stunning run to the final.

Carlsen battled past the determined challenge of German teenager Vincent Keymer to book his place in an event he reportedly said "I absolutely am going to win" last week. The Norwegian's stunning run of form has also left him with the chance of breaking the 2900 Tour rating barrier.

At 15, Christopher Yoo is the youngest player in the event and the youngest player to make it to a Meltwater Champions Chess Tour's knockout stage. Yet he was up against another talented teen, Arjun Erigaisi, who impressed in the preliminary rounds and has looked a force throughout. Erigaisi took the opener but Yoo hit back in a long second game.

The world champion caused a wave of shock when he pulled out of a match for the second time in two weeks, seemingly in protest at alleged cheating. Carlsen has yet to openly accuse Niemann of anything directly and the chess world is waiting on his next move. However, by quitting his Round 6 game in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event, he gifted Niemann three points, according to a statement from Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022.

Ivanchuk was dominating his teenage opponent and looked set to strike the first blow for the older generation but first dropped a rook and then left a bishop hanging in time trouble. However, the Ukrainian quickly shook off the loss in the next round with a win over Serb Ivan Saric to pick up his first three.

Julius Baer Generation Cup is a new ground-breaking tournament this month focused on the clash of ages as it pits against each other players from age groups -- from 15 to 50-plus. The Julius Baer Generation Cup marks a fitting return to Julius Baer events for Pragg, the 17-year-old from Chennai.

On Monday, Praggnanandhaa took the chess world by storm, defeating Carlsen in the FTX Crypto Cup, the second major on the Champions Chess Tour to finish runner-up in the strong tournament. It is a sort of an ascetic's life that the young Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa and his elder sister Woman GM (WGM) R. Vaishali lead, "talking and breathing chess while avoiding other diversions", their mother R. Nagalakshmi told IANS.

Starting the round two points behind the Norwegian Carlsen, the 17-year-old Pragg was looking down and out after losing the third of the four rapid games. But Carlsen, who was steering the fourth game to a draw, blundered in the endgame and the Indian capitalised on it to take the match into blitz tiebreaks.

On Tuesday night, Praggnanandhaa narrowly beat Anish Giri in the four-game match to avenge a costly defeat the Dutch number 1 inflicted on him earlier this year in the Oslo Esports Cup. Pragg and Giri played out three draws before the India struck in the final game. The youngster sits alongside Carlsen at the top of the leaderboard on 6/6 points.

The 14th-seeded Uzbekistan team won the gold medal while Armenia and India-2 team won the silver and bronze in the Open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad held here, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said. According to FIDE, Ukraine is the winner of the gold in the women's section. The India-2 team, composed of young players, won against Germany in the 11th and final round 3-1.