Chess

Playing in the Open A section of the event, the 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa garnered eight points from nine rounds, finishing half a point ahead of his nearest rival, Alexandr Predke, a Russian player playing under the flag of FIDE, the sport's world governing body. In the ninth and final round on Saturday, Praggnanandhaa, the Grandmaster from Chennai, played out a draw with Serbia's Alisher Suleymenov while Predke defeated India's V Pranav on the second board with white pieces to move up to 7.5 points.

FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the torch to the Prime Minister, who in turn handed it over to Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. This torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days before the final culmination at Mahabalipuram near Chennai. At every location, chess grandmasters of the state will receive the torch.

The 52-year-old five-time World Champion insisted that he has already told the FIDE's top officials that he will not stop playing chess. The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has unanimously decided to support the candidature of Anand for the post of deputy president of FIDE and if everything goes in his favour, it would be the first time that an Indian will hold a top post in FIDE.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich will hand over the torch to PM Modi, who in turn will hand it over to Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. This torch will then be taken to 75 cities in 40 days before the final culmination at Mahabalipuram near Chennai. At every location, chess Grandmasters of the state will receive the torch.

The 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster, who is on a high after finishing runners-up in the Chessable Masters on the Champions Chess Tour a few weeks back, defeated compatriot IM V Praneeth in the ninth and final round on Friday. Praggnanandhaa, who was the top seed in the event, enhanced his reputation as one of the top upcoming players as he added another feather to his crown.

The mascot named 'Thambi' or younger brother in Tamil, the language of Tamil Nadu, where the Olympiad is hosted was launched by Chief Minister M.K.Stalin on late Thursday. The dhoti has white and black checked border and the shirt sports the words 'Believe Chess'. Stalin also launched the 44th Chess Olympiad logo consisting of different chess pieces.

The Indian Premier league (IPL) in 2008 had sceptics who felt that cricket was being sacrificed for commercial gains and that the sport will lose its character and the values that it stands for. The gentleman's game that revelled in artistic stroke-play, would breed swatters who would do well killing flies.

But his resistance ended at around 2.30 am on Thursday night as the Indian blundered to lose the second play-off blitz game, losing the match by 2.5-1.5, 0.5-1.5 margin in the tiebreak play-offs -- an incredible performance for a 16-year-old school kid who had defeated some top players including World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in this event.

In the four-game encounter, Pragg lost the first, came back strongly to win the second but succumbed to pressure in the third. The Chinese managed to steer the fourth game to a draw to take the opening encounter. The final of the Chessable Masters started with Ding Liren giving 16-year-old Pragg a tough test just hours after the talented youngster sat a real-life school exam, his class XI final exams.

The 16-year-old from Chennai showed off all his skills as he simply overpowered the super-strong Dutch No.1 Giri to set up a summit clash with China's World No. 2 Ding Liren, who stunned World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the other semifinal. Praggnanandhaa took lead with a checkmate in the second game of the best-of-four games semifinal encounter. But after two draws, Giri, a Dutch GM of Nepalese origin, returned the favour in the must-win fourth game to draw level at 2-2.