A legend in the world of chess, Viswanathan Anand, welcomed India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to his sport in style as the cricketer became a co-owner of a chess franchise. Ashwin bought stakes of the American Gambits, a new team that will feature in the second edition of the Global Chess League, a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and the International Chess Federation. Ashwin, who is an icon in the sport of cricket, received a stylish welcome by Vishy Anand, who shared a glorious social media post as Ashwin entered the world of chess.

“Congratulations @ashwinravi99 on your exciting new venture into the world of chess! As someone who has bowled out the best in cricket, I’m sure you’ll bring the same competitive spirit to the Global Chess League with the American Gambits. May your rooks and bishops be as unstoppable as your off-spinners!

Best of Luck in London! @GCLlive

Vetri kodi kattu

Malaigalai muttumvarai muttu

Lathchiyam ettum varai ettu

Padaiyedu padaiyappa!,” Anand posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Congratulations @ashwinravi99 on your exciting new venture into the world of chess! As someone who has bowled out the best in cricket, I’m sure you’ll bring the same competitive spirit to the Global Chess League with the American Gambits. May your rooks and bishops be as…

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) July 8, 2024

The League on Monday unveiled the six franchises for the second edition to be played in London from October 3 to 12.

American Gambits, owned by prominent business leaders Prachura PP, Venkat K Narayana and Ashwin, will replace Chingari Gulf Titans.

“We’re thrilled to introduce the American Gambits to the chess world. With a blend of strategic brilliance and unwavering determination, our team aims to redefine the game. As co-owner, I’m excited to witness their journey and contribute to their success,” Ashwin was quoted as saying in a media release.

The five other franchise — Alpine SG Pipers, PBG Alaskan Knights, Ganges Grandmasters, defending champions Triveni Continental Kings and Mumba Masters will return for a second season.

Sameer Pathak, CEO, Global Chess League, said, “We are thrilled to welcome the teams for the second season of the Global Chess League. We have found the right partners to strengthen the league’s global reach and look forward to bringing an exciting season of chess to fans worldwide.

“The teams made season one a huge success and we believe that their impact and popularity will continue to expand in the world of chess.” The players will compete in a unique joint team format consisting of six players, including two top women chess players and a prodigy player per team.

Adding to the excitement and anticipation among fans, this innovative format will be aired on major OTT and broadcast platforms worldwide.

Global Chess League Format

In the tournament, each team will play a total of 10 matches in a double round-robin format, with the winner of each match being decided in a best-of-six board scoring system.

Each team will play 10 matches across black and white pieces. The sides will play five matches, with all six players in each team initially playing with the white or black pieces against their opponents, followed by a reverse round in which the entire team will play five matches with the reversed colour pieces against the same opponent.

The winning team for every match will be determined by the points aggregated from wins and draws across all six games played in the match. The top two sides will advance to the final round.

With PTI Inputs

World Championship challenger D Gukesh will look to improve his billing in the faster version as Vidit Gujrathi joins him for the Superunited rapid and blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour. Set to meet Chinese Ding Liren in Singapore from November 20th to decide the next world champion, Gukesh has repeatedly proved his superior ability in the Classical format. But when it comes to faster version, the Indian is yet to find his place amongst the world elite.

The fact remains that in case of a tied result in the World Championship, there will be games under faster time control of rapid and blitz chess to determine the winner and Gukesh would like to set the record straight like American Fabiano Caruana just did a few days back in Bucharest when he won the tiebreaker by a mile winning his games against Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja of France.

Gujrathi, who has got a wildcard, will be the other Indian in the fray in the USD 175000 prize money tournament that will have nine rounds under rapid and 18 under blitz chess rules.

With each win worth two points in rapid and one under the blitz rules, it remains to be seen who will be the master of Zagreb but the odds are in favour of top seed Caruana who will look forward to notching back-to-back wins on the tour.

Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia and Alireza are another two players who can turn the tide in their favour on their day and here they have five playing days to prove their true mettle.

Wesley So of America, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Anish Giri of Holland are the other three in contention while local star Ivan Saric and another American Levon Aronian complete the ten-player line up.

So remains dangerous but is clearly struggling with form while Vachier-Lagrave has to prove himself yet again.

Levon Aronian led his team to a triumph in the last Global Chess League in Dubai but the former Armenian is clearly past his best. Giri, on the other hand, has had mixed success in faster version and will like to end it on a high.

All eyes will be on Gujrathi if he can replicate his magic. Gujrathi had come out as one of the best prepared players in the last Candidates tournament and there is every chance that he will spring a few surprises here.

Players: D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi (Ind); Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Wesley So (Usa); Alireza Firouzja, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid); Ivan Saric (Cro); Anish Giri (Ned). 

World number two Fabiano Caruana defended his Superbet Classic title by winning all three rapid games in a thrilling four-way tiebreaker, featuring Indian Grandmasters D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, after a rather dull tournament. Caruana lost to Anish Giri of Holland in the Classical format to split the competition wide open as Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and France’s Alireza Firouzja all finished the classical section tied for first.

Praggnanandhaa survived by the skin of the teeth against Alireza, who held a completely winning position for a long time. If the Frenchman had won the final classical round there would have been no need of tiebreak games as he would have overtaken Caruana on points.

But Caruana lost, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa drew and that set up a four-way tiebreaker to decide the winner.

Caruana, not known as a tiebreaker master, proved that he can get the better of the younger generation as he defeated all three –- Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Alireza to come up trumps and win the first prize hamper of USD 68500.

The tiebreaker saw the two Indians on the backfoot. Gukesh could have done better but Caruana was spot on while Praggnanandhaa could have complicated things.

Earlier, Praggnanandhaa was staring at his first defeat in the tournament as Alireza was clearly on top.

The Indian struggled in the middle game and had to part with a rook for a minor piece but fought till the last to salvage a lost a position.

Gukesh played out a draw with Wesley So in a mere 22 moves, the Nimzo Indian defense did not give any confidence to the American and the draw was through repetition of moves.

Results final round: Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (5); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 5) drew with R Praggnaanandhaa (Ind. 5); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rom, 3.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 4.5); Wesley So (USa, 4) drew with D Gukesh (Ind, 5);; Ian Nepomnichtchi (Fid, 4.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4.5). 

File photo of Ziaur Rahman.© X/@EmilSutovsky

File image of R Praggnanandhaa.© X (Twitter)

Perhaps for the first time in its history, All India Chess Federation (AICF) has been served with a legal notice demanding Rs.1 crore as compensation by Karun Duggal, a player whose playing career was cut short by the chess body’s decision of banning him during his career peak. “A legal notice has been sent to AICF demanding Rs.1 crore as compensation for the financial and professional damages incurred due to AICF’s action that cut short my and several other upcoming player’s chess career,” Duggal told IANS.

As per the legal notice sent to AICF states, “The total amount being claimed Rs 1 Crore, which includes Loss of opportunity, Loss of Sponsorships and Endorsements, harassment at foreign soil due to your unlawful practices, loss of professional growth, loss of opportunity to get promotion and increment in job, Legal and Professional Costs, Other Incidental Costs for severe mental distress along with the expenses incurred in taking all possible legal steps against you the notice.”

Four players – Duggal, Gurpreet Pal Singh, Hemant Sharma and Devendra Bajpai – had filed a complaint to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against AICF alleging contravention of provisions of Sections 3 and 4 of the Act. The players had complained to CCI that their Elo rating points were removed by AICF without giving any prior notice due to their participation in the chess tournament sponsored by the Chess Association of India (CAI) in 2010, which was not authorised by AICF.

Duggal, a school teacher and two-time Delhi State Rapid Chess champion, had an Elo rating of 1,979 points when it was revoked. For a chess player gaining Elo points is a tough task as he/she has to play in several rated chess tournaments and win games to gain points. There is also the risk of losing points already gained if he/she loses a game in such tournaments.

On July 12, 2018, the CCI passed an order under Section 27 of the Competition Act imposing a penalty of about Rs.6.92 lakh on AICF for contravention of provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act and indulging in anti-competitive conduct. The case concerned several stipulations of AICF on chess players, organisation of chess tournaments, discretionary nomination of players and others.

In its order the CCI observed that AICF’s restriction on chess players to participate in unauthorised events and attendant punitive consequences restricted the movement of chess players and placed them and potential organisers of chess tournaments in a disproportional disadvantage.

Hence, such stipulation was held as an unreasonable restriction on chess players and denial of market access to organisers of chess events/ tournaments, in contravention of the provisions of Section 4(1) read with 4(2)(b)(1) and Section 4(2)(c) of the Act.

The restrictions on chess players were further held to be in the nature of exclusive distribution and refusal to deal, in contravention of Section 3(4)(c) and Section 3(4)(d) of the Act, the CCI said.

As per the CCI order, the complainants alleged that AICF also removed ratings of 151 chess players on that ground. “The AICF had banned about 2,500 chess players. Ratings of 151 players were revoked. Majority of the 2,500 players who were banned have quit chess,” Duggal had told IANS earlier.

According to the CCI order, there were other instances of AICF restricting players who had participated in events not recognised by it. Like a double bishop attack in a game of chess, it was Duggal and Singh who had been pursuing their case against AICF all these years.

According to Duggal, the dismissal of AICF’s petition by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) for restoration of appeal gives his case an added weight. With his legal notice, Duggal has opened his line of attack.

On the other hand, Singh is waiting for the green signal from his lawyer. Singh, who was the National Junior Champion in 1994, was 37 with an Elo rating of 2,306 points at the time his rating was revoked several years back.

While his family was behind him, it was in the office – an Indian Railway employee – Singh felt humiliation as some of the colleagues had looked at him as a player banned by AICF.

“Not being able to play even in the department tournaments was really hurting,” Singh had told IANS earlier.

File photo of Indian chess star R Praggnanandhaa.© ANI

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani on Sunday lauded Indian teen chess sensation R Praggnanandhaa following his stunning victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen and world number two Fabiano Caruana at the ongoing Norway Chess competition. Indian teenage chess sensation R Pragananadhaa continued with his dominating ways in the ongoing Norway Chess competition as he defeated the world number two player Fabiano Caruana in round five in a classical chess game on Saturday night. With this victory, he defeated both world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway and the world number two Caruana in classic chess for the first time ever.

“Incredible Praggnanandhaa! Beating both World No.1 Magnus Carlsen and No.2 Fabiano Caruana in classical chess at #NorwayChess is mindblowing. You’re on a roll and still just 18! Keep the tricolour flying high. All the very best, @rpraggnachess!,” said Adani on his official X handle.

His heroics at the ongoing competition have also brought him into the top ten of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Rankings.

The 18-year-old had defeated Carlsen in round three. Using white pieces, the runners-up from last year’s FIDE Chess World Cup battled it out with some intelligent moves against Carlsen for a win.

Earlier in his budding career, Pragananadhaa had notched some wins over Carlsen in rapid and blitz chess games.

Just a day after registering his first classical win over the five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen, India’s star prodigy Praggnanandhaa R went down against America’s Hikaru Nakamura in Round 4 of the Norway Chess 2024 at the SpareBank 1 SR-Bank on Thursday.

Nakamura displayed masterful preparation against Praggnanandhaa, who sacrificed a knight in a desperate bid to save the game. Nakamura, having anticipated this very sacrifice, played flawlessly and secured a convincing victory to climb to the top spot of the overall standings.

Pragg’s sister Vaishali, on the other hand, continued her dominant performance by defeating the legendary Pia Cramling, extending her lead to a total of 8.5 points.

Indian Women’s chess Grandmaster Humpy suffered a loss in the classical game against Anna Muzychuk in round 4. In another exciting game of the Norway Chess Women’s Tournament, Ju Wenjun triumphed over her compatriot Lie Tengjie in the fourth Armageddon tiebreak of the tournament.

The local hero Carlsen registered a narrow victory over Fabiano Caruana in the Norway Chess main event to bag three points. Caruana had a golden opportunity to close the rating gap with Carlsen to just four points, but the game, initially calm, took a dramatic turn in the endgame. Carlsen capitalised on a small advantage, ultimately clinching the win when Caruana blundered with only seconds left on his clock.

Meanwhile, Alireza Firouzja stunned the reigning World Champion Ding Liren to earn three crucial points ahead of the rest day.

Norway Chess 2024 commenced with a dynamic start, bringing together the world’s elite chess players for a super-tournament in a competition that started on May 27 and will go on till June 7 at SpareBank 1 SR-Bank.

This year, the tournament features not only the renowned Norway Chess tournament but also introduces Norway Chess Women, an all-female tournament showcasing the best female players globally. Both tournaments follow a 6-player double round-robin format with equal prize funds, underscoring a commitment to gender equality in chess, as per a press release from Norway Chess.

Delhi has joined Chennai and Singapore in the race to host the World Championship match between D. Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren after the All India Chess Federation backed the national capital’s bid while accusing the Tamil Nadu government of acting unilaterally by pushing the southern city’s name. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) CEO Emil Sutovsky on Saturday said all three cities have submitted their bids and they “meet the criteria”. Sutovsky added Chennai was the first to bid for the much-anticipated match in November-December this year, while the New Delhi bid came in last.

“Three bids to host the FIDE World Championship Match-2024. Chennai, Singapore, New Delhi (in order of submission). All meet the criteria,” Sutovsky wrote on ‘X’.

The international chess body’s council will discuss the issue and announce the winner later this month.

“Next week FIDE Council to discuss it — representatives of the bidders invited to share details and take questions. Final decision in June,” Sutovsky added.

The Chennai bid was made by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu while the All Indian Chess Federation bid for New Delhi.

While FIDE doesn’t stop any government from bidding for the prestigious event, it is unusual for two entities from the same country to bid for the tournament.

AICF president Nitin Narang told PTI that the national chess federation has bid for New Delhi as the venue for the title showdown and that a no-objection certificate (NOC) had been taken from the Indian government.

He, however, said that the Tamil Nadu government had not consulted the AICF before sending its bid to FIDE.

“The Tamil Nadu government never consulted the AICF or had any conversation with us about it (Chennai as venue), nor do they have the NOC (from the Government of India) for it,” said Narang.

“The New Delhi bid happens to be from the AICF, with the NOC being given by the Government of India,” he added.

Gukesh, who hails from Chennai, had become the youngest ever challenger for the world title by winning the Candidates Tournament in Toronto in April.

The basic criteria outlined by FIDE for a prospective bidder for the 2024 edition is a budget of Rs 8.5 million (Rs 71 crore approx) and a facilitation fee of USD 1.1 million (Rs 9 crore) for the global body.

The duration of the tournament is 25 days and approval of regulations will be completed by July 1.

The total prize money awarded by FIDE would be around USD 2.5 million (Rs 20 crore plus) after the fund was increased from the USD two million (Rs 17 crore) in 2023.

India has hosted the prestigious showpiece in 2000 and 2013.

In the 2000 edition, Viswanathan Anand claimed the first of his five world titles by winning the event played in a tournament format with 100 players. Anand defeated Alexei Shirov in the final.

In 2013, Anand lost to Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen.