Freestyle Chess Tour's India-leg cancelled amidst lack of sponsors, CEO confirms
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which was supposed to have its fifth event in Delhi in September, later this year has been cancelled due to the lack of sponsors. The co-founder, Jan Henric Buettner, confirmed the news to Chess.com after speculation over the event's status following the removal of the Delhi leg from the official website.This event was supposed to be their fifth event of the inaugural Grand Slam, after posting successful shows in Weissenhaus, Paris, and Karlsruhe. Presently, GM Magnus Carlsen holds the lead at the top with 65 points after winning two events.advertisementCarlsen will be headlining the next event, which is set to be held in Las Vegas on July 16-20, later next month. He was recently seen in action against the nine-year-old Aarit Kapil from Delhi, who had come close to beating the current top-ranked player.
When asked if there may be a possible replacement, Buettner provided a cryptic response and suggested that there could be something done, but the announcement has yet to be made."Yes and no," he was quoted as saying by Chess.com."We will do something special for the September leg of the tour instead. This will be announced after Las Vegas," he added.Buettner also revealed that he is planning on stepping down from his role as CEO. In a previous interview, he had revealed how he wants to take up a more executive role instead. Now he is set to end his tenure as CEO on July 1.advertisement"I hope I get out of it! I want it to be implemented in a perfect way. I am giving everything, so when all my visions in my head are implemented, then I can have a more executive role," he said.WHAT'S NEXT FOR INDIA'S CHESS STARS?With the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour now cancelled, the next home event for India's top chess stars will be the Chennai Grand Masters, starting August 6, where the tournament comprises a 10-man round-robin format with GMs like Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin, Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer, amongst many others set to compete.- Ends
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
35 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Wimbledon, On This Day: Shvedova makes history with first golden set in a Tennis Grand Slam
On June 30, 2012 — 13 years ago — Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan etched her name into the Grand Slam record books by becoming the first player to complete a 'Golden Set'. Unseeded at the time, Shvedova won 24 consecutive points in the first set — including 14 winners — to storm to a 6-0 lead in her third-round Wimbledon 2012 clash against Italy's Sara Errani. She went on to win the match 6-0, 6-4 against the 10th-seeded Errani, who had finished runner-up at the French Open just weeks earlier. Shvedova's run ended in the next round, where she lost to Serena Williams of the United States. Interestingly, Shvedova had once come within a point of achieving a golden set before — double-faulting at 5-0, 40-0 against Amy Frazier at the 2006 Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Her Wimbledon feat remains the only instance of a golden set recorded in a Grand Slam match. The first-ever golden set in a top-level professional tennis event was achieved by the USA's Bill Scanlon, who accomplished the feat against Brazil's Marcos Hocevar at the 1983 WCT Gold Cup in Delray Beach.
Mint
36 minutes ago
- Mint
The spectacular ‘new two' era in tennis has arrived
The constant reminders of how much tennis has shifted are now coming from inside Novak Djokovic's house. Earlier this month, the 24-time major champion was in his native Serbia while two men more than a decade his junior were duking it in Paris in one of the greatest Grand Slam finals tennis had ever seen. Djokovic, who had been out to lunch with his family, didn't feel like watching. 'I got enough of tennis," he told them. His son and wife dragged him to a TV anyway. And for the rest of the afternoon, he found himself glued to a 5.5-hour fight for the ages between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner for the French Open title. Even Djokovic had to accept that the rivals who had so recently been the sport's future were now clearly its present. Three weeks on from that long afternoon, Wimbledon is shaping up much the same way. As the tournament begins on Monday, Sinner and Alcaraz are heavy favorites to continue a streak of dominance that has now lasted for more than a year. Together, the world's No. 1 and No. 2-ranked players have swept the past six major titles and generally seemed in a class of their own. Those types of runs aren't exactly a rarity, but they do signal the transition between eras. The previous six Grand Slams had been swept by Djokovic and Alcaraz, while six of the seven before those went to Djokovic or Rafa Nadal. This is how the tectonic plates move in modern men's tennis. They gradually redefine the geography of the game until the landscape looks immovable again. The real question is how the dynamic evolves between the pair of champions dubbed the New Two. Sinner came out on top in their one and only clash at Wimbledon, back in 2022. Burt Alcaraz currently leads the head-to-head against Sinner by eight victories to four and has won their past five meetings, including this year's French Open final. 'For me, the final in Roland Garros was an amazing achievement," said Sinner, who had led by two sets in that match before losing in five. 'That's it. Look, in this sport things can happen." Perhaps the most surprising part about the pair's status as heavy favorites heading to London is that neither one grew up on grass at all. Sinner, the 23-year-old Italian, feels most at home on hardcourts, the surface on which he has won all three of his Grand Slam titles. (His best result at Wimbledon remains a semifinal in 2023.) And Alcaraz, still only 22, was raised on clay in Spain, yet somehow developed an affinity for grass as a teenager. His first taste of it came when he played the junior tournament at Roehampton in England in 2019. What he found was a surface that meshed perfectly with his game, full of deft slices and drop shots. Moving around the slippery grass couldn't be more different from the sliding he knew on clay or the pounding physicality of hard courts, but Alcaraz took to it quickly. There was no better proof than winning Wimbledon twice in his first four trips to the All England Club. Alcaraz is now bidding to join Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker as the only men to win the title there three times before the age of 23. 'I think the most beautiful tennis that we can watch is on grass," he said. 'The style that the people bring to the court when they play on grass, I think is so beautiful. The sound of the ball. The movement is really tough, but when you get it, it's kind of like you're flying." That's what Djokovic is up against. Though he hasn't won a major since the 2023 U.S. Open, marking his longest dry spell in seven years, he still believes that Wimbledon represents his best shot at elusive title No. 25. Novak Djokovic, during a practice session at Wimbledon, where he has played in each of the past six finals. Even past his prime, the 38-year-old Djokovic has played in each of the past six finals at the Championships, winning four in a row before losing the past two to Alcaraz. And while his form is clearly one notch below the New Two this season, he has managed to keep himself close enough to the peak at major tournaments that things could conceivably break his way. In both Melbourne and Paris this season, Djokovic reached the semifinals. In London, where he is the sixth seed, his road to the final would potentially include world No. 4 Jack Draper, of Britain, in the quarters and Sinner in the following round. 'Even though my level of tennis has been going quite up and down and fluctuating much more than for most of my career…Grand Slams stay quite consistent," he said. 'These tournaments give me the biggest drive still." Write to Joshua Robinson at
India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
Barbora Krejcikova confident before Wimbledon title defence: Definitely not difficult
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova showed no signs of pressure as she prepared to begin her Wimbledon title defence at the All England Club. Last year, the 29-year-old defeated Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the final to claim the prestigious grass-court title - her second Grand Slam after winning the French Open in 17th this year, Krejcikova opens her campaign against 20-year-old Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, the recent runner-up at the Eastbourne Open. The Czech star said she is happy to return as the defending definitely not difficult (returning as defending champion). It's actually very, very nice to be here and very nice to play, even after all the time I was out," Krejcikova told the reporters. "So I'm enjoying it, I'm happy to be here. I find it tough, complicated, but I don't find it difficult. I'm very much looking forward to play on Tuesday.'Krejcikova hasn't had the most encouraging start to the current grass-court season. She suffered a Round of 32 exit at the HSBC Championships, losing to Rebeca Sramkova, and later withdrew from the Eastbourne Open due to a thigh her Wimbledon triumph last year, the Czech star hasn't added another title to her name. However, she insisted that she has been putting in the hard work to deliver a strong performance this basically a new tournament, even though I won it last year and I have great memories for this one. I want to come here and do well again. The preparation is the same, I've been working really hard to come back and to enjoy this position,' Krejcikova added. Eala is expected to pose a stern challenge for Krejcikova in the first round. The rising Filipino star showcased her class at the Miami Open earlier this year, where she defeated three Grand Slam champions in succession - Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek.- EndsMust Watch
