Latest news with #2025GrandChessTour
Mint
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Viral Video: Chess champion Gukesh enjoys dessert platter on Air India flight; pilot Laxmi Joshi pens heartfelt note
Air India earlier celebrated the presence of Gukesh Dommaraju by offering him a special treat on board. Pilot Laxmi Joshi shared a video of the occasion on Instagram that has gone viral. In the viral video, the defending world champion was seen enjoying a special dessert platter. By the looks of it, the beautifully-arranged spread included chocolate pastries topped with white chocolate dots. A mango mousse cake garnished with a cherry and whipped cream seems to be there. A bowl of mixed fresh fruits, featuring pineapple, papaya, dragon fruit, and kiwi, was served. Bowls of creamy rasmalai, delicately flavoured with saffron, were also served. 'Had the honour of flying the World Chess Champion, Gukesh. Whether in the skies or across the chessboard — focus, strategy, and humility always triumph. Here's to young legends making India proud,' Joshi wrote while sharing the video. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Laxmi Joshi was a part of the Vande Bharat Mission, which flew repatriated Indian nationals. The mission transported essential supplies, including vaccines, hazmat suits and other medical supplies. Joshi has 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Social media users reacted to the Instagram Reel, which has gained 3.3 million views so far. 'Nice gestures of you all crew members (The very simple gestures are often the ones that have the biggest effect),' wrote one of them. Another wrote, 'His simplicity and humbleness speaks alot about him.' 'Excellent lovely honouring the chess champion,' came from another. 'This is how all our champions should be treated!' exclaimed another. One user posted, 'Exceptionally Grounded personality. Wishes for making nation proud. I wish you hearty success for future challenges.' D Gukesh earlier won the rapid section of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour tournament held in Zagreb, Croatia. The 19-year-old defeated America's Wesley So in the final round in 38 moves using white pieces. Gukesh finished with 14 out of 18 points, placing first. Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda came second with 11 points while Norwegian Magnus Carlsen stood third with 10. Indian player Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu shared fourth place with Fabiano Caruana, scoring nine points. This event is the third leg of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, which already had tournaments in Poland and Romania. Upcoming tournaments will be held in the USA in August and in Brazil from September to October.
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First Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
Carlsen downplays victory at SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia: 'I had one good day... that turned out to be enough'
Magnus Carlsen overcame a slow start at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, the third event of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, to win the tournament with a total of 22.5 points – three more than early leader D Gukesh. read more After finishing with just 10 points at the end of the Rapid games, Magnus Carlsen bounced back in the Blitz leg to win the SuperUnited Croatia title. Image credit: Grand Chess Tour Magnus Carlsen was back at his cheeky self after clinching the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia title on Sunday, surging past Wesley So and D Gukesh to the top spot despite a slow start to his campaign. Reacting to his victory with a total of 22.5 points that made him richer by US$40,000, Carlsen said that his "B-game" proved enough for him to secure the title who nobody else in the 10-man competition had a great run either. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Carlsen admits to struggling at Zagreb despite clinching title And in a chat with the tournament organisers after his triumph in Zagreb, which hosted the third event of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, the legendary Norwegian Grandmaster said that it was 'one good day' that helped him land the title. Carlsen, however, added that he was a 'little bit lucky' along the way. 'I felt that I struggled most of the event. Partly because it was a very strong field this year. There weren't a lot of weaker players at all. It wasn't obvious who was going to score poorly and who was going to score well against the others. It felt like, especially in rapid, chances were kind of hard to come by,' Carlsen said in a chat with Grand Chess Tour after his victory. 'I had one good day, really, which was yesterday, and that turned out to be enough, which was a little bit lucky, but it speaks to the fact that it was a fairly even tournament overall and nobody could really break away from the pack. It doesn't feel like I've won really. 'It feels like I just came here, played alright, and nobody really did anything special in the end, and then I usually end up winning,' he added. Not bad for "old man chess!" 😂 — Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 6, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Carlsen was third in the standings with 10 points after a mixed run in the Rapid leg of the tournament, during which he suffered a second defeat in as many meetings against Indian GM Gukesh, who was at the top with 14 points. Carlsen, however, surged past Gukesh to the top spot after collecting six wins and three draws on the first day of the Blitz games, with the Indian suffering seven defeats in nine games including the first five on the trot. Despite a relatively better performance from the Classical world champion on the final day of the event, Gukesh failed to catch up with Carlsen as he finished third overall with 19.5 points – three fewer than the champion.
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First Post
06-07-2025
- Sport
- First Post
Gukesh struggles in blitz as Carlsen snatches lead at Grand Chess Tour 2025
World champion D Gukesh struggled on Day 1 of the blitz section at the 2025 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, suffering six losses and slipping to third place overall. Magnus Carlsen stormed ahead with a dominant performance to top the combined standings. read more World chess champion Dommaraju Gukesh had a rough time on the first day of the blitz section at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament in Zagreb, Croatia on Saturday. After leading the rapid section of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour event by three points, he lost his momentum and suffered back-to-back losses in the blitz round. Gukesh endures a torrid run The 19-year-old Indian started Day 1 of the blitz section with five straight losses, including against now rival Magnus Carlsen. He managed to stop the losing streak with a draw in the sixth round against Fabiano Caruana, but lost again in the seventh. Gukesh failed to win even a single game and ended the day with a painful loss to fellow Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. Meanwhile, five-time world champion and the current World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen made a stunning comeback after finishing third in the rapid section. Carlsen scored 7.5 points from his nine games and jumped to the top of the standings. This was similar to last year, when Carlsen won his final nine games to win the title. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Gukesh had earlier impressed in the rapid section, where he won six games, including a memorable win over Carlsen. But blitz proved to be a different challenge for the Indian prodigy. He has already lost six games on Day 1 of blitz and has dropped down to third place in the combined standings. Meanwhile, Carlsen is in the best position to win the tournament. He has 17.5 points from a possible 27 and is ahead of Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda by 1.5 points. Gukesh has 15.5 points and will need a big turnaround to stay in the title race. R Praggnanandhaa is currently ranked fifth in the standings. 2025 SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia: Combined standings 1. Magnus Carlsen (17.5) 2. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (16) 3. D Gukesh (15.5) 4. Wesley So (14.5) 5. R Praggnanandhaa (13.5) 6-7. Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana (13) 8-9. Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (11) 10. Ivan Saric (10)
India Today
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
D Gukesh gives hilarious shout out to 'upset' cousin after win over Magnus Carlsen
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh gave a hilarious shoutout to one of his cousins after beating Magnus Carlsen in the Grand Chess Tour Zagreb. Speaking after his final rapid match in the tournament, which essentially sealed his rapid title at the event, Gukesh said that one of his cousins was confident that he would win over Magnus, and wanted a shoutout in case it beat Magnus on July 3 at the event but forgot to mention this incident in the post-match interview. Gukesh revealed that his cousin was quite upset at the development and wanted a shoutout because a deal was a deal."It is a bit funny. Before I came into this tournament, one of my cousins told me that I was going to beat Magnus. So we made a deal that if I do beat Magnus, I will give him a shoutout in my interview. I completely forgot yesterday, and he was quite upset about that," Gukesh laughed. The Indian Grandmaster underlined his growing stature on the global stage, clinching the rapid title at the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz tournament, part of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, in Zagreb, Croatia, on about his form and the blitz format, which he is yet to play in the tournament, Gukesh said that he would like to continue in the way that he is playing."I think so far I have been playing good chess, so strategy will be to play good chess with good time management and I hope that everything will work out," Gukesh gives a shoutout to his cousin, who'd predicted he'd beat Magnus and asked for a shoutout if he did! #GrandChessTour chess24 (@chess24com) July 4, 2025Gukesh showed incredible domination after losing his first match in the tournament at Zagreb. After a first-round defeat to Jan-Krzysztof Duda, he sparked a remarkable turnaround. Gukesh responded with five consecutive victories, including a clinical dismantling of World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in Round 4, a result that firmly placed him in control of the capped off the rapid section with a signature win over Wesley So of the United States in the final round, a composed 36-move performance that exploited a tactical oversight to convert a material edge into two full points. It was a fitting end to a run that included six wins, two draws, and a solitary 3 began with a quiet draw against Dutch GM Anish Giri, as the players reached a near-locked middlegame and shook hands. The second game of the day, against Croatia's Ivan Aric, was a lengthy contest where Gukesh employed the Marshall Gambit. The 87-move encounter eventually ended in a draw but showed Gukesh's readiness to fight for every PLAYS DOWN HIGH PRAISELegendary Garry Kasparov was high in praise of Gukesh after he beat Magnus Carlsen and argued that perhaps the Magnus Carlsen era in chess was over.'Now we can question Magnus' domination,' Kasparov said in the commentary.'This is not just his second loss to Gukesh, it's a convincing loss. It's not a miracle or that Gukesh just kept benefitting from Magnus' terrible mistakes. It was a game that was a big fight. And Magnus lost.'Gukesh himself played down Kasparov's comments but said that the high praise did feel nice."That's very nice to hear but I prefer not to think in those terms. I still see myself as a player who is working hard to improve every day. Just taking one game at a time, one tournament at a time. But it is nice of Garry to say that," Gukesh concluded the interview.- EndsTrending Reel
