Latest news with #TitledTuesday
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First Post
7 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
D Gukesh makes rare Titled Tuesday Blitz appearance with an eye on future; leaves Hikaru Nakamura shocked
It wasn't the most memorable outing for world champion D Gukesh, who made a rare appearance in the Titled Tuesday Blitz, leaving Hikaru Nakamura shocked. But Gukesh's latest move was well calculated, as the Indian Grandmaster has his eyes firmly set on the future. read more Chess world champion D Gukesh looks determined to improve his Blitz game as he made a rare appearance in the Early Titled Tuesday online competition on 22 July, finishing 18th in the competition, which was won by world No.2 Hikaru Nakamura. While Nakamura won the contest with a score of 9.5, Gukesh finished with eight points after three defeats. The 19-year-old Gukesh's three losses came against eventual winner Nakamura, International Master LR Srihari and Grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Determined Gukesh looks to improve Blitz game The Early Titled Tuesday Blitz is played in the Swiss system, where players have three minutes to finish the game and get an increment of one second for each move. This is very different compared to the Classical format, in which Gukesh won the World Chess Championship. During the Championship, Gukesh had 90 minutes for the first 40 moves. Thus, the Blitz format has still not been one of the strengths of the youngest world champion of all time. Gukesh has earned a reputation for being a player who is less about instinct and more about calculation. The lack of time in faster time control games doesn't often allow Gukesh the luxury to calculate moves at his own pace, leading to unintended mistakes. The Chennai star recently showcased some improvement in the faster format as he won five consecutive Rapid games earlier this month at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament, including winning a match against world No.1 Magnus Carlsen. But he also suffered five consecutive defeats in the Rapid round of the tournament and finished third in the overall standings. The rare participation in the Early Titled Tuesday indicates that Gukesh is determined to improve his game in the faster formats. 'Rather shockingly, one of the rare occurrences is seeing current world chess champion Gukesh actually playing in a Titled Tuesday event,' Nakamura said on his YouTube channel after winning the Early Titled Tuesday title. 'He has played this event before, but it's very rare to see him play.' While Gukesh rarely plays online Blitz games, Carlsen, Nakamura, and India's Arjun Erigaisi are often seen competing in Titled Tuesday and Freestyle Friday online tournaments. These tournaments are hosted by with the winner taking home a prize of $1,000.
Indian Express
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
World champion Gukesh D finishes 18th in rare Titled Tuesday appearance event after losing 3 games out of 11
Gukesh D, the youngest world champion in the history of the sport, made a rare appearance in the Titled Tuesday online event and ended in 18th position with a score of eight wins from 11 games. The event was won by Hikaru Nakamura, who has now won 105 Titled Tuesday online events. The Titled Tuesday is an online blitz chess tournament. It must be noted that Gukesh rarely plays in online tournaments and blitz, one of the fastest formats in the sport, is not his forte as evidenced at the recent SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament. Gukesh was playing in the Early Titled Tuesday tournament (there is a Late Titled Tuesday event also later in the day), where his three losses came against International Master LR Srihari, Nakamura and Parham Maghsoodloo. He beat a couple of strong players like Alexey Sarana and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (who helped him become world champion as a second). 'Rather shockingly, one of the rare occurrences is seeing current world chess champion Gukesh actually playing in a Titled Tuesday event,' Nakamura said on his video recap for his YouTube channel after winning the title. 'He has played this event before, but it's very rare to see him play.' The online Titled Tuesday tournament — which is organised by twice on Tuesday each week — sees a prize fund of $1,000 for the winner. Players like Magnus Carlsen and Nakamura are regulars at the events, usually also opting to play the event when they're in the middle of over-the-board chess tournaments as long as the tournament timings don't clash. The Titled Tuesday tournament is played in the Swiss format, where each player gets three minutes on the clock for a game with a one second increment added to their clock for each move. Gukesh had previously played in the event a few months ago, where he had almost won the event with a score of 9.5 out of 11. He ended only behind eventual winner Javokhir Sindarov on tiebreak regulations. Gukesh is not a regular in online tournaments, preferring to prioritise playing in over-the-board classical events, a strategy that has gone well with his style and propelled him to the world chess championship throne at the age of 18 last year. Blitz is not one of the formats he excels in, as became apparent at the recently-concluded SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia tournament where Gukesh was leading the tournament after nine rounds of rapid, but fell to third after 18 rounds of blitz after just four wins and three days. Gukesh's calculation-based style of play is not conducive to a fast time control like blitz. As Nakamura pointed out on his YouTube handle while analysing his game against Gukesh: 'When I played bishop to f8 (18…Bf8), I was basically asking Gukesh what he was going to do? Here Gukesh spends almost one minute (in a three-minute game) before playing bishop to b4 (19.b4). This really highlights the differences between players like Gukesh, who are more about pure calculation, as compared to more intuitive platters like myself or Praggnanandhaa or Hans Niemann. There was nothing wrong with the move but specifically because he spends one minute on the clock, he's now on the backfoot, he's down by 30 seconds.'
Indian Express
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Magnus Carlsen ko draw kar diya!': Meet the 9-year-old chess prodigy from Delhi who held his own against a Grandmaster
On the morning of June 24, sitting in a hotel room in Batumi, Georgia, Aarit Kapil made a decision that would have people talking for weeks to come. The nine-year-old was in the country to compete in the prestigious FIDE World Cadets Cup, battling it out in the under-10 category. At 8 am that day, on a whim, he decided to log into and play their well-known Titled Tuesday online blitz event. Organised twice every Tuesday, this tournament is only open to players with FIDE titles (like Grandmaster (GM), International Master, Candidate Master, etc.) This particular Early Titled Tuesday had elite GMs like Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik — and Magnus Carlsen — competing in it. Aarit's parents were on a phone call when he rushed out shouting, 'Draw kar diya, Magnus ko draw kar diya! (I got Magnus to draw)'. It took his parents a few seconds to process his words before they erupted in celebration. For them, Aarit's near success against the formidable chess grandmaster was almost natural. In December last year, Aarit defeated Grandmaster Raset Ziatdinov. In February this year, he had gathered enough points to become a Candidate Master. 'He doesn't get nervous when facing big players. He gets really excited,' said Nisha Kapil, his mother, who often accompanies him to his tournaments. Aarit, with his round Harry Potter-like glasses, smiled shyly beside her. 'All I think about is that I need to beat them… I always keep looking out for mistakes they can make,' he said softly, almost under his breath. It was four years ago that Aarit's parents noticed his prodigious talent for the game. 'I'm a casual player and used to often play online,' said Vijay Kapil, the boy's father. 'He had come to me and asked what I was doing, and I taught him. Within a week, he was beating me at the game,' he said. At first, his parents believed it to be a fluke and tried testing his abilities. 'We would feel bad that he's beaten us,' laughed Nisha, adding, 'So we'd make the game tougher for him. We'd take away a few pieces, randomly reduce his points… and he still kept beating us at it. I think that's when we realised that he has a true talent for the game.' Aarit was put into coaching with International Master (IM) Vishal Sareen. Within a week, his father said, Aarit had won an international tournament with a Rs 15,000 cash prize. 'I was shocked. I mean, he was only five years old,' Vijay said, laughing as if he still couldn't believe it. Over the years, Aarit's rise has been meteoric. His coaches, too, believe that the young boy prodigy has the makings of a future Grandmaster. Yet, Aarit has suffered his fair share of losses, too. In the 37th National Under-9 Open in 2024, Aarit went up against Nidhish Shyamal — a boy who had, similar to Aarit, started playing chess at the age of five and was a formidable opponent by the time he was nine years old. In the final, Shyamal was trailing Aarit by half a point. Aarit, confident of pocketing the match, decided to play fast and loose with his moves. 'I had defeated Nidhish in the rounds before, so I thought it would be an easy match. But I didn't know that he had a walkover in one of the previous rounds and had a better tie-break score than me,' said Aarit. In his self-confessed hubris, Aarit stretched the match longer, perhaps relishing his opponent's squirming. Yet at the worst possible moment, towards the end, Aarit made a mistake and Nidhish lunged at the opportunity. While both scored a 9.5 out of 11, Nidhish's better tie-break score pushed him over the victory line. 'I was angry with myself,' confessed Aarit. Yet, he didn't let himself wallow in his defeat. 'I came back and kept practicing,' he said quietly. His parents, too, are careful not to let him feel too much of the pressure. 'Half the battle is won when he is confident,' said Nisha. 'We are optimistic that if he doesn't get the gold in one tournament, he'll win a bigger one next time. Besides, it's like mutual funds. If you want to create wealth, you must see volatility. Jo game mein tika rehta hai, wo hi aage badhta hai (Those who stick with the game are the ones who move forward),' said Vijay. However, Aarit's flourishing career has taken a financial toll on the family. The husband and wife duo runs a mutual fund-distributing business. They rent a modest two-bedroom apartment in Mayur Vihar and have little to no sponsors funding their child's dreams. Except for a Rs 25,000 grant each month from the All India Chess Federation for the last three months, the family has little help to fund Aarit's tournaments abroad. 'It's easier to get sponsors in the Southern states or Maharashtra, but there is no culture around chess in the North. It's been difficult to single-handedly fund my son's dreams,' said Vijay. But the father is determined to help Aarit realise his dreams, no matter what. 'When I was young, my father didn't have a lot of money to fund his children's extra-curricular activities. It made me decide then that when I grow up, my children will want for nothing,' he said.
News18
26-06-2025
- Sport
- News18
Meet Aarit Kapil, The 9-Year-Old Chess Prodigy Who Nearly Defeated Magnus Carlsen
Last Updated: Aarit Kapil on Tuesday came close to beating Magnus Carlsen in an online blitz game. A nine-year-old Delhi boy has become the latest Indian chess sensation after pushing five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen to the brink during the Early Titled Tuesday competition. Aarit Kapil faced the world no. 1 Norwegian in an online blitz game and drew the game after 49 moves. The Early Titled Tuesday competition is open to players with FIDE titles and featured the likes of Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Vladimir Kramnik. Aarit, who lives in Mayur Vihar and studies in Vth standard, played the game from his hotel room in Georgia where he's currently taking part in FIDE World Cadets Cup (under-10 category). The game format at Titled Tuesday allows each player three minutes at the start and an increment of a second per move. Aarit held an advantageous position till the 46th move but was running out of time with just seven seconds on the clock. Carlsen had 20 seconds left himself and eventually the two agreed for a draw. Aarit's Initiation Into Chess Aarit was just five when his elder sister introduced him to chess. And he took to chess like a fish to water. 'He was five years old when his elder sister Aarna taught him chess. In one week, he was beating us," Aarit's father Vijay told The Indian Express. 'Not like I am a serious player – I am the equivalent of a bathroom singer in the sport: a casual player. But we saw his potential, so we got him working with a coach. And in a few days, he won an international online tournament." Giving Carlsen a tough fight isn't the first notable feat of Aarit's career. In 2024, he defeated USA's Raset Ziatdinov to become the third youngest player in the world to beat a grandmaster. 'Sometimes when he has a bad tournament, we jokingly tell him ' tera chess rukwadenge (We'll stop your chess). He says, ' jo marzi karlo, chess nahi chhodunga ' (Do whatever you can, I won't stop playing chess)," Vijay said. First Published:
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Who is Aarit Kapil, 9-year-old from Delhi, who almost beat Magnus Carlsen
Nine-year-old Aarit Kapil was on the cusp of beating Magnus Carlsen before settling for a draw. Nine-year-old Aarit Kapil from New Delhi's Mayur Vihar achieved a remarkable feat by securing a draw against World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in an online blitz game during the Early Titled Tuesday competition. The fifth standard student from Somerville School, who began playing chess just four years ago, maintained a winning position against the five-time world champion before time constraints led to a draw on the 49th move. The Titled Tuesday tournament, exclusively open to players with FIDE titles, featured elite grandmasters including Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Aarit, a Candidate Master, participated in the online event from his hotel room in Batumi, Georgia, where he is currently competing in the FIDE World Cadets Cup under-10 category. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! This achievement adds to Aarit's growing list of accomplishments, including becoming the third-youngest player globally to defeat a Grandmaster in classical time control when he won against 66-year-old Raset Ziatdinov of the United States last December. Exclusive | Arjuna Awardee Vantika Agrawal: 'People still ask, 'Chess is fine, but what do you really do?'' "He was five years old when his elder sister Aarna taught him chess. In one week, he was beating us. Not like I am a serious player - I am the equivalent of a bathroom singer in the sport: a casual player. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play this game for 1 minute and see why everyone is crazy about it Undo But we saw his potential, so we got him working with a coach. And in a few days, he won an international online tournament," says Aarit's father Vijay to Indian Express. The young chess prodigy dedicates five to six hours daily to the sport under the guidance of IM Vishal Sareen. His parents learned of his achievement when he rushed into the room announcing, "draw kar diya, Carlsen ko draw kar diya." The game format allocated three minutes to each player at the start, with a one-second increment per move. By move 25, Aarit held an advantage on the board but faced time pressure with only 31 seconds remaining compared to Carlsen's minute and 25 seconds. China no. 1 Wei Yi Exclusive: Norway Chess 2025, Indian chess stars & China's chess culture Aarit maintained a winning position until move 46, when his clock showed just seven seconds. The game concluded in a draw after 49 moves, with Carlsen ultimately finishing third in the 664-player tournament despite being on vacation with his wife Ella. "Sometimes when he has a bad tournament, we jokingly tell him 'tera chess rukwadenge' (We'll stop your chess). He says, 'jo marzi karlo, chess nahi chhodunga' (Do whatever you can, I won't stop playing chess)," shares Vijay. "Bas chess hi karta hai. Aur kuch nahi karta. (only chess, nothing else)," says Vijay, who works as a mutual fund distributor in Delhi. The family is currently seeking sponsors to support Aarit's chess career and enable him to participate in more international events. This performance follows a recent trend of young Indian players challenging Carlsen, coming weeks after 19-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju defeated the Norwegian champion at the Norway Chess tournament. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
