Gollum Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 7 minutes ago, Mariyam said: This is the best Indian sporting win. Far bigger a deal than the the 2011 WC and the spear throw/ hockey golds. And I’ve attended the former. Was all tears of joy. And I do not emote much. Not anymore anyways . For me hockey bronze medals, Neeraj gold, BGT 2020-21 (rate it above all our cricket WC wins) and this Olympiad win are about the same level. Going back in time, Anand's Mexico triumph (2007) and match wins over Kramnik and Topalov were special. Even his 2014 candidates win at the age of 45 when everyone had written him off. Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 Vishy Anand, Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Sr. deserved Bharat Ratna a long time back. At least now give them what they have always deserved, as Indian chess and hockey strive towards global domination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangeelaraja Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 (edited) 22 minutes ago, Gollum said: Vishy Anand, Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Sr. deserved Bharat Ratna a long time back. At least now give them what they have always deserved, as Indian chess and hockey strive towards global domination. The Bharat Ratna is greatly comprised recognition ( and has been for a while ). Can you imagine Vikram Sarabhai ( the brainchild behind ISRO and IIM Ahmedabad ) is not a Bharat Ratna recipient ? He was posthumously awarded Padma Vibhushan. Same with Varghese Kurein ( the founder of Amul ). Vishy, Vikram Sarabhai and Varghese Kurein should have all gotten the Bharat Ratna along time back. Edited September 23 by rangeelaraja Gollum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 As a fan of Sachin, I don't think he deserved it before the 2 hockey GOATs (architects of 6 Olympic golds combined, should have been 8 if not for WW-2) or Vishy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 1 hour ago, Mariyam said: Was all tears of joy. And I do not emote much. Not anymore anyways . You must be the biggest fan here, you even postponed some important meeting to watch live action in the Chennai Olympiad, remember you saying that. Can understand your emotions after the near miss in 2022. I wasn't too stressed about this event. Knowing the quality of our youngsters (and increased interest, participation, support, spotlight), I always felt we would have a period of sustained success. I can only see us improving from here, these guys will hit their peaks in few years time, God have mercy on their opponents. Nakamura was saying on stream that Indians are the new Soviets. One thing I'll add is that chess is more globalized/democratized, more accessible, more tough to dominate in this age than 50 years ago. We can and should become the greatest chess nation in history. Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 W move by Sagar bhai, after the phone drama and Kramnik's senility. Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 1 hour ago, Mariyam said: This is the best Indian sporting win. Far bigger a deal than the the 2011 WC and the spear throw/ hockey golds. And I’ve attended the former. Was all tears of joy. And I do not emote much. Not anymore anyways . Yes, first win in a 100 years of history. Definitely bigger than 2011/1983. Proud to be a Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 2 hours ago, rangeelaraja said: His mother ( like all Indian mothers ) is extraordinary. Coming up from a not so privileged family to rise to where he has, words cannot describe what it must feel to be in his place. Adani group is their primary sponsor, so glad that they are atleast financial secure to provide him best training and covering all their expenses. Also his father is differently abled and they have given it their all for their children to succeed in Chess ( which is a very risky business like all sports as there is no guarantee of success and competition is possibly higher than any other sport ) Had the chance of interacting with Mr Ramesh Babu at the Chennai Olympiad. I could also exchange a few words with Gukesh's dad who waited in the fan zone like the rest of us, without any airs. I could speak at length to an aunt of Nihal's who was from Chennai and was his chaperone for the duration of the Olympiad. Nihal's parents are doctors and had work commitments. This aunt was tasked to ensure he eats his meals after his games. His aunt complained that Nihal would finish his games, head straight to a post match analysis with his coaches and when he took a break he would play bullet chess online. Imagine! A break from classical chess meant he played bullet. And would just not eat until late at night. Lord, Gollum, rangeelaraja and 1 other 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 1 hour ago, Gollum said: W move by Sagar bhai, after the phone drama and Kramnik's senility. I have nothing but respect for Kramnik. He is a friend of Vishy's. He has gone great lengths to help the Indian youngsters. Let's appreciate his efforts for the kids. He held two camps for them. One in France and another in Chennai. He is on record saying that he loved being their coach. They must have learned so much from him. His accusations now, as odd as they seem, are not targeted at team India or even Chess Base India. Gollum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mariyam Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 1 hour ago, Gollum said: You must be the biggest fan here, you even postponed some important meeting to watch live action in the Chennai Olympiad, remember you saying that. Can understand your emotions after the near miss in 2022. I wasn't too stressed about this event. Knowing the quality of our youngsters (and increased interest, participation, support, spotlight), I always felt we would have a period of sustained success. I can only see us improving from here, these guys will hit their peaks in few years time, God have mercy on their opponents. Nakamura was saying on stream that Indians are the new Soviets. One thing I'll add is that chess is more globalized/democratized, more accessible, more tough to dominate in this age than 50 years ago. We can and should become the greatest chess nation in history. I abused my position of previlege, which is a very Indian thing to do, to attend the Olympiad. That doesn't make me a big fan. I've really started following only in the last 4-5 years. All thanks to the lockdown. You are a true fan of Indian chess. Sagar Shah is a true fan of Indian chess. A lot of the popularity of chess and access to quality material is all because of him. That said, I will go for the final few rounds of the WC. I want to be there when Gukesh becomes the world champion. Will plan a family holiday in Singapore around that time. PS: Erigiasi's last game was my favourite this tournament. I even enjoyed the Vidit Mamedyarov draw. And obviously Gukesh's knight dance vs the Chinese super GM and his win against Caruana. Gollum and Tillu 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangeelaraja Posted September 23 Share Posted September 23 (edited) 42 minutes ago, Mariyam said: I have nothing but respect for Kramnik. He is a friend of Vishy's. He has gone great lengths to help the Indian youngsters. Let's appreciate his efforts for the kids. He held two camps for them. One in France and another in Chennai. He is on record saying that he loved being their coach. They must have learned so much from him. His accusations now, as odd as they seem, are not targeted at team India or even Chess Base India. @Mariyam Kramnik is indeed a friend of Vishy. But I noticed that his "friendship" developed only after Vishy thrashed him in the 2008 World Chess Championship in Bonn in a one sided match. He only had good things to say about Vishy after that for the next 15+ years. Prior to that he was not so "kind" in his language or opinion of Vishy. I think we Indians get too emotional when anyone speaks good about us without knowing their history and what they are doing elsewhere. In my opinion he has no love for India. He knew how close the Olympiad competition this was and kept hovering in the line of sight of Gukesh and Arjun during the game against US ( was it not to distract them after kicking up a storm the previous day ? ) A loss there for us would have meant a potential silver medal for Uzbek, the team that he is coaching. Now for Kramnik's current stand on cheating and his hypocricy: The 2006 FIDE world championship was between Topalov and Kramnik in Kramnik's home turf that is Russia. Kramnik's condition was that he would have a private bathroom that only he could access. Per Topalov and his team, Kramnik took breaks to visit his private bathroom everytime he was in trouble on the board and would come back and suddenly equalize and be in a better position. Regardless of the argument - Would Kramnik be okay with top players demanding private bathrooms with exclusive access ? He is a hypocrite in my opinion. Edited September 23 by rangeelaraja Tillu and randomGuy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 @Mariyam I too was a big Vlad fan, but have you been following his cheating allegations and crusade against chess.com recently? He keeps making wild accusations against other chess players including kids, and using BS statistics as his argument. He even targeted Nihal, Iniyan, latter who he coached in those two camps. I find his behavior of late despicable. Mariyam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomGuy Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 8 hours ago, Gollum said: W move by Sagar bhai, after the phone drama and Kramnik's senility. Sagar's wife amruta seemed like a soft target for kramnik and he got her phone checked. His answers are not in-sync with what he actually did. He did this with bad intentions otherwise India's and Gukesh's name should not have come in this. Everyone is recording with phones. If he has an issue with this FIDE rule (as do I) of checking and clearing phones for recording, any specific players' or country's name should not come. Tillu and Gollum 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Singapore is a dope venue for a match featuring an Indian and Chinese. Google will be the title sponsor. Great work by the much maligned FIDE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillu Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Gollum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 5 hours ago, Tillu said: Pakistan is an anomaly. In their neighborhood, there are 4 chess behemoths: India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran. Two of them Muslim countries (Iran ruled by sharia), so 'chess is haraam' excuse doesn't work. Heck BD has 4-5 GMs, and a couple of youngsters in the 2300s. Pak men's (open to be more precise) top board is 2069, a 40 year old...2nd board is a 55 year old. Their women's top boards are aged 59 and 60, rating 1700ish.....4th board ELO drops to 1400. These are pitiful numbers especially in this age of online chess, and learning resources being so easily available. Sultan Khan was the first big player of western chess in this region, and he was from Pak Punjab. They are simply going backwards, even 20 years back they had a 2300-2400 guy called Lodhi. Tillu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 12 hours ago, rangeelaraja said: @Mariyam Kramnik is indeed a friend of Vishy. But I noticed that his "friendship" developed only after Vishy thrashed him in the 2008 World Chess Championship in Bonn in a one sided match. He only had good things to say about Vishy after that for the next 15+ years. Prior to that he was not so "kind" in his language or opinion of Vishy. I think we Indians get too emotional when anyone speaks good about us without knowing their history and what they are doing elsewhere. In my opinion he has no love for India. He knew how close the Olympiad competition this was and kept hovering in the line of sight of Gukesh and Arjun during the game against US ( was it not to distract them after kicking up a storm the previous day ? ) A loss there for us would have meant a potential silver medal for Uzbek, the team that he is coaching. Now for Kramnik's current stand on cheating and his hypocricy: The 2006 FIDE world championship was between Topalov and Kramnik in Kramnik's home turf that is Russia. Kramnik's condition was that he would have a private bathroom that only he could access. Per Topalov and his team, Kramnik took breaks to visit his private bathroom everytime he was in trouble on the board and would come back and suddenly equalize and be in a better position. Regardless of the argument - Would Kramnik be okay with top players demanding private bathrooms with exclusive access ? He is a hypocrite in my opinion. Many top players (including gentlemen like Svidler and Kasimdhzanov) alluded to Topalov getting help (cheating) in the 2005 World Championship in San Luis, 2005. His manager, Silvio Danailov, was a notorious guy, shady. I followed that match back in 2006, and my sympathy lies with Kramnik. There was an open letter back then in support of Vlad, signed by most of the players back then, even young Magnus signed that letter. My hatred for the Bulgarians (esp. Danailov) was further solidified because of their conduct in the Sofia match in 2010 where Vishy had problems in travel arrangements (major volcano eruption which resulted in air travel becoming impossible in most of Europe), yet first round wasn't postponed...also their snide remarks throughout the match, press hostility. Enjoyed that win more than Bonn. Topalov acts all nice and wise at this age, but in 2000s he was one of the most unlikable guys in the chess world, and Danailov was a big reason behind that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 12 hours ago, rangeelaraja said: @Mariyam Kramnik is indeed a friend of Vishy. But I noticed that his "friendship" developed only after Vishy thrashed him in the 2008 World Chess Championship in Bonn in a one sided match. Indeed, Kramnik said he loaned Vishy the world title after Mexico tournament, said he wouldn't accept him as champion. Made many snide remarks about Vishy before that as well. Remember Kramnik was Kasparov's second in the 1995 title match against Anand. Funny thing is that Kramnik didn't qualify to the 2000 title match, Shirov had actually beaten him to be challenger, but couldn't garner interest of sponsors. Crazy drama back then, after the split of PCA from FIDE in 1993 by prima donna Kasparov. Things got sorted only after 2007-08. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 On 9/23/2024 at 5:03 AM, Tillu said: How far are we away from Chess being live telecasted on television and OTT apps like Hotstar. Is there an Indian equivalent of IPL in chess? There is a great scope in commercialization of chess. They can show plenty of ads between the moves. it might happen very soon. Many such memes on Gukesh, Pragg will inspire many young kids to take up chess. He’s a cult-hero status. Expect a biopic soon Tillu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangeelaraja Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 (edited) 4 hours ago, Gollum said: Many top players (including gentlemen like Svidler and Kasimdhzanov) alluded to Topalov getting help (cheating) in the 2005 World Championship in San Luis, 2005. His manager, Silvio Danailov, was a notorious guy, shady. I followed that match back in 2006, and my sympathy lies with Kramnik. There was an open letter back then in support of Vlad, signed by most of the players back then, even young Magnus signed that letter. My hatred for the Bulgarians (esp. Danailov) was further solidified because of their conduct in the Sofia match in 2010 where Vishy had problems in travel arrangements (major volcano eruption which resulted in air travel becoming impossible in most of Europe), yet first round wasn't postponed...also their snide remarks throughout the match, press hostility. Enjoyed that win more than Bonn. Topalov acts all nice and wise at this age, but in 2000s he was one of the most unlikable guys in the chess world, and Danailov was a big reason behind that. @Gollum Yes, Danailov’s obnoxiousness made people hate Topalov and Bulgarian chess. Kramnik got support and sympathy from everybody in his tussle with Topalov. But the special rights he wanted for himself ( private bathroom in a world championship in his home country ) , he will not be comfortable extending others. This is a classic holier than thou attitude. I am sure you would also recall that during 2010 Championship against Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria - all the legends queued up to support Vishy ( Kramnik, Kasparov and even a young Carlsen ). The first two did not do it out of love for Anand, but out of dislike for Topalov / Danailov. Like i side none of these guys are friends - they all have axes to grind. There are actually very few sane gentleman characters in chess. Vishy is obviously top of the pile - but others IMO are - Boris Gelfand, Aronian, Caruana. Kasparov uses sweet words for Anand when it suits him. He tried to “ advise “ Anand during his 2010 match against Topalov and then when Anand was to defend his title against Gelfand, Kasparov tried to switch camps and wanted to offer help to Gelfand to beat Anand. Gelfand being the gentleman that he is rejected Kasparov’s offer considering it unethical and immoral. Edited September 24 by rangeelaraja Gollum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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