Anand crushes Carlsen, jumps to joint third in Norway Chess

June 20, 2015

Stavanger (Norway), Jun 20: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand defeated reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen to jump to the joint third spot after the end of the fourth round of Norway Chess tournament, here.

Anand crushesAfter three draws in the first four rounds of the tournament , a part of the Grand Chess Tour, Anand's hunt for the victory ended in a delightful manner as the Indian ace crushed Carlsen in all departments of the game to move up to 2.5 points out of a possible four.

Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria surged ahead of the rest with his third victory in four games coming at the expense of Levon Aronian of Armenia. Alexander Grischuk of Russia also joined the party winning his first game in the tournament but on the receiving end was the other 'local hero', Jon Ludvig Hammer.

The other games of the fourth round ended in draws.

Dutchman Anish Giri's theoretical duel against American Hikaru Nakamura ended peacefully while Italian Fabiano Caruana could not break the defences of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

With five rounds still remaining in the USD 305000 prize money tournament, Topalov is sitting pretty on a staggering 3.5 points, a half point ahead of Nakamura. Anand and Giri share the third spot on 2.5 points apiece. Caruana, Grischuk and Vachier-Lagrave share the fifth spot on two points each while Aronian and Hammer have just one point to share the eighth spot.

Sitting on just a half point from four games, world champion Carlsen faces a tought task to stage a comeback from his currently held last spot.

For Anand it was a Breyer defence through transposition of moves in the Ruy Lopez opening. Playing white, the Indian ace took some time in the opening to reach the desired middle game.

"It took us half an hour each. If we had just played the Breyer, it would have taken us two minutes," Anand said after the game.

Carlsen went for a risky set-up allowing white an attack on the king side and Anand found some brilliant moves, including an incredible queen manoeuvre that brought his last stranded rook in the attack.

Carlsen tried to salvage but Anandwas in mood to relent. The game lasted 47 moves.

Asked about Magnus's bad start, Anand said: "You have to see in the context of this first game. He played an excellent game and if he'd won that he'd be a different person."

In other games, Topalov handled the Ragozin variation well to get a small advantage against Aronian. The Armenian was put to test in a slightly difficult endgame wherein a mistake caused him dearly as two white rooks created havoc on the seventh rank. Aronian resigned after 58 moves.

Grischuk played experimental chess against Hammer and his instinct in the English opening proved better than the latter.

Causing a mild deficiency in Hammer's pawn structure early in the opening, Grischuk capitalised on some unforced errors to win a pawn and his technique was impeccable in the fourth round.

Results after Round 4: Viswanathan Anand (IND, 2.5) beat Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 0.5); Veselin Topalov (BUL, 3.5) beat Levon Aronian (ARM, 1); Alexander Grischuk (RUS, 2) beat Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR, 1); Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 2) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2); Anish Giri (NED, 2.5) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 3).

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News Network
May 18,2020

Karachi, May 18: Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan believes it is at least five years too early to compare Virat Kohli and Babar Azam as the Indian skipper has proven himself in "every kind of situation" and the latter has not.

"Virat Kohli is far more experienced than Babar. He has at least five years more experience of top cricket and he is at the peak of his career," said Younis, Pakistan's leading run-getter in Tests.

"Kohli has far more exposure than Babar and he has been in every kind of situation and proven himself. No one gets 70 international centuries like that and this are proof of his class and abilities. He has scored runs in every situation and all opposition."

Younis said said Babar still has a long way to go.

"Babar has been in top cricket for just around five years. He has got a very impressive batting average across all three formats and he is getting better by the day.

"You see him batting and you can see he has got the same qualities that Kohli had at the start of his career."

Besides amassing 70 international hundreds, 31-year-old Kohli averages more than 50 in all three formats. The India skipper has scored more than 20,000 runs while 25-year-old Babar has 6680 runs across formats though the Pakistan limited overs skipper has played significantly lesser number of games.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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May 25,2020

Karachi, May 25: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world-class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.

"If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

"Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

"He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn't want to be in the team. He just doesn't want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith," he said.

"He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

"Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: "Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches ... I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," the former skipper said.

"Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well."

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

"I don't know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take," he said.

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