Anand defeated by Adams in Alekhine memorial

April 22, 2013

Anand_defeatedParis, Apr 22: World champion Viswanathan Anand made a disappointing start as he suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Englishman Michael Adams in the first round of Alekhine Memorial Chess Tournament here at the Louvre.

On what turned out to be a day of big upsets, Chinese champion Ding Liren caused another big flutter crushing world number three Levon Aronian of Armenia.

The 10-player round-robin super tournament, however, saw Vladimir Kramnik of Russia at the top of his form as he grounded compatriot Nikita Vituigov while the other two games ended in draws.

Anand's 2012 World championship challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel played exciting chess as black before holding Peter Svidler, while the all-French clash between Laurent Fressinet and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave turned out to be the shortest game of the day.

Split between The Louvre Museum in Paris and the Russian museum in Saint Petersburg, the tournament will have the first five rounds here before the battle shifts to Russia for the last four games.

Anand went down with white pieces, something that might be detrimental to the Indian's campaign as the tournament progresses further.

He went for the Ruy Lopez and for a line that Indian P Harikrishna had successfully chosen against Gata Kamsky of United States some time back.

Adams, however, remained a tough nut to crack from a level position that arose after the trade of queens.

The English Grandmaster took command by getting the Bishop pair and Anand's slightly defected pawn structure proved to be the decisive factor.

Forced to part with a rook for three pawns, Anand could do little as Adams' King and rook stopped the march of his connected pawns in the end. The game lasted 56 moves.

Ding Liren played an inspired game to beat Aronian. From a Slav defense, the Chinese got a slightly better position and nurtured it well amid complexities to get a huge space advantage in the middle game.

What followed was a tribute to the genius of Alexander Alekhine, the fourth world champion, in whose memory the tournament is held.

Liren sacrificed a rook for a knight before ripping apart the king side with a Bishop sacrifice on move 37. A few quite moves later Aronian was defenseless.

Kramnik shied away for complications out of a Reti opening as white and cruised to a victory against Vituigov.

A piece sacrifice was declined by Kramnik in early middle game and even the exchanges at regular intervals did not deter him from pressing hard for a victory.

Vituigov was saddled with a weak pawn structure on the queenside and Kramnik capitalised with a pawn break that gave him an outside pawn that marched to glory in quick time. The game was over in 50 moves.

Results round 1: V Anand (Ind) lost to Michael Adams (Eng); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) beat Nikita Vituigov (Rus); Ding Liren (Chn) beat Levon Aronian (Arm); Peter Svidler (Rus) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Laurent Fressinet (Fra)

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has said that wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and is one of the easiest guys to interact with.

Bravo was doing an Instagram live chat with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the all-rounder was asked to talk about his stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"I think a lot of credit for CSK's success has to be given to Dhoni and Fleming, obviously the owners, they trust both Fleming and Dhoni, so there is no outside interference when it comes to decision making, both are very big students of the game, players love MS and it's an environment and franchise that allows you to be you," Bravo told Mbangwa during the chat.

"MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and in our team. He was one of the easiest people to interact with, outside of the cricket field, he is like playing video games, his door is open at all times, whenever you talk about the biggest superstar and then you think a person like Dhoni is the most humble of them all. CSK is a special team and we have the most loyal fans," he added.

Bravo has been with the CSK since 2011. He has played a total of 104 matches for the franchise, picking up 121 wickets.

The all-rounder has also managed to win the Purple Cap (most wickets in IPL) two times (2013 and 2015).

CSK has won the IPL thrice (2010, 2011 and 2018) and all the titles have come under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the high-profile game.

This year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

The board had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He would have been leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29.

However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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