Indian GM Praggnanandhaa sails into semifinals of Chessable Masters
Chennai(PTI): Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated China's Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 to book a spot in the semifinals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2022 online tournament.
The 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa will take on Anish Giri (the Netherlands) in the semifinals. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen will take on China's Ding Liren in the other semifinal clash.
Giri and Carlsen scored comfortable 2.5-0.5 wins over Aryan Tori (Norway) and David Anton Gujjaro (Spain), while Liren defeated Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals against Yi late on Monday, the teenaged Indian star opened with a win with black pieces in 90 moves. He built on that fine start to take the second game of the four-game match to go 2-0 up.
The Chinese star bounced back to claim the third game of the series to reduce the margin. A draw in the fourth was enough for the Indian GM to seal a spot in the semifinals.
Praggnanandhaa had created a stir earlier in the preliminary phase by beating Carlsen in the sixth round. He finished fourth behind Anish, Carlsen and Ding Liren.
The two other Indian players -- P Harikrishna and Gujrathi in the 16-player field, finished outside the top 8 and failed to make the cut for the knockout bracket.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Thousands protest in Washington DC against Trump ahead of inauguration
Washington: Thousands of people have gathered in Washington to protest against Donald Trump's policies ahead of his inauguration as the 47th President of the United States on January 20.
Trump, 78, succeeds Joe Biden, 82, on Tuesday as the new occupant of the White House. A coalition of nonprofit bodies, including Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, under the banner of People’s March, held the demonstration here to protest against the policies of Trump.
The People's March - previously known as the Women's March - has taken place every year since 2017.
Displaying anti-Trump posters and banner, the protestors raised slogans against the next President and also against some of his close supporters including Tesla owner Elon Musk.
The same group had also held a similar protest on January 2017, when Trump was inaugurated for the first time.
There were a series of three protests which started from three different parks and culminated near the Lincoln Memorial.
“Mass protest is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate to our communities that we are not obeying in advance or bowing to fascism, and invites them to do the same,” People’s March said.
The rallies coincide with Trump's arrival to the nation's capital for a series of weekend events in the lead-up to his swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
Amongst the coalition members are Abortion Action Now, Time to Act, SisterSong, Women’s March, Popular Democracy In Action, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, The Feminist Front, NOW, Planned Parenthood, National Women’s Law Centre Action Fund, Sierra Club, and the Frontline.
Women’s March is anchoring the logistics of the mobilisation. Similar marches, though at a smaller scale, were also held in various other cities including New York, Seattle and Chicago.
“We really wanted to come to support women, equality, immigration, everything that really feels like we don't have much of a say in right now," Brittany Martinez, one of the protesters, told USA TODAY.
Law enforcement officials said protests and major events are being planned throughout the weekend ahead of the inauguration on Monday. The protestors condemned Trump’s policies and values. Many of them chanted, "Trans Lives Matter!", “Stand up, fight back!”, “Trust Black women!” and “We cannot be silent.”
