Anand draws with Vachier-lagrave
Stavange (Denmark): Former world champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign with a draw against Maxime Vachier-lagrave of France in the first round of Altibox Norway Chess tournament, here. It turned out to be a relatively easy day for Anand with black pieces in the opener and the Indian ace can now look up to his next game with white pieces against Russian Vladimir Kramnik. Anand had used the Caro Kann defense to beat Maxime Vachier-lagrave in one game last year and decided to test the Frenchman yet again. The advance variation saw an early surprise by Anand on move three as he discarded the main lines and Vachier sank in deep thought just a couple of moves later. Anand gave white the Bishop pair while keeping his position solid and Vachier could only livened things up in the heavy pieces endgame wherein he got a semblance of an advantage. However, it was all short-lived as Anand found the way to safety with some timely exchanges and the game was drawn after 44 moves.
National Games in Goa gets postponed further
Panaji: The National Games in Goa will be postponed further with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar saying that the infrastructure required for hosting the event can be constructed only next year.The games which were scheduled to be held in September 2016 in Goa were postponed to November 2017 by the previous government led by laxmikant Parsekar. The Parrikar-led government has now dished out another deadline for hosting the event. The Chief Minister said that the government is ready to host the National Games next year only after constructing the infrastructure required for the event. Stating that it sounds like a good idea to have sports infrastructure scattered across the state, Parrikar said creation of infrastructure has also to be supported by proper maintenance. The initial estimate about the money required to set up infrastructure to host National Games was Rs570 crores but I have reworked the estimates and brought it down to Rs400 crore.
India eyeing top 2 finish in HWl Semi-final: Manpreet
Dusseldorf (Germany): Ever-improving Indian men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh on Wednesday said the past masters of the game are eyeing a top two finish in the upcoming Hockey World league (HWl) Semi-finals in london. But it will be easier said than done as India will have to fight it out against top teams like Argentina, Netherlands, England, Korea and Malaysia for the top honours. "While our aim is to finish in top-2 in london, it's important we play match by match and not take any team lightly especially in the pool stage," said Manpreet, who will lead the side in the absence of regular skipper PR Sreejesh, who is recovering from an injury. "Our focus will be on getting off to a winning start and carry on the momentum from there," he added. The Indian team will arrive in london on Friday after playing in the three-nation Invitational tournament featuring hosts Germany and Belgium.