Badminton News
At $50K New Zealand GP Open, Auckland

[R2] (14) Chetan Anand (IND,95) l Parinyawat Thongnuam (THA,173) 21-17 17-21 12-21
[R2] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt Marius Myhre (NOR,125) 24-22 21-5
[R2] (5) Anand Pawar (IND,48) l Chia-Hsin Wan (TPE,121) 16-21 14-21
[R2] (4) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) l Beryno Jiann Tze Wong (MAS,176) 18-21 21-13 19-21
[R2] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) bt (Q) Kirtesh Dhindhwal (IND,UNR) 21-16 21-12

[R1] Sarada Jasti (IND,146) l (Q) Vicki Copeland (NZL,UNR) 21-18 17-21 17-21

[R3] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs (12) Ji Hoon Hong (KOR,106)
[R3] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) vs (6) Andre Kurniawan Tedjono (INA,46)

Disappointing losses of all Indian players against their lower ranked opponents ... Shocking losses of Guru and Anand ... They need to overcome inconsistent performances to move ahead in the ranking ... Other hand Ajay and Arvind scored expected victories.

Tennis News
At Asia/Oceania final qualifying for World Junior Tennis 14/u, Kuching, Malaysia

(2) India bt (7) Korea 3-0
Alex SOLANKI bt Hyunjoo KIM 61 61
Nitin Kumar SINHA bt Sion KWON 61 62
Alex SOLANKI/ Nitin Kumar SINHA bt Hyunjoo KIM/ Jaewoo KIM 63 62

(2) India bt Philippines 3-0
Alex SOLANKI bt Jan Godfrey SENO 60 61
Nitin Kumar SINHA bt Jerome ROMUALDEZ 63 61
Nitin Kumar SINHA/ Alex SOLANKI bt Arthur Craig PANTINO/ Jan Godfrey SENO 63 61

(2) India bt Indonesia 3-0
Alex SOLANKI bt Yoga ARGI SYAHPUTRA 60 64
Nitin Kumar SINHA bt C. Alvin EDISON 60 61
Nitin Kumar SINHA/ Vasisht Vinod CHERUKU bt Yoga ARGI SYAHPUTRA/ C. Alvin EDISON 46 62 61

Happy to see our players r performing as per team ranking ... So with three wins we topped the group and facing 8th seed Chinese Taipei in the quarters ... The quarter-final win will secure place in the World group of 16 teams.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Vietnam F3 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[R2] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,406) bt (Q) Laurent Lokoli (FRA,1165) w/o

Doubles Final
[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Torsten Wietoska (GER) bt Chih-Jen Ho (TPE)/ Jui-Chen Hung (TPE) 76(4) 76(4)

[SF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Torsten Wietoska (GER) vs (2) Joshua Ward-Hibbert (GBR)/ Andrew Fitzpatrick (GBR)

Lucky break for Jeevan as his opponent withdrew before the match ... In the quarters also he is facing winner between 2 qualifiers.

Badminton News
At $50K New Zealand GP Open, Auckland

[Q1] Kirtesh Dhindhwal (IND,UNR) bt Rhys Hopkin (NZL,UNR) 21-10 21-7
[Q2] Kirtesh Dhindhwal (IND,UNR) bt Niccolo Tagle (NZL,UNR) 21-19 21-10

[R1] (14) Chetan Anand (IND,95) bt Asher Richardson (NZL,428) 21-10 21-16
[R1] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt Winson Neo (MAS,372) 21-5 22-20
[R1] (5) Anand Pawar (IND,48) bt Houwei Tian (CHN,196) 21-15 21-19
[R1] (4) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) bt (Q) Chance Cheng (NZL,UNR) 21-15 21-7
[R1] (Q) Kirtesh Dhindhwal (IND,UNR) bt Tony Fang (NZL,849) 21-10 21-11
[R1] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) bt Yu Fu Lim (MAS,473) 21-9 21-13

[R2] (14) Chetan Anand (IND,95) vs Parinyawat Thongnuam (THA,173)
[R2] (3) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) vs Marius Myhre (NOR,125)
[R2] (5) Anand Pawar (IND,48) vs Chia-Hsin Wan (TPE,121)
[R2] (4) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) vs Beryno Jiann Tze Wong (MAS,176)
[R2] (13) Arvind Bhat (IND,100) vs (Q) Kirtesh Dhindhwal (IND,UNR)

[R1] Sarada Jasti (IND,146) vs (Q) Vicki Copeland (NZL,UNR)

Winning start for our all players against their lower ranked opponents ... Unheard Kirtesh qualified for main-draw and scored victory over higher ranked local player in the first round.

Snooker News
At £1.1M World Championship 2013, Sheffield, England

[QRd 6] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) l Alan McManus (SCO,49) 9-10 (58-29, 42-70, 16-61, 77-60, 45-75, 92-0, 25-55, 67-14, 69-0, 80-17, 15-105, 21-65, 71-30 32-72, 13-53, 1-119, 56-32, 90-30, 46-56)

Heart breaking loss for Aditya against Alan McManus in the qualifying ... In last 3 games Aditya fought back winning two but lost close decider by only 10 points.

Tennis News
At $455,775 US Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Michael Russell (USA) l (4) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR) 16 67(4)

After losing the first set easily Buji and his partner Russell gave fighting performance from 3-5 down in the second ... They managed to take set in tie-break before losing it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $100K Guadalajara challenger, Mexico

[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 64 62

[QF] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (3) Benjamin Becker (GER)/ Rajeev Ram (USA)

Dominating winning start over experienced doubles players ... Really happy to see Divij and Purav r showing consistency in their performance.

Next is really tough one against Rajeev and Benjamin but sooner than later they start to win these matches.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $15K USA F9 Futures, Oklahoma City

[R1] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) bt Keith-Patrick Crowley (RSA,778) 60 4-0 Retd.

[R2] (8) Saketh Myneni (IND,433) vs Ryan Rowe (USA,743)

Doubles
[R1] (3) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Artem Sitak (NZL) bt Vahid Mirzadeh (USA)/ Ryan Rowe (USA) 63 67(6) 10-8

[QF] (3) Saketh MYNENI (IND)/ Artem SITAK (NZL) vs Keith-Patrick Crowley (RSA)/ Matheson Klein (AUS)

Saketh take full advantage of his injured opponent and won 10 games in a row before Crowley retired from the match ... Saketh and Sitak had tough doubles win against American pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Qatar Futures, Doha

[R1] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt (WC) Abdulla Al Mohamoud (QAT,UNR) 60 61
[R1] (Q) Kunal Anand (IND,1391) l (8) Daniel Cox (GBR,618) 16 16
[R1] Ashwin Vijayragavan (IND,791) l (Q) Enzo Couacaud (FRA,1168) 26 46

[R2] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs Jeroen Vanneste (BEL,745)

Doubles
[R1] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) bt (WC) Tinotenda CHANAKIRA (ZIM)/ Mohammed REDA (KUW) 60 61
[R1] Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) bt (WC) Jassem AL ZEYARA (QAT)/ Abdullah SHANNAN ALHARRASI (QAT) 60 63

[QF] Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ashwin VIJAYRAGAVAN (IND) vs (4) Peter HELLER (GER)/ Dominik SCHULZ (GER)
[QF] Sagar MANJANNA (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) vs Rudy COCO (FRA)/ Jules MARIE (FRA)

Expected dominating win for Yuki but disappointing loss for Ashwin against French qualifier.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Vietnam F3 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[R1] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,406) bt (WC) Thien Nguyen Hoang (VIE,1463) 63 75

[R2] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,406) vs (Q) Laurent Lokoli (FRA,1165)

Doubles Final
[R1] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Torsten Wietoska (GER) bt Roy Hobbs (SIN)/ Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) 75 62

[QF] (3) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND)/ Torsten Wietoska (GER) vs Chih-Jen Ho (TPE)/ Jui-Chen Hung (TPE)

Expected easy wins for Jeevan.

Chess News
At the World Chess Championship 2013,

As per report Chennai is decided venue for much anticipated match between World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger and WR #1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway in November 6-26 ... Tamilnadu government allotted Rupees 29 crores (5.3 million US Dollars) for this event.

Snooker News
At £1.1M World Championship 2013, Sheffield, England

[QRd 5] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) bt Daniel Wells (WAL,85) 10-7 (83-39, 43-56, 0-81, 73-17, 83-43, 17-107, 13-72, 70-37, 36-77, 76-10, 71-50, 80-0, 33-67, 48-80, 75-15, 94-0, 66-7)
[QRd 5] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) l (A) Joe Swail (NIR) 8-10 (37-77, 14-82, 0-78, 78-12, 36-67, 64-50, 100-18, 59-44, 18-57, 83-15, 64-23, 64-48, 1-67, 51-70, 34-62, 59-17, 50-78, 25-72)

[QRd 6] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) vs Alan McManus (SCO,49)

In World Championship fifth qualifying round Pankaj lost close match against an amateur Northern Irish player, Joe Swail ... Other hand Aditya managed to win his match against Wales player, Daniel Wells ... Next he is facing former top-10 Scottish Alan McManus.

Tennis News
At $100K Guadalajara challenger, Mexico

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) l Maximillian Neuchrist (AUT,447) 75 36 36

Doubles
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)/ Yuichi Sugita (JPN)

Disappointing loss of Prakash against Austrian ... He missed big chance of earning chunk of points from this $100K challenger.

Divij and Purav r unseeded in this big challenger and facing another unseeded pairing of Chiudinelli and Sugita.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol 2013, Changwon, South Korea

In 10m Air Pistol Women, with 388 points Heena Sidhu qualified for the final with tied for top position with Korean Jangmi Kim ... But in the finals Heena became the first shooter to be eliminated with 75.7 points.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Bangalore, India

India bt Indonesia 5-0


Friday - 5th April
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 61 62 62
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,250) 63 62 62

Saturday - 6th April
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Elbert Sie (INA)/ David Agung Susanto (INA) 62 61 64

Sunday - 7th April
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt David Agung Susanto (INA,1357) 63 61
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 60 61

Somdev and Yuki completed dominance of Indian team with another solid wins ... Buji lost 4 games in his match but Yuki lost only one game in his win ... Indians gave solid performance in this tie as they lost only 24 games in five matches ... So with this tie win Indians keep their position in Asia/Oceania Group I.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $455,775 US Men's Clay Court Championship, Houston

[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) vs Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP,103)

Doubles
[R1] (PR) Somdev Devvarman (IND)/ Michael Russell (USA) vs (4) Eric Butorac (USA)/ Jonathan Erlich (ISR)

This is a last tournament for Buji with his protected ranking ... Buji lost against Ruben in the first round of US Open 2012 so this time hoping for reverse result.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $100K Guadalajara challenger, Mexico

[Q1] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) bt (6) Michael Lammer (SUI,339) 61 75

[Q2] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) bt Manuel Sanchez (MEX,1274) 46 63 62

[Q3] Prakash Amritraj (IND,365) vs Maximillian Neuchrist (AUT,447)

This week Prakash back on court in big Mexican challenger ... In the first round he defeated higher ranked Swiss opponent easily ... In the second round Prakash had slow start and lost the first set against local player ... He comeback strongly and won next two sets ... In the final qualifying he is facing Austrian Neuchrist.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[F] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS) 36 57

Divij and Purav failed to lift the title against Aussie pair, whom they defeated in Koyto challenger final ... After losing the first set Divij and Purav were up with break 5-2 in the second ... But they lost next 5 games to lose the match ... Missed chance for them.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol 2013, Changwon, South Korea


10m Air Pistol Men
Gold - Xuan Vinh Hoang (VIE) (10.7, 9.9, 10.5, 10.2, 9.9, 10.6, 10.5, 9.9, 10.0, 9.7, 9.7, 9.8, 8.8, 10.7, 10.4, 9.3, 10.7, 9.1, 9.9, 10.5) 200.8 pts
Silver - Zhiwei Wang (CHN) (10.8, 10.1, 9.1, 9.8, 10.5, 9.6, 10.5, 9.4, 9.1, 9.7, 9.4, 9.5, 10.3, 9.8, 9.5, 10.8, 10.3, 10.5, 10.7, 10.7) 200.1 pts
Bronze - Prakash Nanjappa (IND) (10.6, 10.3, 10.4, 9.5, 10.3, 10.5, 9.9, 9.4, 10.1, 9.8, 9.9, 10.2, 9.9, 10.1, 9.9, 9.3, 10.0, 10.1) 180.2 pts

7. Jitu Rai - (10.5, 9.0, 9.9, 9.9, 9.2, 9.5, 10.5, 9.6, 8.8, 10.5) 97.4 pts

Prakash Nanjappa gave us second medal in ongoing World cup ... He won the Bronze medal in 10m Air Pistol Men ... In the qualifying Prakash and Jitu Rai tied for third place with 582 score ... But in the final Jitu Rai eliminated 2nd from 8 players and Prakash was 6th eliminated to win Bronze.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Banglore, India

India bt Indonesia 3-0

Friday - 5th April
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 61 62 62
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,250) 63 62 62

Saturday - 6th April
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) bt Elbert Sie (INA)/ David Agung Susanto (INA) 62 61 64

Sanam and Leander were cruising for comfortable victory after two sets ... After winning first 2 sets easily in the third 1st three games were stretched little bit but in that our pair take break in 3rd game on David's serve ... In this set our players played lethargically and Lee lost his serve in 7th game with few errors ... In last 2 games our pair again showed same intensity which they showed in first 2 sets ... They broke again David's serve in 10th game this time on luv for dominating win ... This was Lee's 50th Davis cup tie and scored another victory with another new partner, Sanam Singh..

So with this win we r having winning lead in this tie ... Overall expected one-sided tie.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt (1) Nicolas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER) 64 62

[F] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Chris Guccione (AUS)/ Matt Reid (AUS)

Purav and Divij scored huge straight sets upset win over top-75 pair ... After winning the first set with a single break they dominated the second set ... In the final they r facing unseeded Aussie pair, who upset Ratiwatanas in the first round.

Shooting News
At ISSF World Cup Rifle/ Pistol 2013, Changwon, South Korea


25m Pistol Women
Gold - Rahi Sarnobat (IND)
Silver - Kyeongae Kim (KOR)
Bronze - Jangmi Kim (KOR)

Final
Rahi Sarnobat (IND) bt Kyeongae Kim (KOR) 8-6

25m Pistol Women
According to the new competition rules, top eight players from the preliminaries qualify for the semifinals where points are given according to the number of inner tens scored by a shooter in each series of five shots. The top two shooters then qualify for the final, while the third and fourth placed shooters face each other in the bronze medal play-off.

After disappointing performance on the first day where Abhinav Bindra finished on 15th position and failed to qualify for the final ... On the second day young Rahi Sarnobat brought smile on Indian faces ... She wins Gold medal in 25m Pistol Women under new formatted World cup, where qualifying scores doesn't count in the final ... Rahi qualified for the semifinals on T3 position with 585 score ... In the semifinals she scored 15 points from 20 points and finished on 2nd place ... So she played final against top place local player Kyeongae Kim ... In the race-to-seven points final, a player gets two points for winning the series, while a point each is given if both the shooters are tied. After two tied series, Rahi was first to get off the block in the third and opened up a two-point lead. But Kim hit back immediately winning the next two series take a 6-4 lead ... After facing a must-win situation, Rahi raised her performance while her Korean opponent struggled to keep her composure and lost the sixth and seventh series 3-1 and 2-1 respectively and gave the gold to the Indian.

In 50m Pistol men event, Prakash Nanjappa qualified for the final on 8th place but eliminated in the first round of qualifying.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Banglore, India

India vs Indonesia 2-0

Friday - 5th April
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) bt Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774) 61 62 62
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) bt Christopher Rungkat (INA,250) 63 62 62

As expected dominating winning start for Buji against lower ranked Indonesian ... Buji lost only 5 games in this match to gave 1-0 lead to India.

Yuki struggled with his serve in the first set ... He saved multiple break points in the first set but with a single break advantage he won the first set ... After that Sanam dominated the match and won next two sets with double break.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[QF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt James Cerretani (USA)/ Adrian Menendez-MacEiras (ESP) 64 60

[SF] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs (1) Nicolas Monroe (USA)/ Simon Stadler (GER)

Another comfortable win for Divij and Purav in the quarters ... In the semis they r facing top-seed pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) l (6) Laurent Recouderc (FRA,461) 36 26

Disappointing loss of Jeevan against last week's Vietnam F1 winner.

Badminton News
At $120K Australian Open (Grand Prix Gold), Sydney

[R3] (14) Anand Pawar (IND,44) l (4) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,16) 19-21 15-21
[R3] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 10-21 21-18 15-21

Guru gave creditable performance against WR #1 Lee in 56 minutes match ... After losing the first game easily he fought back in the second ... Guru take early couple of points lead but Lee caught him at 13-all ... Guru opened 3 points lead from 15-all and kept that advantage ... Guru won the second game converting 2nd game point ... In the final game Lee take 4 points lead from 7-all, 11-7, and then kept increasing lead ... He won the match converting 3rd match point ... In other match Anand failed to raise his game at important points.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I - Relegation Play-off, Banglore, India

Friday - 5th March (from 15:00 hrs)
[R1] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) vs Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774)
[R2] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs Christopher Rungkat (INA,250)

Saturday - 6th March (from 17:00 hrs)
[R3] Leander Paes (IND)/ Sanam Singh (IND) vs Elbert Sie (INA)/ David Agung Susanto (INA)

Sunday - 7th March (from 15:00 hrs)
[R4] Somdev Devvarman (IND,208) vs Christopher Rungkat (INA,250)
[R5] Yuki Bhambri (IND,279) vs Wisnu Adi Nugroho (INA,1774)

Buji in playing in the first rubber.

Badminton News
At $120K Australian Open (Grand Prix Gold), Sydney

[R1] Chetan Anand (IND,100) l Riyanto Subagja (INA,78) 14-21 16-21
[R1] Arvind Bhat (IND,99) l (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1) 10-21 18-21
[R1] (14) Anand Pawar (IND,44) bt Arif Ramadhan (INA,173) 19-21 21-11 21-13
[R1] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) bt Hu-Wen Chew (AUS,705) 21-4 21-7
[R1] (9) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) bt Kwong Beng Chan (MAS,140) 21-11 21-14
[R1] Sarada Jasti (IND,145) l Yui Hashimoto (JPN,44) 5-21 13-21

[R2] (14) Anand Pawar (IND,44) bt Zulfadli Zulkiffli (MAS,64) 21-18 Retd.
[R2] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) bt Suppanyu Avihingsanon (THA,51) 21-14 18-21 21-19
[R2] (9) Ajay Jayaram (IND,30) l Dong Keun Lee (KOR,107) 24-26 19-21

[R3] (14) Anand Pawar (IND,44) vs (4) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,16)
[R3] (11) Gurusaidutt R. M. V. (IND,36) vs (1) Chong Wei Lee (MAS,1)

Last week of March, Prannoy H. S., Arundhati Pantawane and Thulasi P. C. reached in the semis at Polish Open.

This week at Australian Grand Prix Gold tournament Guru and Anand Pawar in the third round but surprised by loss of Ajay Jayaram against lower ranked Korean in the second round.

Tennis News
At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) bt Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsein-Yin Peng (TPE) 63 63

Comfortable winning start for Divij and Purav against tricky Taipei pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Vietnam F2 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) bt Marvin Netuschil (GER,852) 62 62

[QF] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) vs (6) Laurent Recouderc (FRA,461)

Another expected easy win for Jeevan ... Next he is facing Frenchman Recouderc, who was last week's Vietnam F1 futures winner and 3 yrs back was in top-125.

Chess News
At FIDE Candidates Tournament 2013, London, England

Magnus Carlsen become challenger against Anand for the World Chess Championship after winning dramatic FIDE Candidates Tournament ... The World Chess Championship will be played from 6th November to 26th November 2013 mostly at Chennai ... It will be best of 12 head to head matches with a tie breaker if needed ... Interestingly 22 yrs old Carlsen is 21 years younger to Anand.

This FIDE Candidates Tournament 2013 would consider the most spectacular tournament of recent years ... Until Round 11, Magnus Carlsen was leading by half point and was consider favorite for winning the title but last three rounds were dramatic ... In round 12, Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Carlsen playing with Black and then Vladimir Kramnik scored big win over Levon Aronian with Black ... So now Kramnik was leading after round 12 ... In 13th round Carlsen scored hard fought win after 7 hours game against Teimour Radjabov playing with Black ... Other hand Boris Gelfand hold Kramnik playing with Black ... Kramnik and Carlsen were tied for top position with 8.5 points but Carlsen had upper-hand as per the second tie-break rule: higher number of wins ... In the final round Kramnik needed victory for any chance of winning this tournament but in shocking result both top two players lost their respective matches ... In rare occasion Carlsen lost his second match playing with White in the same tournament ... Carlsen made mistake with f3 move on 31st move and lost match after 48 moves against Peter Svidler ... But this time again Kramnik blown chance of in the World Chess Championship match ... Kramnik played all-out kill game against Ivanchuk but Ivanchuk punished him for excessive opening aggression ... Kramnik resigned after 47 moves and handed title to Magnus Carlsen on the second tie-break rule: higher number of wins ... Magnus Carlsen won five matches and Vladimir Kramnik won four.

Tennis News
Davis Cup 2013 - Asia/Oceania Group I, Bangalore, India

Indian Team - Somdev Devvarman (208), Yuki Bhambri (279), Sanam Singh (340) and Leander Paes
Captain - Shiv-Prakash Misra
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Indonesian Team - Christopher Rungkat (251), Elbert Sie (880), David Agung Susanto (1355) and Wisnu Adi Nugroho (1778)
Captain - Hendri-Susilo Pramono

Indians r favorite as they r fielding strong team ... First-time in India Davis cup matches will be played in floodlight at Bangalore.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $35K+H Leon Challenger, Mexico

[R1] (4) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Hsin-Han Lee (TPE)/ Hsein-Yin Peng (TPE)

Tougher draw this week ... Tricky match against similar ranked regular Taipei pair.
-----------------------------------------------------------
At $10K Vietnam F1 Futures, Ho Chi Minh City

[R1] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) bt Dekel Bar (ISR,933) 62 62

[R2] (2) Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (IND,401) vs Marvin Netuschil (GER,852)

Expected easy win for Jeevan.