Squash News

At $5K Men's Northumbria Open 2014, Newcastle, England (Challenger 5)

[F] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) l (1) Shaun le Roux (RSA,55) 1-3 (7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 3-11) (56m)

Mahesh gave fighting performance against top-55 South African in the final ... He lost closely fought first 2 games before winning the third game ... But he was tired in the fourth game due to his very long semi-final and Shaun take advantage of it ... Still creditable performance by Mahesh against these top-60 players.

Shooting News

At ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2014, Fort Benning, USA

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men
5. Sanjeev Rajput (IND) 422 pts.

Sanjeev Rajput tied for 7th position with four other shooters and he qualified on 8th place for the final in 50m Rifle 3 Positions for men ... In the final Sanjeev finished 5th position.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round fourteen – 30.03.2014
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) 0-1 GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)

Anand play safe and agree draw after 34 moves against Svidler ... Yesterday only he secured his rematch for World Championship against Carlsen ... In other matches Mamedyarov and Kramnik agreed draw after 30 nmoves ... Topalov and Andreikin played long match which ended in draw after 69 moves ... Aronian's opening backfired and lost against Karjakin after long 94 moves.

Final Standing
1. GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) 8½ pts
2. GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) 7½
T3. GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 7 pts
T3. GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) 7 pts
T3. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 7 pts
T6. GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) 6½ pts
T6. GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) 6½ pts
8. GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) 6 pts

Squash News

At $5K Men's Northumbria Open 2014, Newcastle, England (Challenger 5)

[R1] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) bt Adam Auckland (ENG,123) 3-1 (9-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-3) (51m)
[QF] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) bt (7) Nathan Lake (ENG,114) 3-0 (11-8, 14-12, 11-6) (48m)
[SF] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) bt (2) Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN,59) 3-2 (11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-3) (102m)

[F] (3) Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND,74) vs (1) Shaun le Roux (RSA,55)

Mahesh continues with his good form and he is inn the final of $5K challenger in England ... In the semi-final he defeated top-60 Danish player Kristian Frost Olesen in hard fought 102 minutes match ... In this match Mahesh showed terrific fighting spirit and maturity ... He lost first 2 games but then he dominated next three games for memorable win ... In the final he is facing top-seed South African Shaun le Roux.

Before semi-final Mahesh defeated two British players in well fought matches.

Badminton News

At $120K Malaysian Gold GP 2014, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

[F] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND) l (15) Simon Santoso (INA,56) 21-15 16-21 19-21

Sourabh fails to lift Gold GP title as he lost in the final despite winning the first game ... Sourabh won the first game comfortably but Santoso won the second game without much fuss ... In the final game both players traded leads ... Sourabh was leading 19-18 but after that Santoso won next three points for the title win after 69 minutes.

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2014 - Asia/Oceania 2nd Round, Busan, Korea

Indian team
Somdev Devvarman, Rohan Bopanna, Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh
Non-playing captain - Anand Amritraj
Coach - Zeeshan Ali

Reserved player - Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan

Indian announced same team which won against Chinese Taipei in the first round ... But couple of days back Yuki Bhambri announced his unavailability due to injury ... So now team's balance is little off and Indians add Sanam Singh in the team in the place of Yuki ... So tough outing for this young team as we never beat them in away tie.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

Singles Final
(8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt (3) Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,297) 64 57 63

Karunuday wins double crown at Philippines Futures beating another top-300 player, Shuichi Sekiguchi ... This is his 2nd futures title before this he won $10K futures title in 2011 so this is his first $15K futures title.

In the final KU started confidently and won the first set ... In the second set both players matched others game but Shuichi take crucial break for winning it ... KU kept his composure in the final set and won it comfortably for winning the title.

Shooting News

At ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2014, Fort Benning, USA

10 m Women’s Air Rifle
6. Ayonika Paul (IND) 122.9 pts

Ayonika Paul qualified for the final of 10 m Women’s Air Rifle on 6th position scoring 417.0 pts but in the final she became 3rd shooter, who eliminated ... Still good experience of playing in the final for Ayonika Paul.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round thirteen – 29.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) 1-0 GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 1-0 GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)

It's official, Anand-Carlsen rematch!

Anand earn right to play World championship with Magnus Carlsen after winning Candidates tournament ... Today he hold Karjakin in semi-Slav after long 91 moves topsy-turvy match ... Aronian take extra risk which backfired on him and he lost against Andreikin after 44 moves ... Kramnik defeated Topalov after 55 moves ... Svidler and Mamedyarov played draw after 42 moves.

So after 13 rounds Anand is leading with 8 points ... Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Dmitry Andreikin, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sergey Karjakin are tied on 2nd place with 6.5 points.

Shooting News

At ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2014, Fort Benning, USA

10m Women’s Air Pistol
Gold - Antoaneta Boneva (BUL) 203.6 pts
Silver - Heena Sidhu (IND) 200.8 pts
Bronze - Zorana Arunovic (SRB) 180.9 pts

6. Malaika Goel (IND) 119.4 pts

Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu won a silver medal in the 10 m Women’s Air Pistol event ... Heena was second in the qualification round with a score of 386/400 ... She shot a score of 200.8 in the final to clinch the silver medal but her last two shots weren't the perfect and Bulgarian was too good ... Young Malaika Goel also gave creditable performance as she qualified for the final and finished on 6th position ... Still good positive start for Heena and India in this World cup.

In Men's 10m Air Rifle, London Olympic Bronze medalist Gagan Narang failed to qualify for the final as he finished on 12th position.

Badminton News

At $120K Malaysian Gold GP 2014, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

[R1] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt Yan Kit Chan (HKG,67) 21-12 21-17
[R2] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt Chetan Anand (IND,84) 21-14 21-17
[R3] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt (9) Kazumasa Sakai (JPN,42) 21-15 17-21 21-19
[QF] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt (3) Tien Chen Chou (TPE,25) 22-20 18-21 21-15
[SF] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND,43) bt (2) Wei Feng Chong (MAS,14) W/o

[F] (8) Sourabh Varma (IND) vs (15) Simon Santoso (INA,56)

Sourabh Varma is in the final of big Malaysian Grand Prix Gold tournament when his Malaysian opponent 2nd seed Wei Feng Chong gives walkover ... Before this Sourabh defeated 3rd seed Chou in 70 minutes long match ... Guru lost against Chong in the quarter final.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[SF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) l (WC) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER) 36 46

Sania again fail to overcome challenge of Hingis, this time with Cara... Hingis-Lisicki scored comfortable win in straight sets against Sania and Cara.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles Semi Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) 64 46 62
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) 76(4) 63

Singles Final
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt Lucas RENARD (SWE) 62 60

Doubles Final
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 62

In end disappointing tournament for Indians as they failed to lift any title here.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[QF] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt (2) Ti CHEN (TPE,266) 67(3) 63 76(5)

[SF] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt (WC) Patrick-John TIERRO (PHI,UNR) 62 46 62

[F] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs (3) Shuichi SEKIGUCHI (JPN,297)

Doubles
[R1] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt Punn BODHIDATTA (THA)/ Chayanon KAEWSUTO (THA) 61 61

[QF] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt (2) Benjamin MITCHELL (AUS)/ Andrew WHITTINGTON (AUS) 76(1) 26 12-10

[SF] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt (3) Ti CHEN (TPE)/ Christopher RUNGKAT (INA) 63 76(4)

[F] Karunuday SINGH (IND)/ Ivo KLEC (SVK) bt (1) Ruben GONZALES (PHI)/ Sonchat RATIWATANA (THA) 64 36 10-8

In the quarters KU scored excellent comeback win over 2nd seed Ti Chen in tight match ... In the semis local wild-card Tierro stretched him to three sets ... In the final he is facing another top-300 player, Japanese Shuichi Sekiguchi for the double crown.

In the doubles KU lifts the title win Slovaks Ivo Klec beating top three pairs in their last three matches.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round twelve – 27.03.2014
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) ½-½ GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) ½-½ GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)

In Caro-Kann opening Anand played attacking game and Anand surprised everyone accepting draw after 41 moves from the winning position ... Mamedyarov tried hard against Karjakin but had lucky escape ... Topalov defeated Svidler after 35 moves ... Aronian hold draw by Kramnik after 31 moves ... So two rounds r remianing and Anand is still leading by 1 point (1,5 points virtually).

Tennis News

At $100K+H Gudalajara Challenger, Mexico (clay)

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) l Gero Erkretschmer (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 46 63 12-14

I was expected win for Divij-Purav but they lost match despite having match points in the match tie-break.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[R2] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt Punn BODHIDATTA (THA,1659) 63 64

[QF] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs (2) Ti CHEN (TPE,266)

Expected win for KU but in the quarters he is facing 2nd seed Ti Chen.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles Quarter Finals
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (5) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) 61 62
(4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt (7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) 64 63
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) 76(5) 46 64
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) 62 60

Doubles Semi Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 61 75
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) 36 63 10-6

Shocking loss of Bala in the quarters so only Vinayak is in remaining in the singles.

Squash News

At $50K Men's Canary Wharf Classic 2014, London, England (International 50)

[R1] Saurav Ghosal (IND,18) bt (3) Peter Barker (ENG,9) 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-4) (37m)

Saurav failed to raise his game against Barker ... I was expecting much better performance from him.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round eleven – 26.03.2014
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)
GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785) ½-½ GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766)
GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758) ½-½ GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) ½-½ GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770)

Anand comfortably hold Kramnik in the Catalan game after 31 moves ... All other matches also ended in draw.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[QF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt (4) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 64 63

[SF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (WC) Martina Hingis (SUI)/ Sabine Lisicki (GER)

Sania-Cara scored comfortable win over 4th seed pair ... In the semis they r facing wild-card pair of legendary Martina Hingis and German Sabine Lisicki.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[R1] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) bt Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,762) 64 62

[R2] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs Punn BODHIDATTA (THA,1659)

KU scored his first win in main-draw of 2014 ... Hopefully he will continue his good run.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles Second Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 75 62
(5) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 64 60
(4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt Akash WAGH (IND) 61 75
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) 63 60
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 62 62
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) bt (Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 60 2-0 retd.
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI) bt 62 64
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 62

Doubles Quarter Finals
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Arpit SHARMA (IND) 60 60 (3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) 76(3) 67(8) 10-6 (4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 75 46 10-5 Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 62 64

Expected wins by Indians.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round ten – 25.03.2014
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) ½-½ GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709)
GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787) 0-1 GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830) ½-½ GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) ½-½ GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757)

Anand again repeated Najdorf but his match against Mamedyarov ended in a draw after 30 moves ... Only upset of the day was from Svidler, who surprised Kramnik with Dutch defense and defeated him after 39 moves ... Anand's virtual 1.5 points lead is intact and only four rounds are remaining.

Tennis News

At $5.42M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R2] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) bt Oksana Kalashnikova (GEO)/ Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) w/o

[QF] (5) Sania Mirza (IND)/ Cara Black (ZIM) vs (4) Kveta Peschke (CZE)/ Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)

Lucky break for Sania-Cara in the second round so now they will face 4th seed Peschke-Srebotnik lot fresher.
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At $100K+H Gudalajara Challenger, Mexico (clay)

[R1] (2) Divij Sharan (IND)/ Purav Raja (IND) vs Gero Erkretschmer (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)

Hopefully this week they perform as per their seeding in this big challenger.
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At $15K Philippines F1 Futures, Manila

[R1] (8) Karunuday SINGH (IND,486) vs Jui-Chen HUNG (TPE,762)

KU is still searching for first main-draw win of 2014.
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At $10K India F5 Futures , Madurai (clay)

Singles First Round
(1) Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) bt (Q) Aaditya TEWARI (IND) 63 63
Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND) 62 62
N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) bt Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP) 63 62
(5) Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt (WC) Elwin ANTONY (IND) 61 61
(4) Mathias BOURGUE (FRA) bt Kunal ANAND (IND) 61 62
Akash WAGH (IND) bt (WC) Ronak MANUJA (IND) 36 61 64
(Q) Niki KALIYANDA POONACHA (IND) bt (Q) Suraj R PRABODH (IND) 67(4) 64 62
(7) Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt (Q) Vijay KANNAN (IND) 62 64
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND) bt (6) Andre GASPAR MURTA (POR) 63 63
Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) bt Jatin DAHIYA (IND) 62 36 63
(Q) Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) bt (Q) Rahul Robinson MANOAH (IND) 61 61
Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA) bt (3) Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) 06 63 5-0 retd.
Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt (8) Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB) 46 61 60
Jannis LINIGER (SUI) bt (Q) Anvit BENDRE (IND) 62 61
(Q) Chandril SOOD (IND) bt (WC) Shahbaaz KHAN (IND) 61 63
(2) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND) bt (WC)Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) 75 62

Doubles First Round
(1) N.Sriram BALAJI (IND)/ Ranjeet VIRALI-MURUGESAN (IND) bt Sagar AHUJA (IND)/ Chandril SOOD (IND) 63 46 10-6
Jatin DAHIYA (IND)/ Arpit SHARMA (IND) bt Saurabh PATIL (IND)/ Neishit VAKIL (IND) 62 63
(3) Arun-Prakash RAJAGOPALAN (IND)/ Ramkumar RAMANATHAN (IND) bt Jannis LINIGER (SUI)/ N. Vijay Sundar PRASHANTH (IND) 36 64 10-8
Vinayak Sharma KAZA (IND)/ Vignesh PERANAMALLUR (IND) bt Sarvar IKRAMOV (UZB)/ Sergey SHIPILOV (UZB) 62 63
Elwin ANTONY (IND)/ Sasi Kumar MUKUND (IND) bt Anvit BENDRE (IND)/ Ronak MANUJA (IND) 46 61 10-5
(4) Giorgio PORTALURI (ITA)/ Lucas RENARD (SWE) bt Kunal ANAND (IND)/ Ronit Singh BISHT (IND) 64 62
Vivek SHOKEEN (IND)/ Aaditya TEWARI (IND) bt Rahul Robinson MANOAH (IND)/ Raswant RAVI (IND) 60 64
Sergio MARTOS GORNES (ESP)/ Pol TOLEDO BAGUE (ESP) bt (2) Romano FRANTZEN (NED) / Enrique LOPEZ-PEREZ (ESP) 36 61 13-11

Other than RamK's loss expected results for Indians ... Kaza scored upset win over 6th seed Gaspar Murta.

Chess News

At Candidates Tournament 2014, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia (March 13 to March 30, 2014)

Round nine – 23.03.2014
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS,2766) 1-0 GM Vladimir Kramnik (RUS,2787)
GM Dmitry Andreikin (RUS,2709) ½-½ GM Peter Svidler (RUS,2758)
GM Viswanathan Anand (IND,2770) 1-0 GM Veselin Topalov (BUL,2785)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE,2757) 1-0 GM Levon Aronian (ARM,2830)

This can be decisive lead for Anand in Khanty-Mansiysk ... After ninth round Anand holds an effective 1.5 point lead over others as Aronian's tie-break is poor against Anand, who is one point behind ... So chances of rematch of world championship is on the card ... Anand is on 6 points, Aronian is on 5 points and then three players, Vladimir Kramnik, Sergey Karjakin and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov r on 4.5 points.

Anand played unusual version of the h3 Najdorf and kept little advantage from the start ... Topalov made mistakes in middle game and Anand take advantage of it after winning this match after 57 moves ... Karjakin surprised everyone when he opted for a sideline against Kramnik ... Kramnik made mistake early but still managed to stretch Karjakin till 64 moves ... Aronian opted for Nimzo-Indian defense against Mamedyarov but after that in crazy game Aronian lost after 43 moves.

Tennis News

At $4.7M Sony Open Tennis, Miami, USA

[R2] (6) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) l Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL)/ Robert Farah (COL) 26 46

Colombian pair proved too strong for Rohan-Aisam, who lost in straight sets.