HD

[David Llada ♞ @davidllada]

Counting the days for this match.

[HD @hershdoshi]

@randomcricfacts But wouldn’t Jaiswal also need to practice with the red ball for the test series

[HD @hershdoshi]

@crickashish217 In place of whom? Why do you keep targeting Rohit indirectly?

[Vishnu @WorshipRohit]

Gill is proving match after match why we need Rohit as captain for the 2027 World Cup.

[Gagan Chawla @toecrushrzzz]

Hope Bumrah stays fit and hungry till next year, it’s all Jai Sri Ram and Inshallah beyond him!

[HD @hershdoshi]

@crickashish217 Yeah but to be fair we won’t even reach 270 if we take unnecessary risks and get out

[Long Off @pransiuuu_16]

Just finished CBI interview of Srinath. And I must say, a great one from @sagarchess1 and @srinathchess .
It was great experience as a fan, to get to know about the mindset of the team Captain, players, the environment and thinking process. Great insights!

[R A T N I S H @LoyalSachinFan]

From the 4th slowest to reach 2000 runs in ODIs to 2nd fastest to reach 12000 runs in ODIs. Rohit Sharma has come a long way.

[Sachin | 𑘭𑘓𑘲𑘡 @1921winden]

Runs, centuries, trophies aside. Rohit sharma should be appreciated separately for his non giving up attitude. bcz doing this ain't normal at the age of 40

[Aryan Raj @_AryanRaj1]

Make Rohit captain again .

#INDvsWI

[Sudharman Sitaraman @Sudharman23]

Of all the sportspersons who inspire me, the Indian chess players of my generation are the greatest. I see how they carry themselves in spite of their achievements, and tell myself that these are the people I should be emulating. Also, I want to be able to defend like Gukesh.

[ナイク was in 🇦🇹 #AlwaysBelieveInSeb♡ @NaikSV5]

Honestly the budapest closing ceremony was miles better!

[_khamoshii_ @_khamoshii_]

I WILL ALWAYS, ALWAYS WISH THE BEST FOR MY BOYS AND GIRLS AND KEEP ROOTING FOR YOU'LL. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE SPECIAL TO ME, VERY VERY SPECIAL. LOWS,HIGHS, BAD DAYS, GOOD DAYS , HEARTBREAKES,TREAUMA NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE, CHEERING FOR YOU. 🥺🇮🇳🤍🧿

[Long Off @pransiuuu_16]

Savitha Sree Appreciation tweet,
Generational run too good!!

[ナイク was in 🇦🇹 #AlwaysBelieveInSeb♡ @NaikSV5]

Honestly? I love watching the way Gukesh calculates under pressure, the way his eyes move with complete focus! Impressive!

[HD @hershdoshi]

@Cric_Beyond_Ent He probably lost motivation after become WCC

[Prabhat @Mukherjea]

India vs Germany Chess Olympiad Round 9

Before making any projections, I would really appeal to anyone reading this to try and watch a game without an engine or evaluation bar at some point. For most people it would be incomprehensible. It's difficult for me to comment directly on the many comments here suggesting Gukesh had a terrible game because he missed many possible wins because I myself watched a stream with eval bar and once you do that, you lose all sense of what is actually realistic. Of all of these I think the sacrifice on g5 was at least a concrete idea, but also risky and Pragg was pushing when that chance arose.

I would suggest that if Gukesh burns a lot of time and doesn't see a win, it's not trivial at all. On CBI stream, you have GMs and IMs with eval bar, free to move pieces around until something works and then try from there. Even earlier in the stream, look at Gulrukhbegim's reaction when these guys tried to explain that Arjun's position was lost.

For today's games there's no board other than Board 4 where I think India is clearly favoured.

Pragg has White vs Keymer. This is nominally good, but Keymer is just a strong solid player, and Pragg hasn't been pushing hard for wins with the sole exception of the decider vs England Vitiugov (which was a masterpiece). The game against Giri doesn't count as Giri dictated the course of the game and asked for a draw in a difficult position. My point is I'm very skeptical he will win against an absolute elite player who will be solid.

Bluebaum vs Erigaisi: 50-50. Every single game Erigiaisi is trying wild openings but is somehow unable to win even though he is creating interesting complications. I promise you, if the opening is as risky as yesterday, Bluebaum will punish it mercilessly rather than find a way to trade out to a draw. If Arjun had been doing this on Board 3 or 4, he would have had better results, but for very strong players who know what's coming it's not easy to break through like this when in bad form.

Nihal vs Svane: I'm not optimistic about this. Nihal will have all the doubts in the back of his mind still and Svane is both strong and full of confidence. They probably brought him back nonetheless because Gukesh would have bad memories vs Svane, but I think it's a bit overrated as a factor. When people are in bad form like this, it won't show in the first half of the game. Nihal will play well in the first half irrespective, but I doubt that would be enough to achieve a clean winning position, and the tension of the second half could prove fatal.

Donchenko vs Gukesh: This is the must-win game. Black isn't really a huge handicap for Gukesh, as all he's looking to do is keep material on board and slowly outplay his opponent. I will back him to do this successfully here and point out that for whatever reason his two failures to win both came with White.

This match is about 50-50, but only a win will do for India, so what is really needed is an all-out effort from Pragg who has performed at his Elo, but not at the level of 'best player in the world'. Just drawing and hoping for Gukesh to win on Board 4 isn't enough from a mindset perspective in a must-win game, so I really hope there's a sharp game and real fight on Board 1.

[Advocate Yogesh Aggarwal @AdYogeshh]

I stand with Dr. Doolla of IIT Bombay. ✊

RT if you support him

#IITBombay #DrDoolla

[ghatak @Neetivaan]

IIT Bombay faculty has spoken up in support of prof suryanarayana doolla.

all the IITs should come in support, don't back off infront of these free loaders, all the GCs are standing with you.

[_khamoshii_ @_khamoshii_]

GUKESHHHH 😭🙏