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Grandmaster and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has returned to streaming with fervor, expressing strong criticism toward IM Danny Rensch, the current Chess.com President and COO. For context, over the past three months, Kramnik has been on a verbal rampage against the chess website, accusing it of insufficient efforts in combating cheaters.

In a recently uploaded video by Chess.com, Rensch addressed the ongoing controversy, suggesting that Kramnik's concerns are exaggerated, characterizing him as "frustrated and paranoid" regarding the issue. Kramnik wasn't particularly happy with the way he was addressed, remarking:

(Timestamp: 12:42)

The ongoing saga between Chess.com and Vladimir Kramnik seems to be receiving frequent updates, with developments surfacing almost daily. Yesterday (January 29, 2024), Kramnik responded to a video uploaded in October 2023, in which the Chess.com president said:

Vladimir Kramnik then highlighted the fact that it was nearly February 2024 and emphasized that Chess.com had made no apparent progress in demonstrating its commitment to removing cheaters from the platform. He said:

Kramnik had previously spoken about statistics regarding certain players he found suspicious. In response, Danny stated in his video that Kramnik's interpretation of these statistics is incorrect, according to some independent statisticians. Kramnik responded:

In another section, Danny expressed his belief that no more than 5% of players on the website cheat. In response, Kramnik promptly cited a 2018 article from Forbes, which reported on a study of nearly 10,000 online players, revealing that 37% of them admitted to cheating (25:33).

Vladimir Kramnik has also faced sanctions from Chess.com. In December 2023, his blog on the website was "muted" due to accusatory remarks he made against Twitch streamer and Grandmaster Hikaru "GMHikaru" and other young players.

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"Not the way to speak if you are cultured" - Vladimir Kramnik goes off at Chess.com's President after latter called him ... - Sportskeeda

Indian Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand surprised the online community when he shared a video of himself belting out the classic hit 'Roxanne' by Sting during Lollapalooza 2024. The video quickly went viral, showcasing a different facet of Anand that many hadn't witnessed before.In the X post caption, Anand shared the backstory, expressing his early admiration for songs like 'Every Breath You Take' and 'Roxanne' by The Police, which left a lasting impact on him. Over the years, these songs and Sting's solo albums have become a constant presence on his playlist. The video captures Anand's unfiltered enjoyment as he stands amidst a lively crowd, singing along to the iconic tune 'Roxanne.'On January 29, Anand also tweeted another video, this time featuring the band Sting, perhaps emphasizing his deep appreciation for the music that has influenced him.He also posted a photo with his son from the concert.Since the post was shared, it has garnered three lakh views, along with over 5,000 likes and numerous comments. The online community expressed their surprise and delight at seeing this side of Viswanathan Anand.Reactions poured in on the comment section of the post:

One individual exclaimed, "This is so cool."

A third person added, "Wow. This is a side of Vishy that was unseen."

A fifth humorously questioned, What parallel universe is this!?

Viswanathan Anand's unexpected musical performance at Lollapalooza 2024 has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on his fans, revealing a side of the chess legend that goes beyond the board.

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Unseen side of Viswanathan Anand: Watch Chess maestro sing Roxanne's 'You Don't Have To' in concert crowd - The Economic Times

In August last year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on the verge of announcing a mega financial package for chess in the UK, invited two young chess prodigies to 10 Downing Street. They were eight-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan and 14-year-old Shreyas Royal both British citizens of Indian origin, just like Sunak himself.

Since the pandemic, India has gained a reputation as a land of young chess stars, but these two Indian-origin prodigies have made a reputation for themselves in England. Last year, Bodhana won the under-8 title at the World Cadet Championship. She is also the World Youth Champion and is presently ranked 30th in England in the womens category. Shreyas is currently ranked 19th in England among active players.

Over the course of two months, Bodhana has defeated three International Masters Lorin DCosta at the European Blitz Championship in Zagreb last month, and Lela Javakhishvili and Nurgyul Salimova at the European Womens Blitz Championship in Monaco last week besides holding multiple others like Grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz to draws.

Shreyas, too, has made waves recently. At the London Chess tournament in December 2023, he managed to defeat GM Jules Moussard and drew with players like Indias Gukesh, a considerable achievement since Shreyas rating was at least 200 points lower than everyone else in the tournament. The performance at the London event also helped Shreyas earn his second Grandmaster norm, which puts him on course to become the youngest GM to represent England.

While Bodhana and Shreyas are British citizens, their families are first-generation migrants. Bodhanas parents lived in Tamil Nadus Trichy while Shreyas was born in Bengaluru.

Im an economic migrant to the UK, having moved in 2007. I work in the IT sector. Bodhana was born and brought up in London. She started playing chess when she was just five years old. We had no plans to make her play chess. She just stumbled across a chess board at home, and started to play, Bodhanas father Sivanandan Velayutham tells The Indian Express.

I knew just basic chess, so I downloaded Chess.com to help her learn by watching the videos there. Back then, I just got her a free version, thinking she might not continue the sport, he said.

Not only did Bodhana continue playing the sport, soon medals and trophies spoils of winning online tournaments started arriving at their home. Her talent also saw her become an ambassador for Chess.coms app for kids, ChessKid (the app also supports Shreyas).

While adulation for the young star has been unrestrained in the chess community, her parents are wary of letting it get to her head. Her rating is 1856. You need to be 2500 to become a GM. Its not easy its miles away. Shes getting a lot of appreciation because of her age and how shes winning. But we just make sure that shes grounded and doesnt start thinking shes a legend or something. Things can go wrong if not taken with the right attitude, Velayutham says.

As a school kid growing up in Londons Harrow, Bodhana does not have the same luxury of getting completely immersed in the sport the way Indian GMs like Gukesh did early on in their career.

On weekdays, she spends most of her time in school. Its not like the India model where you can skip school as an athlete. So she leaves at 8 am for school and then returns at 4 pm. She plays chess for about an hour a day. There are days when we go for chess tournaments in the evenings. But only on weekends does she spend two or three hours practising, he says.

Chess to the rescue

Shreyas was also around Bodhanas age when his chess talent made headlines in England. The tale goes that his father Jitendras work visa to the UK was expiring and was just days away from moving the family to Norway, when the chess fraternity in the country reached out to British MPs to lobby for Shreyas to stay because of his exceptional chess talent. UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid eventually agreed to tweak visa norms and England got itself a prodigy.

I had initially come to the UK for one year, then got an extension on my visa for another five years. But there was a cooling off period, so we were told we would have to leave. We were packing our things, when we got a call from the Home Office that we could stay on because of Shreyas exceptional talent, Jitendra tells The Indian Express.

Our local MP Matthew Pennycook and Leeds MP Rachel Reeves, besides the English Chess Federation, really fought for us to stay. Now were British citizens, he adds.

There is a fascinating story behind his name too when an astrologer suggested the initials of SR, his mother chose Shreyas (meaning superior) and plucked Royal out of thin air, anglicising his name much before he had even been to the UK.

Shreyas, who spends five to six hours on chess daily, has come within touching distance of becoming chess royalty the GM title. Hes missed the third and final norm by a whisker a couple of times, including at the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament. But hes hopeful that hell cross the hurdle soon enough. Maybe me playing for England is a slight loss for India. But I feel India already has enough chess prodigies. I dont think I am such a huge loss (for a country like India), Shreyas says.

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Meet the Indian-origin chess prodigies taking Britain by storm - The Indian Express