Press release by FIDE
The National Sports Awards 2025 were announced on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, with 17 sportspersons named for the Arjuna Awards, the second-highest sporting honour in India. These awards are given annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to recognize outstanding achievers.
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!A total of 17 outstanding athletes across disciplines, including track and field, badminton, shooting, kabaddi and para-sports, have been selected for the Arjuna Award 2025. This marks the lowest number of athletes to receive the award since 2017. Notably, the list of awardees includes two Indian chess stars: Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi and the winner of the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025, Divya Deshmukh.
Nitin Narang, President of the All India Chess Federation, warmly congratulated Vidit and Divya in a post on X (formerly Twitter):
Congratulations to Divya Deshmukh and Vidit Gujrathi on being honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Award!
Their exceptional performances, determination and contribution to Indian chess have made the nation proud.
A heartfelt thank you to Honourable PM Narendra Modi for his unwavering encouragement to India's sporting champions and for consistently placing sport and athletes at the heart of our national aspirations.
Grateful to Honourable Sports Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya for his continued support to Indian sport and our chess champions.
A special salute to their parents for their sacrifices and unwavering belief, and to millions of Indian chess fans whose love and encouragement inspire our players every day.
May Divya and Vidit continue to make the Tricolour soar higher!
Vidit Gujrathi participated at the 2024 Candidates Tournament | Photo: Michal Walusza / FIDE
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
Nowadays, the list of requirements for an opening repertoire is long: being sound and sustainable; not requiring much memorisation; offering great attacking chances; making your opponent think early on etc… The time of finding a minimal advantage from the opening has passed, and we are better off with a more practical approach - simply understanding the position better than our opponent does. The Repertoire for White 1.d4 ... 2.Bg5! from IM Robert Ris answers all these requirements!
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 Be7/d5/c5
Divya Deshmukh emerged victorious at the 2025 Women's World Cup | Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE
Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)
The Hyper-Accelerated dragon is fast, from the very first moves, your bishop heads to g7, seizes the long diagonal, and turns into the most feared piece on the board.
It rewards players who love initiative and clear attacking plans.
This two-volume course presents a complete repertoire for Black after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 - the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon. In recent years, this dynamic line has grown significantly in popularity, with several of the world’s top players adding it to their repertoires.
This variation has two main advantages for black, he does not have to face the Rossolimo or Moscower Variation after 3.Bb5 and in many lines he can play d5 in one go and save a tempo. This first volume covers the Open Sicilian with both the razor sharp lines from the dragon and the positional Maroczy Bind.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: 6.Be3 Qb6 Introduction
