Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess grandmaster. She's a runner-up of the World Championship and the winner of the World Rapid Championship 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster aged 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, a record only since surpassed by Hou Yifan. Humpy is a gold medalist at the Olympiad, Asian Games, and Asian Championship. She is also the first Indian female grandmaster.
Navakal is a Marathi daily newspaper. It is based in Mumbai, the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Its owner editor is Nilkanth Khadilkar. Robin Jeffery has called Khadilkar one of the most remarkable and self-reliant owners of small newspapers. In the context of pre-independence Mumbai, it has been described as a Congress paper, contemporarily it has been considered to be aligned with the Shiv Sena. In 1999 Nava Kaal had a circulation share of 8% and a readership share of 27% for all of Maharashtra, in the 1950s Nava Kaal's circulation under Nilkanth Khadilkar's father had fallen to 800 and the paper was nearly closed.
Anjali Bhagwat is a professional Indian sport shooter. She became the World Number One in 10m Air Rifle in 2002. She also won her first World Cup Final in Milan, in 2003, with a score of 399/400.
Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM), the first female player in her country to achieve these titles. She has won more medals than any other player for India in the Chess Olympiads. She has won almost all national age group titles, including the senior title.
Tania Sachdev is an Indian chess player, who holds the FIDE titles of International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a two-time Indian women's chess champion in 2006 and 2007, one-time Asian women's chess champion in 2007 and three-time Commonwealth Women's Chess Champion in 2016, 2018, and 2019. She is also a chess presenter and commentator.
The National Premier Chess Championship is the annual national chess championship of India. It was established in 1955 by the Andhra State Chess Association as a biannual event, but since 1971 it has been played yearly.
Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She was part of the gold winning women's team at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024. She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Harika was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.
Sports play an integral part of culture in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport in the state. Other popular sports include kabaddi and kho kho, which are played in rural areas, and field hockey, badminton, and table tennis, which are more common in urban areas, schools, and colleges. In the state's southern rural regions, annual wrestling championships such as Hind Kesari and Maharashtra Kesari are held. Games like Viti-Dandu and variations of Tag are played among children.
Bhagyashree Thipsay is an Indian chess player holding the title of Woman International Master (WIM). She won five times the Indian Women's Championship and the Asian Women's Championship in 1991. In 1984 she was joint winner with Vasanti Unni of the British Ladies' Championship. She competed in the Women's World Chess Championship 2000, losing in the first round to Peng Zhaoqin.
Sports in Andhra Pradesh has its own importance, where many sporting personalities were into limelight. The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) undertakes the sports development activities such as construction of stadiums, establishment of sports academies and other sporting related activities. The sports infrastructure have increased tremendously by improving infrastructure in outdoor and Indoor stadiums, play fields, sports academies, sports equipments etc. Traditional sports such as kho kho, kabaddi are played mostly in Andhra Pradesh.Most sports players from Andhra pradesh represent national level competitions and very few international competitions.
Rucha Pujari is an Indian chess player. She is currently a Woman International Master and was previously awarded the title of Woman FIDE Master in 2006.
Vasanti Khadilkar Unni is an Indian chess player holding the title of Woman International Master (WIM). She won in 1974 the inaugural Indian Women's Championship.
Jayshree Khadilkar Pande is an Indian chess player who was awarded the FIDE title of Woman International Master (WIM) in 1979. She was the first Indian woman to achieve this title. She is the first player from India to achieve this title and won the Indian women's championship four times.
Abhilasha Mhatre is an Indian professional kabaddi player and was the Captain of Indian National Women's Kabaddi Team. She has won the Arjuna Award of Government of India in 2015. Known for her elegant footwork she is regarded as one of the finest kabaddi players in India. She is fondly referred as "Queen of Kabaddi". She was a member of the Indian kabaddi team that won the gold medal at the Asian Games in 2014 in Incheon. She was also the member of Indian team that won the Kabaddi World Cup in 2012 in Patna, India.
Bhakti Kulkarni is an Indian chess player. She received the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in 2012 and International Master (IM) in 2019. She is the recipient of Arjuna Award for her contribution to chess
Bettina Trabert is a German chess player who holds the FIDE title of Woman Grandmaster.
Women represent a small minority of chess players at all ages and levels. Female chess players today generally compete in a mix of open tournaments and women's tournaments, the latter of which are most prominent at or near the top level of women's chess and at youth levels. Modern top-level women's tournaments help provide a means for some participants to be full-time professional chess players. The majority of these tournaments are organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and revolve around the World Championship cycle, which culminates in a match to decide the Women's World Chess Champion. Beyond those events, among the most prominent women's tournaments are women's and girls' national and continental championships.
Vantika Agrawal is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE titles of Woman Grandmaster and International Master. She is a three-time gold medalist at the Chess Olympiad including two gold medals at the 45th Chess Olympiad in 2024 at Budapest. She won a silver medal with the Indian Team at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. Agrawal's accolades also include medals in Commonwealth, World Youth, Asian Youth and National Championships.
