MAM
Commonwealth chess championships from 20 April
MUMBAI: The Commonwealth Chess Championships along with the International Open Chess Tournament will be held in Mumbai at the Tulip Star Hotel in Juhu from 20-27 April. Doordarshan will air the crucial matches live.
In addition, the live webcast will take place on the Commonwealth Chess Championship site. Word will be spread across prominent chess sites about the event. The Union Bank of India is one of the associate sponsors. The Maharashtra Chess Association (MCA) chairman RM Dongre said that a title sponsor is expected to be found within the next three days.
As reported a couple of months ago by indiantelevision.com over 30 grandmasters and 50 international masters will participate. The opening event, which takes place on 19 April, sees 15-year old Koneru Humpi playing games at the same time with 20
players. She gets a shot at both the women’s as well as men’s Commonwealth title.
Another major attraction is eight-year old prodigy Prasanna Rao. He had 11 wins in as many games at last year’s Bournvita Chess Championship’s under eight for boys.
In order to boost interest among school kids in the city the event will have under 8, 10, 12,14,16 and under 19 categories. The ten rounds take place in the morning from 9-1 pm and 2-6 pm in the evening. Grandmasters participating include Uzbekistan champion
Ruslan Kasimdzhanov, Maharshtra’s Abhijit Kunte, Indian veteran Pravin Thipsay.
The prize money for the entire tournament is Rs 500,000 and the winner will get Rs 1,25,000. The Venus Chess Academy, which is affiliated to the All India Chess Federation is organising the event. The academy has acquired 2000 square feet space in Juhu and will start coaching for kids below the age of 15 from 14 April.
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
