California removed 18-foot dam; salmon returned upstream after 70 years

North Central Railway announces 1,000+ special train trips for Durga Puja, Diwali, Chhath

Ohio farmer changed how he worked 700 acres; family operation grew to 8,000 acres

India Win Silver in Women's 10m Air Rifle Team Event at Asian Games

India's shooting team opened their Asian Games campaign with a silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle team event. The medal was secured through the combined efforts of Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar, and Vidarsa Vinod. Elavenil and Sonam also advanced to the individual final in the same discipline. The result builds on India's strong shooting performances at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou. The team will be looking to add more medals in the shooting events still to come.

How Soviet Russia Turned Chess Into a State-Backed Tool of Power and Education

Indian Grandmaster Aarav Dengla examines in his latest Grandmaster View column how the Bolsheviks systematically transformed chess from a pursuit of Russian aristocrats into a state-sponsored instrument. The Soviet regime promoted the game as a means of mass education, military training, and cultural revolution following the Bolshevik rise to power. Dengla traces the journey from early figures like Ilyin-Zhenevsky and the Red Army's chess programmes to world champions such as Botvinnik, Tal, Karpov, and Kasparov. This century-long state-backed initiative gave rise to the formidable Soviet chess machine that dominated global competition for decades. The column argues that the legacy of that experiment continues to influence the structure and culture of competitive chess worldwide.