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India's Vidit Gujrathi claims top spot in Prague Chess festival

India’s No 2 chess player Vidit Gujrathi continues his form in the Prague Chess festival.  He posted a win over Austrian GM Markus Ragger in the third round to jump to the top spot in the Masters' category of the festival.

Vidit Gujrathi trumped Ragger in a Grunfeld game after 46 moves to continue his good run and secured a second win.  He is in joint second place with Nikita Vitiugov and world’s top junior Alireza Firouzja.


He faces Sweden's Grandelius in the fourth round.

Born in Maharashtra, Vidit is the fourth Indian ever to have crossed the rating threshold of 2700. As of December 2019, his rating of 2721 makes him the thirtieth highest-rated chess player in the world, and the third highest-rated chess player in India, after Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna.

Another Indian player P Harikrishna went down to the young Alireza Firouzja in 40 moves in a Spanish opening game. The Indian no. 3 came up with some innovative play but the Iranian prodigy had the answers to notch up an impressive win.

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England and Wales record one pub a day closed in 2025 as taxes and rising costs bite

Nearly 2,000 pubs have disappeared over the past five years

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England and Wales record one pub a day closed in 2025 as taxes and rising costs bite

Highlights

  • 366 pubs permanently closed across England and Wales during 2025, averaging one per day.
  • Total pub count falls to 38,623 from 38,989, with nearly 2,000 lost over past five years.
  • Industry warns business rates recalculation in April 2026 will worsen crisis.

One pub disappeared every day across England and Wales during 2025, as sustained cost pressures continued to devastate the hospitality sector, according to analysis of government statistics.

A total of 366 pubs were demolished or converted for other uses over the year to December, with the overall number falling to 38,623 from 38,989 a year earlier. The figures, analysed by tax specialists at Ryan, include vacant premises being offered to let.

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