Prague Challengers: Praggnanandhaa in joint lead after back-to-back wins

Praggnanandhaa, 13, defeated women's World champion Ju Wenjun in 57 moves.

Praggnanandhaa registered a well-executed win against Ju Wenjun.

A day after R. Praggnanandhaa registered a memorable victory against the reigning women's World champion Ju Wenjun, the 13-year-old registered a comfortable win over Alexai Shirov of Spain in the sixth round to join four others on top of the leaderboard of the Prague Challengers tournament in Czech Republic on Monday.

He is on 3.5 points after the 60-move victory in the sixth round.

After a loss in the first round, he had played out three draws. He put all that behind him with a well-executed win against a stronger — Ju is rated 58 points above — and more experienced rival. 

The Chinese player is not just the defending World champion in classical chess, but in the rapid game as well. Ju was leading the tournament when she came across the Indian, who hadn't quite struck form. He was particularly impressive in the way he handled the rook-and-minus piece ending. He romped home in 57 moves.

On Monday, he was the only victor in the 10-player tournament.