Tata Steel Chess: Praggnanandhaa bounces back to post first win

Praggnanandhaa bounced back from losing the third round to beat Sweden’s Nils Grandelius in 64 moves.

Published : Jan 19, 2022 10:17 IST

Praggnanandhaa bounced back from losing the third round to beat Sweden’s Nils Grandelius in 64 moves.
Praggnanandhaa bounced back from losing the third round to beat Sweden’s Nils Grandelius in 64 moves.
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Praggnanandhaa bounced back from losing the third round to beat Sweden’s Nils Grandelius in 64 moves.

Vidit Gujrathi retained the lead in the Masters section, R. Praggnanandhaa scored his first win and Arjun Erigaisi emerged as the only leader in the Challengers category. In all, things went very well for the Indians in the Tata Steel chess tournament that goes into its first rest day following four rounds.

For the first time in the world’s oldest and the most prestigious tournament, Indians were sole leaders in both sections. The action resumes after a day’s rest.

Overnight leader Vidit drew with Russia’s Andrehy Esipenko to head the pack at three points. The 32-move draw kept Vidit half a point ahead of Esipenko, Magnus Carlsen, Richard Rapport, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Jorden van Foreest.

Praggnanandhaa bounced back from losing the third round to beat Sweden’s Nils Grandelius in 64 moves. The youngster gained a very strong position but erred in judgement when approaching the first time-control and then had to take a longer route to victory.

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With coach R. B. Ramesh in isolation following his positive report for Covid, Praggnanandhaa said, “He’s fine, he’s isolated now in a different room. I’m staying alone now. It’s a difficult thing for me because it’s the first tournament I’m staying alone in a room, and it’s an important event as well.”

Carlsen could have joined Vidit in the lead but he let defending champion Jorden van Foreest off the hook.

In the Challengers section, Arjun (3.5 points) outplayed Germany’s Roven Vogel for a third victory in four rounds. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2.5) drew for the third straight round.

Fourth round results (Indians unless stated):

Masters: Vidit Gujrathi (3) drew with Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 2.5); R. Praggnanandhaa (2) bt Nils Grandelius (Swe, 0.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2.5) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 2.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2.5) bt Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 2); Sam Shankland (USA, 1.5) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun, 2.5); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2) drew with Daniil Dubov (Rus, 1.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 1.5) drew with Anish Giri (1.5).

Challengers (involving Indians): Roven Vogel (Ger, 1.5) lost to Arjun Erigaisi (3.5); Daniel Dardha (Bel, 1) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2.5).

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