Meltwater Champions Tour: Praggnanandhaa secures first win; Erigaisi suffers third straight defeat

Praggnanandha brushed aside Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le 3-0 in the third round while Erigaisi went down 0.5-2.5 to American Wesley So.

Praggnanandhaa (4 points) rose to the fourth spot behind Carlsen, Duda (both on 9 points) and Giri (4) in the eight-player field. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ

After days of heartbreak, R. Praggnanandhaa bounced back in style as he blanked Liem Le Quang 3-0 in the third round of the $210,000 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals on Wednesday.

However, Arjun Erigaisi continued to struggle and crashed to his thirdsuccessive 2.5-0.5 defeat, on this day to Wesley So.

In fact, all the matches ended with a game to spare. Magnus Carlsen crushed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3-0 and Jan-Krzysztof Duda plotted a stunning nine-move checkmating combination to stop Anish Giri 2.5-0.5.

Praggnanandhaa played his best against Leim who was riding on the confidence gained from crushing Wesley 2.5-0.5 in the previous round.

The Indian teenager was never worse in any of the three games and seized the initiative at the first opportunity.

Unlike his younger compatriot, Arjun could not get going after an equal draw in the first game. Wesley’s crushing win in the second game seems to have shaken Arjun who erred early in the third game and gave up in a hopeless position without getting a chance to improve his position.