R. Praggnanandhaa stretched his astounding winning sequence to three rounds when he stopped an upbeat Le Quang Liem 2.5-0.5 in the Oslo Esports Cup online rapid chess tournament in Oslo on Sunday.
The overnight leader now has an enviable tally of nine points after posting yet another victory by a two-point margin, with a round to spare.
He now takes on second-placed World champion Magnus Carlsen (6), who bounced back from Saturday’s defeat to Le Quang Liem and halted Anish Giri 2.5-0.5.
Praggnanandhaa’s victory brought with it $7,500 and raised his three-round earnings to $22,500!
“When you win, of course you have a lot of fun! In general. I’m having a lot of fun playing these players. It’s always a very good experience, a fun experience as well. Rapid is always fun,” said a relaxed-looking Praggnanandhaa.
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After Praggnanandhaa took a draw by repetition, in 33 moves in the first game, the second saw the Indian grind out a 93-move victory, following a pleasant position from the 30th move.
In the third game, the Vietnamese appeared on his way to victory till the 49th move. But on the next move, he blundered. Praggnanandhaa seized his chance to ensure a ‘queening-pawn’ and won in 54 moves.
Praggnanandhaa’s coach R. B. Ramesh, who has accompanied his protégé to Oslo, said, “I’ve been with Pragg for almost eight years now, so we’ve seen many ups and downs in our times together. It’s really nice to see Pragg is doing extremely well at such a big platform, and this will give him a world of confidence.”
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