R Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi in Julius Baer Generation Cup quarterfinals

Starting the day a point ahead of Arjun, Carlsen won all three rounds on the final day of the league.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa plays in the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram near Chennai on July 30, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI

Arjun Erigaisi and R. Praggnanandhaa maintained their overnight second and fourth places even as leader Magnus Carlsen topped the league with a massive nine-point margin in the $150,000 Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid chess tournament on Wednesday.

Starting the day a point ahead of Arjun, Carlsen won all three rounds on the final day of the league after facing American youngster Christopher Yoo, Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Germany’s rising star Vincent Keymer for a tally of 34 points.

In contrast, Arjun (25) held on to his second spot by virtue of a draw against Wojtaszek in the 13th round but lost to Keymer and Anish Giri.

In spite of winning the final game, Giri missed out on a quarterfinal-spot after finishing ninth following a three-way tie for seventh place with Yoo and Levon Aronian.

Praggnanandha (23) fared a shade better than Arjun. After losing to Aronian, the teenager drew with Anish and beat Ivan Saric for his first victory in the last nine rounds.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will see best of four-rapid game matches. In case of a 2-2 tie, an Armageddon game will be played where a player with white pieces gets five minutes to black’s four. Draw counts as a win for black.

The quarterfinal line-up is: Magnus Carlsen (Nor) v Levon Aronian (USA); R. Praggnanandhaa v Vincent Keymer (Germany); Hans Moke Niemann (USA) v Le Quang Liem (Vietnam); Arjun Erigiasi v Christopher Yoo (USA).

Meanwhile, in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Astana, Kazakhstan, R. Vaishali (2) drew with Germany's Dinara Wagner in the fifth round.

Final league standings: 

1. Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 34/45), 2. Arjun Erigaisi (25). 3. Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 24). 4-5. R. Praggnanandhaa, Vincent Keymer (Ger) (23 each), 6. Le Quang Liem (Vie, 22). 7-9.

Christopher Yoo (USA), Levon Aronian (USA), Anish Giri (Ned) (21 each), 10. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 20), 11. David Navara (Cze, 19) 12. Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol, 17), 13. Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 16), 14. Ivan Saric (Cro, 14), 15-16. Boris Gelfand (Isr) and B. Adhiban (10 each).