Tata Steel Masters: Praggnanandhaa brings down Vidit Gujrathi
The 16-year old Praggnanandhaa (Elo 2612) ended his three-match losing streak to shock the higher-rated Gujrathi (Elo 2727) in 78 moves.
Published : Jan 27, 2022 10:16 IST
Struggling for form, R. Praggnanandhaa punished Vidit Gujrathi for a misjudged pawn-capture and posted his second win in the Masters section of Tata Steel chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam, on Wednesday. The result kept Praggnanandhaa (3.5 points) in the 13th spot in the 14-player field but brought down Vidit (5.5) from the overnight joint third to tied fifth place. Magnus Carlsen (7) continued to lead after a 16-move draw in 20 minutes with Sergey Karjakin.
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Playing white, Vidit looked in control until the 33rd move when he faltered by taking an unguarded pawn on the king’s side. That was enough for Praggnanandhaa to seize his chance. The youngster used his proactive queen and rook well to keep Vidit under pressure. Once the queens were off the board on the 50th move, Praggnanandhaa established a one-pawn advantage on the king’s side and continued accurately to end Vidit’s resistance in 78 moves. In the Challengers section, Arjun Erigaisi (8.5 points) maintained his overnight two-point lead after a draw with former World junior girls champion Polina Shuvalova. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5) ended his two-game losing streak with his third victory and shared the seventh spot. 10th round results: Masters (Indians unless stated): Vidit Gujrathi (5.5) lost to R. Praggnanandhaa (3.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 5.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 7); Anish Giri (6.5) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 4.5); Sam Shankland (USA, 4) drew with Shakhriyar Memdyarov (Aze, 6); Fabiano Caruana (USA. 5) lost to Richard Rapport (6); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 5.5) bt Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4.5); Daniil Dubov (Rus, 3.5) lost to Nils Grandelius (Swe, 3). Challengers (involving Indians): Arjun Erigaisi (8.5) drew with Polina Shuvalova (Rus, 3.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5) bt Zhu Jiner (Chn, 2.5).