The Indian’s impressive debut ends with three successive draws
By Rakesh Rao
Prodigious R. Praggnanandhaa’s impressive debut ended with successive draws against Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja but fell short of earning him a place among the quarterfinalists of the 16-man New in Chess Classic rapid online tournament on Tuesday.
For the fifth straight time, Carlsen (10.5 points) led the quarterfinalists in his search for a title on the $1.5 million Champions Tour.
Praggnanandhaa (7) tied for the 10th spot with teammate Vidit Gujrathi and Norwegian Aryan Tari.
On the last day of the preliminary league, the 15-year-old Indian started with a defeat against Levon Aronian but quickly made amends by beating another debutant Norway’s Johan-Sebastian Christiansen before holding three illustrious qualifiers.
Vidit, who ended the second day with two losses, started the final day with as many defeats after running into Sergey Karjakin and Liem Quang Le.
He snapped the losing streak with a draw against Leinier Dominguez Perez, beat Gawain Jones and drew the final round with Teimour Radjabov.
Standings (after 15 rounds of preliminaries): 1. Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 10.5 points), 2-3. Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 9.5), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 9.5), 4-5. Wesley So (USA, 9), Levon Aronian (Arm, 9), 6-8. Alireza Firouzja (FIDE, 8.5), Liem Quang Le (Vie, 8.5), 8. Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 8.5). 9. Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA, 8).
10-13. Aryan Tari (Nor, 7), Vidit Gujrathi (7), R. Praggnanandhaa (7), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 7), 14. Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 6.5), 15. Gawain Jones (Eng, 3), 16. Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (Nor, 1.5).
Quarterfinal line-up: Carlsen-Radjabov; Aronian-So; Mamedyarov-Firouzja; Le-Nakamura.
