Tata Steel Masters chess: R Praggnanandhaa beats Vidit Gujrathi, Magnus Carlsen maintains lead

Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a win over compatriot Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi in a marathon 10th round clash at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament. The 16-year old Praggnanandhaa (Elo 2612) halted his three-match losing streak to shock the higher-rated Gujrathi (Elo 2727) in 78 moves in a Nimzo-Indian Classical variation game late on Wednesday.

Gujrathi, who was among the leaders till about two rounds ago, has slipped to joint fourth with 5.5 points. Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, improved to 3.5 points but stood in 13th position. With all the players in the leading group drawing their games in round 10, world no.1 Magnus Carlsen continued to stay on top of the standings with seven points.

Praggnanandhaa fought like a lion on the chess board and defeated his compatriot Vidit Gujrathi on the 73rd Republic Day of India at the Tata Steel Masters 2022. Pragg was in a difficult situation out of the opening, but kept fighting and turned the tide around.

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Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin played one of the shortest games in the tournament this year, which lasted just 16 moves. Dutch star Anish Giri managed a draw Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) to move to second place with 6.5 points.

The winners on the day included Richard Rapport, who got the better of Fabiano Caruana, Andrey Esipenko, who defeated Jorden Van Foreest and Sweden’s Nils Grandelius, who secured his maiden victory by beating Daniil Dubov.

In the Challengers event, Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi maintained his two-point lead over the field, with a draw against Polina Shuvalova (Russia). He has 8.5 points while his nearest challengers – Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Jonas Buhl Bjerre have 6.5.

Three more rounds remain to be played both in the Masters and Challengers events.

Standings after Round 10:

1. Magnus Carlsen 7 points; 2. Anish Giri 6.5; 3-4. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Richard Rapport 6; 5-7. Vidit Gujrathi, Sergey Karjakin and Andrey Esipenko 5.5; 8. Fabiano Caruana 5; 9-10. Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Jorden Van Foreest 4.5; 11. Sam Shankland 4; 12-13. Daniil Dubov and R Praggnanandhaa 3.5; 14. Nils Grandelius 3.