NE SPORTS BUREAU
CHENAI, FEB 23
Continuing his good run, India’s teen prodigy R Praggnanandhaa registered wins against fellow Grandmasters Andrey Esipenko and Alexandra Kosteniuk in rounds 10 and 12 of the Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament.
R #Praggnanandhaa defeats World No 1. Magnus Carlsen.#ChessChamps pic.twitter.com/O2yRJWr4OV
— Kim (@ChowkidarKim) February 22, 2022
A day after a stunning victory over world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, the 16-year old scored two wins and drew against Nodirbek Abdusattorov early on Tuesday. He, however, lost to Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the 11th round. Despite the twin victories and a draw, Praggnanandhaa is in 12th place with 15 points.
Congratulations to the Young Indian Grandmaster
R.Praggnanandhaa – 16 yr old,
a native of #Chennai TN.who's scored a sensational win over the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen at Airthings Masters online Chess tournament.
Its a moment of pride & celebrations for our country. pic.twitter.com/47SPWgaJWT
— Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan (மோடியின் குடும்பம் ) (@DrTamilisai4BJP) February 22, 2022
He beat the highly rated Russian Esipenko in 42 moves after having started the day with a draw against Abdusattorov. After going down to Nepomniachtchi, he rallied to beat former women’s world champion Kosteniuk in a 63-move encounter. Praggnanandhaa will be up against Vincent Keymer of Germany, USA”s Hans Moke Niemann and Russian Vladislav Artemiev respectively in round 13, 14 and 15 later on Tuesday night.
Nepomniachtchi, who lost the world championship match a few months ago to Carlsen, is on top of the standings with 27 points. Carlsen bounced back from the loss to Praggnanandhaa with wins over Quang Liem Le and Jan Kryzstof Duda but suffered an unexpected reverse against Eric Hansen of Canada in 33 moves. He is in joint second place with 20 points along with Artemiev and Keymer, reported PTI.
The top eight players after the preliminary rounds qualify for the knockout phase. In the Airthings Masters, a 16-player online rapid tournament, a player gets three points for a win and one for a draw in the preliminary rounds. Seven more rounds remain in the preliminary phase.
