Chess World Cup: Praggnanandhaa enters fourth round
July 21, 2021
Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated veteran Michal Krasenkow 2-0 in the rapid tie-break in the third round of the FIDE chess World Cup on Tuesday. The 15-year old Praggnanandhaa, playing in his maiden World Cup, won a see-saw second tie-break game to book a fourth-round match with a 3-1 margin against the winner of the Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-David Paravyan clash.
The 57-year old Krasenkow fought hard before the Indian teenager secured a win in 67 moves in the second tie-break game. Praggnanandhaa had taken the lead in the two-game mini match before the Polish veteran bounced back to force the tie-break.
The experienced P Harikrishna, who beat Constantin Lupulescu (Romania) 1.5-0.5 on Monday, will face Iran’s M Amin Tabatabaei in the fourth round on Thursday.
The Indian challenge in the women’s section ended when D Harika lost to Valentina Gunina in the third round late on Monday night.
Meanwhile, another talented Indian Nihal Sarin’s campaign came to an end on Monday, as he lost 0.5-1.5 to Dmitry Andreikin of Russia.
Having lost the first game on Sunday, the 17-year-old Sarin needed to win the second to force a tie-breaker. He could only manage a draw in 31 moves against the Russian and bowed out of the competition.
