In a recent stand-off between Erigaisi Arjun and R Praggnanandhaa – two teenage friends – the teenage chess Grandmaster Praggananandhaa came out victorious in the World Cup Chess quarterfinal and qualified for the semifinals in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday.
source: The Hindu
Praggananandha after arriving 30 seconds late to the game still managed to come out stronger with precise play. Arjun triumphed in a must-win contest in the fourth tie-break game (both 10-minute games) after losing the third one. Then, Praggananandhaa did the same in the sixth game after losing the fifth (both five-minute games). Leading to a standstill. The tiebreak then moved to a no-opportunity-to-bounce-back zone as the regulations stated the first decisive game (three minutes plus two-second increment) would end the contest.
source: sportskeeda
After an electrifying tie-break between the two Grandmasters, Rameshbabu Praggananandhaa triumphed over Arjun Erigaisi and qualified for the semifinals. He is going to face the 31-year-old Italian American Chess Grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals.
A very exciting quarterfinal match between Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi finally concludes, after 7 tiebreak games, with Praggnanandhaa emerging as the winner and moving on to face Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals. #FIDEWorldCup
📷 Stev Bonhage pic.twitter.com/DBPGbPSyBa
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) August 17, 2023
“Happy, I don’t think was easy at all…. we were just fighting and not playing well with white. Maybe it’s hard to find ideas with white. For me at least. Arjun is strong with both colours, especially with black. I was just trying to calm down and play my best. Was not thinking of Candidates but was concentrating only on the games. To lose 30 seconds without doing anything was upsetting but I managed to recover,” told Praggananandhaa after reaching the semifinals.
source: Times of India
Praggananandhaa born on August 10th, 2005, is an Indian chess prodigy and a native of Chennai. He became an international master at the age of 10, the youngest at the time to do so, and a grandmaster at the age of 12, the second-youngest at the time to do so. On 22 February 2022, at the age of 16, he became the youngest player to defeat then-world champion Magnus Carlsen. He turned 18 last Thursday and is the first Indian after Viswanathan Anand, former world champion, to enter the final four stage of the Chess World Cup.
source: BBC
