Grand chess tour: India’s Praggnanandhaa finishes last in rapid

Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa had a rare bad in the office, finishing at the bottom of the table in the rapid section of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz chess tournament here.

Having lost three and drawn three coming into the third and final day of rapid competition, Praggnanadhaa lost to Lenier Dominguez of the United States in the seventh round. Another American Hikaru Nakamura also proved too strong for the Indian in the final game.

In the eighth round, the Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Alireza Firouzja of France to finish his event at a disappointing four points out of a possible 18.

Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and the French duo of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Firouzja were tied for the top spot on 11 points each in what was one of the closely contested rapid sections of the Grand Chess tour.

The three leaders at this point are followed by Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian, a full point behind, and USA’s Wesley So, Dominguez and Nakamura, who share the fifth on nine points apiece.

Not far behind is Nodirbek Abdusatoorov of Uzbekistan and last year’s tour winner Fabiano Caruana of the United States on eight points each and Praggnanandhaa was a distant 10th right now.

With each win, worth two points in the rapid section, the attention will now shift to the blitz wherein the players will play a double round robin or 18 games.

The point system comes back to normal in the USD 175000 prize money tournament and one point will be awarded for a win and half for a draw.

Praggnanandhaa will need a miracle in the blitz section in order to come back in the tournament and the chances of winning this leg rest with Firouzja, who also has a slim chance to go to the top spot in the tour rankings if he finishes well ahead of Caruana, who is the current leader.

While Praggnanandhaa is safe on the third spot in the tour rankings for now, an improved performance in blitz might just help the Indian to go ahead of his nearest rival and compatriot D Gukesh, who is currently fourth and will join the others in the Sinquefield Cup, slated to take place right after this event.