Rapid and Blitz 2024, Poland: Praggnanandhaa lone third as Wei Yi wins

Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa emerged as the best performing Indian yet again in the faster version of the game as he finished sole third in the rapid section of the Rapid and blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess tour here.

Wei Yi of China continued with his brilliant form and won the rapid section scoring over World Championship challenger D. Gukesh in the seventh round and Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the eighth before settling for a draw against Praggnanandhaa in the final.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen had to be content with the second place following a sole victory against Vincent Keymer of Germany besides two draws on the final day of rapid.

The event is only half way through as there are 18 more rounds of blitz to be played before a winner is decided in the USD 175000 prize money tournament.

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Wei Yi finished with 13 points in all with each win worth two points in rapid and each draw netting him one point. The Chinese drew one, lost two and won the remaining six games to go ahead of Carlsen.

Carlsen ended on 12 points in all scoring three wins and six draws while Praggnanadhaa scored 10 points that gave him the sole third spot.

Local star Duda Jan-Kryzstof and early leader Kirill Shevchenko of Romania ended up with nine points for a joint fourth place finish while Erigaisi Arjun was tied for the sixth spot on eight points along side Andusattorov.

Gukesh, Anish Giri of Holland and Keymer filled up the last three places with seven points but the field is still wide open as each game in blitz is worth one point for a win and half for a draw.