Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa on Saturday clinched his maiden victory on the Grand Chess Tour by triumphing at the Superbet Classic in Bucharest, Romania, defeating France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave after a tense tiebreak.
The Indian prodigy secured a share of first place with 5.5 points after drawing with Armenian-American Levon Aronian in the final round. His rivals, Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja, also finished on 5.5 points, necessitating a thrilling tiebreak to decide the champion.
The rapid tiebreak involved three players with five minutes and a two-second increment per move. Praggnanandhaa managed a draw with Firouzja in a challenging position and saw Firouzja draw with Vachier-Lagrave.
The decisive game came when Praggnanandhaa overcame Vachier-Lagrave’s defences to claim the top prize, scoring 1.5 points in the blitz games, edging Firouzja by half a point and Vachier-Lagrave by one point.
Also read: Praggnanandhaa to take on Duda in Round 6 of Superbet Classic
All India Chess Federation President Nitin Narang lauded Praggnanandhaa’s calm and composure during the tense tiebreaks.
“What a champion!! Praggnanandhaa held his nerve in tense tiebreak games to break the three-way tie and emerge victorious at the Grand Chess Tour Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest. Clutch play in crunch moments. Proud of you Pragg!!” he expressed.
Praggnanandhaa expressed satisfaction at his turnaround from last year’s disappointment, when he lost all his play-off games.
“I didn’t do so well last time. I guess getting to rest a few hours before the tiebreak certainly helps,” he said during the prize-giving ceremony.
Following his draw with Aronian in the classical game, Praggnanandhaa took some rest in his room before the tiebreak began. He also thanked his second, GM Vaibhav Suri, and his permanent coach, GM RB Ramesh.
The young grandmaster received a cash prize of USD 77,667 (approximately Rs 66 lakh) for his remarkable performance.
Round 9 results:
- Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 5.5) drew with Levon Aronian (USA, 4)
- Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou, 4) lost to Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 5.5)
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 5.5) beat Jan Krzysztof (Pol, 3)
- Wesley So (4) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4.5)
- D Gukesh (Ind, 4) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5)
Tiebreak results:
- Praggnanandhaa drew with Firouzja
- Firouzja drew with Vachier-Lagrave
- Praggnanandhaa beat Vachier-Lagrave
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