Erigaisi, Praggu make the quarters

New York, September 22

Teenaged Indian Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa moved to the quarterfinals after finishing second and fourth, respectively, in the preliminary phase of the Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid chess tournament in the wee hours of Thursday.

While world champion Magnus Carlsen finished with 34 points, way ahead of the second-placed Erigaisi, who had 25 points, American Hans Niemann took the third spot with 24 points.

Praggnanandhaa, who made a strong start with three victories on Day 1, ended up with 23 points. His tally included five wins, eight draws and two defeats.

Carlsen was in stupendous form, winning his last five games including three on the final day of the preliminaries to end with 10 victories.

His only loss was to Niemann, against whom he resigned after making only one move.

The 19-year-old Erigaisi endured a poor final day, losing to German Vincent Keymer and Dutch GM Anish Giri after beginning with a draw against Radoslaw Wojtaszek of Poland.

Despite a forgettable day, the Indian GM managed to finish second. He scored seven wins along with four draws and four losses.

Baskaran Adhiban, the third Indian in the fray, finished 16th and last.