Meltwater Chess: Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa beats Erigaisi in final round

San Francisco, November 21

Teenaged Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Arjun Erigaisi 2.5-0.5 in the seventh and final round to finish fifth in the Meltwater Champions Tour Finals on Monday.

Praggnanandhaa won the first game with black pieces in 49 moves. After the second game ended in a draw, Erigaisi hit back strongly and won the third game in 18 moves to level the match.

However, Praggnanandhaa won the fourth in 56 moves to seal the victory.

Praggnanandhaa took the fifth place in the final standings after securing nine points, while Erigaisi, also on nine points, ended sixth.

Carlsen, who was assured of the title before the final round, continued his superb run, demolishing Polish GM Jan-Krzyszstof Duda 3-1.

The Norwegian scored 20 points and finished seven ahead of the second-placed American Wesley So.

So went down to GM Anish Giri of the Netherlands 3-4 in a thriller but managed to hang on to the second spot.

The duo drew all the four rapid games before So won the first tie-break game. Giri bounced back to win the next to send the match into the Armageddon (sudden-death game) and won it in 57 moves to snatch the victory.

In the day’s other match, Vietnam’s Quane Liem Le beat Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan 3-1 to finish third with 11 points ahead of Duda (10).

Eight players qualified for the Finals after a series of events in the Meltwater Champions Tour and battled for the total prize fund of USD 210,000. Each win in the round-robin event was worth USD 7,500.

Final standings: 1. Magnus Carlsen 20 points, 2. Wesley So 13, 3. Quang Lie Le 11, 4. Jan-Krzysztof Duda 10, 5. R Praggnanandhaa 9, 6. Arjun Erigaisi 9, 7. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 6, 8. Anish Giri 6.