Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa slowed down by fellow teen Yoo

New York, September 19

India’s teenaged Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa began his campaign in the star-studded Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid tournament with wins over veteran Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk and Jan Kryzstof Duda of Poland.

He then beat another veteran Boris Gelfand in the third round before losing to the American 15-year old Christopher Yoo today.

The 17-year old prodigy came up trumps against 53-year old Ivanchuk in a battle of generations to pick up three points. Ivanchuk bounced back from the setback against Praggnanandhaa to win his next three rounds. Praggnanandhaa was heading for the top spot after registering three wins but was pegged back due to a loss in the final round.

Magnus Carlsen has made a strong start and has a one-point lead after the opening day of the tournament.

He scored 10 points with wins over India’s Arjun Erigaisi, Adhiban Baskaran and Vietnam’s Liem Quang Le as only Dutch No. 1 Anish Giri prevented him from taking the maximum 12 points.

Four players on nine points, including Praggnanandhaa, American Hans Niemann and Erigaisi.

Meanwhile, the 19-year old Erigaisi recovered from his opening-round loss to Carlsen to score three wins. He beat Adhiban, Liem and Czech player David Navara.