Superbet Chess: D Gukesh moves in right direction after poor start

Warsaw, May 9

Newly-crowned FIDE Candidates champion D Gukesh struck back after a sedate start to defeat compatriot R Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess tour.

Gukesh fought his way back at the expense of Praggnanandhaa, who lost his way in the middle game and did not quite recover. Wasting no time following the loss, Praggnanandhaa also returned much stronger in the fifth round, defeating Holland’s Anish Giri. The dream run of Romanian Kirill Shevchenko was ended by Arjun Erigaisi who scored his first victory in the event.

At the top, world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway joined Shevchenko in the lead on seven points out of a possible 10. They are followed by China’s Wei Yi, who is one point behind. The Indian trio of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun share the fourth spot on five points along with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland and Keymer of Germany share the eighth spot on four points and a completely off-form Giri is now in the last spot with just two points.

Four more rounds remain in the rapid section, which will be followed by an 18-round blitz section. Earlier, world No. 7 Arjun held Carlsen to an easy draw.