Superbet Rapid And Blitz Tournament: Gukesh Strikes Back With Wins Over Praggnanandhaa, Keymer

Newly-crowned FIDE Candidates' champion D Gukesh struck back after recovering from 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. (More Sports News)

Gukesh, who recorded just a lone draw out of three games, fought his way back at the expense of Praggnanandhaa earlier in the first round of the day. Praggnanandhaa lost his way in the middle game and did not quite recover.

Wasting no time following the loss to Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa also returned much stronger in the fifth round, defeating Holland’s Anish Giri, while Gukesh made most of his chances to crush Keymer.

The dream run of Romanian Kirill Shevchenko was ended by Erigaisi Arjun who scored his first victory in the event.

At the top, World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway joined Shevchenko in the lead on seven points out of a possible ten and these two are now followed by Wei Yi of China who is one point behind.

The Indian trio of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun are sharing the fourth spot on five points along with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland and Vincent Keymer of Germany share the eighth spot with 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 of the event before an 18-round blitz tournament kickstarts.

Earlier, World Number seven Arjun held Carlsen to an easy draw in the opener and then drew two more games to remain within striking distance of early leader Kirilll Shevchenko of Romania after the third round of tournament.

While Gukesh lost his first two games before drawing the third, R Praggnanandhaa recovered in the third round to beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan to a fifty per cent score.

Shevchenko, the lowest seed in the tournament emerged as the early leader with three victories on the trot coming in contrasting fashion.

The Ukrainian-turned-Romanian benefitted from a rare blunder by Gukesh in the first round, defeated Praggnanandhaa in a brilliantly crafted game and then showed his technical acumen to crash through the defences of Vincent Keymer of Germany.

With each victory in the rapid worth two points, Shevchenko marched his way to six points and enjoyed a two-point lead over nearest rivals Carlsen and Abdusattorov who both have four points.

Arjun and Praggnanandhaa share the fourth spot on 3 points apiece along with Keymer. Wei Yi of China shares the seventh spot with Giri and Duda Jan-Krzystof of Poland with two points in their kitty, while Gukesh is in the rear with one point.

Six more rounds in rapid and 18 in blitz still remain in the USD 175000 prize money tournament.

Arjun was clearly the pick of the day among three Indians showcasing a solid approach with three draws. Playing black against Carlsen, Arjun came up with the French defence and Carlsen surprisingly chose the exchange variation.

The middle game did not offer much for Carlsen and gradual exchanges led to a drawn rook and pawns endgame wherein a draw was a just result.

It was another rook and pawns endgame against Giri out of a Nimzo Indian defence game. Playing his second black, Arjun again gave nothing away and drew when the players were left with bare kings.

In his third game of the day, Arjun had some optical advantage but had to split the points with Wei Yi.

Gukesh blundered his queen away thinking about a check-mate that was not happening in the first round against Shevchenko. It was a shocker for the fans of the recently crowned world championship challenger.

As is usually the case, it was hard to deal with the oversight. In the second round too, Gukesh was doing fine but blundered again to walk himself into a lost knights and pawns endgame against Abdusattarov. Gukesh finally recovered in the final game of the day and drew with Anish Giri.

Praggnanandhaa started off with a draw against Duda but then fell prey to Shevchenko. The Indian showed steely nerves yet again and defeated Abdusattorov in the last game of the day to come back on fifty per cent.

Standings after Round 3 Rapid:

1. Kirill Shevchenko 6; 2-3: Carlsen, Abdusattorov 4 each; 4-6: Arjun, Pragganandhaa, Keymer 3 each; 7-9: Giri, Wei Yi, Duda 2 each; 10. Gukesh 1.