Praggnanandhaa beats Carlsen at Rapid and Blitz chess tournament

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa registered yet another win over world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen to keep himself in contention at the Rapid and Blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday. Praggnanandhaa, however, remains in the third position.

Wei Yi of China, meanwhile extended his lead to 2.5 points. With nine rounds to go in the blitz event, Wei Yi collected 20.5 points with seven wins on the first day of the blitz.

Carlsen is currently placed in the second position with 18 points following his defeat to Praggnanandhaa, who is still behind the leaders with his total collection of 14.5 points.

At the fourth spot is Arjun Erigaisi, who has 14 points while Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland is trailing him with 13 points.

However, blitz remained a cause for worry for world championship challenger D. Gukesh, who is currently languishing at the last spot with 9.5 points in the $1,75,000 prize money tournament.

It was a tough day for Gukesh. Despite making a fine start, Gukesh remained at the bottom of the ladder with 2.5 points in the blitz chess.

For Gukesh, it was a tough day despite a great start against the tournament leader as the Indian could only score 2.5 points in all.

Rapid results: 1. Wei Yi 20.5; 2. Magnus Carlsen 18; 3. R. Praggnanandhaa 14.5; 4. Arjun Erigaisi 14; 5. Duda Jan-Krzysztof 13; 6. Nodirbek Abdusattorov 12.5; 7. Vincent Keymer 11.5; 8. Kirill Shevchenko 11; 9. Anish Giri 10.5; 10. D.Gukesh 9.5.