Chess
Tata Steel Chess: Praggnanandhaa defeats world number 2 Ding Liren
Praggnanandhaa defeated world number 2 GM Ding Liren in a marathon seven-hour battle at fourth round of the Tata Steel Chess Masters section.
R Praggnanandhaa ended the rapid programme in the third position at the Superbet Poland Rapid and Blitz event in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo Credit: Tata Steel Chess)
Teenage Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated world number 2 GM Ding Liren in a marathon seven-hour battle at fourth round of the ongoing Tata Steel Chess Masters section in Wijk aan Zee.
Playing with the black pieces, the 17-year-old Indian had to grind out in a long 74-move battle to upstage Ding Liren, who will challenge for the World Championships title three months from now.
Having entered the end-game in an equal position, Praggnanandhaa kept pushing before the Chinese GM eventually blundered under time pressure to hand him a win.
With this win, Praggnanandhaa moves to joint-third position in the standings alongside GM Fabiano Caruana with a score of 2.5/4.
Meanwhile, Arjun Erigiasi played out his fourth draw in a row as he held Germany's Vincent Keymar with the black pieces rather easily.
D Gukesh, on the other hand, had to fight back from an inferior position with the black pieces for a draw against Jorden Van Foreest.
Vaishali's struggle continues
In the Challengers' section, IM R Vaishali's struggles continued on Tuesday as she went down to GM Ivic Velmir for her third consecutive loss in the tournament.
Adhiban Baskaran, meanwhile, had to settle for a draw with the white pieces against Javokhir Sindarov.
