Indian GM Praggnanandhaa sails into semifinals of Chessable Masters

Chennai, May 24 (PTI) Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated China's Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 to book a spot in the semifinals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2022 online tournament.

The 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa will take on Anish Giri (the Netherlands) in the semifinals. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen will take on China's Ding Liren in the other semifinal clash.

Giri and Carlsen scored comfortable 2.5-0.5 wins over Aryan Tori (Norway) and David Anton Gujjaro (Spain), while Liren defeated Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals against Yi late on Monday, the teenaged Indian star opened with a win with black pieces in 90 moves. He built on that fine start to take the second game of the four-game match to go 2-0 up.

The Chinese star bounced back to claim the third game of the series to reduce the margin. A draw in the fourth was enough for the Indian GM to seal a spot in the semifinals.

Praggnanandhaa had created a stir earlier in the preliminary phase by beating Carlsen in the sixth round. He finished fourth behind Anish, Carlsen and Ding Liren.

The two other Indian players -- P Harikrishna and Gujrathi in the 16-player field, finished outside the top 8 and failed to make the cut for the knockout bracket.