Praggnanandhaa survives a scare; Nihal crashes out

6 months ago 3
ARTICLE AD BOX
Praggnanandhaa won a gruelling tie-breaker to publication  a spot   successful  the 3rd  round.

Praggnanandhaa won a gruelling tie-breaker to publication a spot successful the 3rd round. | Photo Credit: FIDE

He began arsenic 1 of the strongest favourites, but helium was virtually conscionable 1 determination distant from an aboriginal exit. R. Praggnanandhaa, however, survived that scare, acknowledgment successful tiny measurement to his opponent’s unspeakable mistake, went connected to triumph a gruelling tie-breaker and entered the 3rd circular of the chess World Cup.

The 3rd effect from Chennai yet prevailed implicit the Uzbekistan-born Australian Temur Kuybokarov successful the 3rd acceptable of tie-breakers astatine Resort Rio present connected Thursday.

Like him, S.L. Narayanan besides progressed by winning some games successful the day’s 3rd acceptable of games against his higher-rated Russian rival Nikita Vitiugov.

Vidit Gujrathi, V. Pranav and M. Pranesh had easier passages into the 3rd round, winning their archetypal acceptable of tie-breakers against Faustino Oro of Argentina, Aryan Tari of Norway and Dmitrij Kollars of Germany, respectively. But, determination was disappointment for Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani and Karthikeyan Murali, who each lost.

So, retired of the 8 Indians to play the tie-breakers, 5 won and they volition articulation 5 of their compatriots successful the 3rd round. D. Gukesh , Arjun Erigaisi, P. Harikrishna, Diptayan Ghosh and Karthik Venkataraman had qualified connected Wednesday itself, winning their matches successful the classical format.

Nihal’s decision was so a large setback for the host. The 22nd effect mislaid the archetypal tie-breaker and could lone gully successful the second, arsenic Greece’s Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis proved a thorn successful the soma for the Indians; helium had beaten Divya Deshmukh successful the archetypal round.

The highest effect to clang retired connected this time was the American Hans Niemann. The tenth effect was beaten by Italy’s Lorenzo Lodici, whose triumph successful the archetypal tie-breaker crippled proved capable to publication an unexpected summons for the 3rd round.

Important results (second round): R. Praggnanandhaa bt Temur Kuybokarov (Aus) 1-1, 1-1, 2-0; Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) bt Dennis Makhnev (Kaz) 1.5-0.5; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) bt Gergely Kantor (Hun) 2-0; Lorenzo Lodici (Ita) bt Hans Niemann (USA) 1.5-0.5; Vidit Gujrathi bt Faustino Oro (Arg) 1.5-0.5; Yu Yangyi (Chn) bt Felix Blohberge (Aut) 1-1, 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (Gre) bt Nihal Sarin 1.5-0.5; V. Pranav bt Aryan Tari (Nor) 1.5-0.5; M. Pranesh bt Dmitrij Kollars (Ger) 2-0; Mustafa Yilmaz (Tur) bt Bu Xiangzhi (Chn) 1.5-0.5; Daniil Dubo (Rus) bt Bai Jinshi (Chn) 1-1, 2-0; Radoslav Wojtaszek (Pol) bt Maxime Lagarde (Fra) 1.5-0.5; S.L. Narayanan bt Nikita Vitiugov (Rus) ) 1-1, 1-1, 2-0; Pouya Idani (Ira) bt Karthikeyan Murali; 1-1, 1-1, 1.5-0.5; Samuel Sevian (USA) bt Tin Jingya (Sgp) 2-0; Daniel Dardha (Bel) bt Grigoriy Oparin (USA) 1.5-0.5; Vladislav Artemeiv (Rus) bt Haik Martirosyan (Arm) 1.5-0.5; Nils Grandelius (Swe) bt Etienne Barcot (Fra) 1.5-0.5; Shamsiddin Vokhidov (Uzb) bt Maksim Chigaev (Esp) 2-0; Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm) bt Raunak Sadhwani 2-0.

Published - November 06, 2025 10:32 p.m. IST

Read Entire Article