Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa trounced China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 to seal a spot in the semi-finals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2022 online tourney.
Praggnanandhaa, 16, will play against Anish Giri (the Netherlands) in the semi-finals. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen will compete with China’s Ding Liren in the other semi-final game.
Giri and Carlsen scored easy 2.5-0.5 victories over Aryan Tori (Norway) and David Anton Gujjaro (Spain), whilst Liren beat Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals versus Yi late on Monday, the teenaged Indian star opened with a victory with black pieces in 90 moves. He structured on that fine start to take the second game of the four-game match to go 2-0 up.
The Chinese star rebounded to claim the third game of the series to shrink the margin. A draw in the fourth was enough for the Indian GM to book a spot in the semi-finals.
Praggnanandhaa had caused trouble earlier in the preliminary phase by defeating Carlsen in the sixth round. He finished 4th behind Anish, Carlsen and Ding Liren.
