A 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster (GM) Rameshbabu Pragganandhaa, who is one of the most promising chess stars for India has yet again proven his potential by winning the Reykjavik Open chess tournament by beating his fellow compatriot D Gukesh in the final.
Pragg, as he is called, finished half-point ahead of four of his competitors in the tournament which was Max Warmerdam of the Netherlands, Mads Andersen of Denmark, Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson of Sweden and American Abhimanyu Mishra who is the world’s youngest GM, as all four finished on 7 points in the end.
Pragg has also beaten the World No. 1 and reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a rapid game a few months back.
He came out on top against 245 players in the tournament on Tuesday amongst which most of the players were youngsters as the organizers issued a 50% discount on the entry fees of children who are 16 or below.
Praggnanandhaa entered the final round of the tournament on Tuesday where he was level on the top with Warmerdam and Andersen at 6.5 points. The two players from Scandinavian countries alongside him managed to get a 16-point draw which eventually gave the Indian a chance to win the last round and claim the title.
Pragg was able to execute his plans to perfection even though he had been in trouble against Gukesh in the middle of the game. However, because of back-to-back mistakes by Gukesh, he was able to get back on top and won the game gaining 3 points on the way as well.
As far as other top Indian chess players are concerned, former World junior champion Abhijeet Gupta finished eighth after being tied with 10 players, including his fellow compatriot Gukesh, at 6.5 points. Gukesh had finished 17th with six points while International Master Tania Sachdev came 21st with 6 points. The former national champion B Adhiban ended in 36th place with 5.5 points while Soham Das was placed 40th with 5.5 points.
(With inputs from IANS)