Praggnanandhaa finishes last in rapid section

R Praggnanandhaa

Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa had a rare bad day in the office, finishing at the bottom of the table in the rapid section of Saint Louis Rapid and blitz chess tournament here. Having lost three and drawn three coming into the third and final day of rapid competition, Praggnanadhaa lost to Lenier Dominguez of the United States in the seventh round. Another American Hikaru Nakamura also proved too stronger for the Indian in the final game.

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In the eighth round, the Indian played out a draw with Alireza Firouzja of France to finish his event at a disappointing four points out of a possible 18. Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and French duo of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Firouzja were tied for the top spot on 11 points each in what was one of the closely contested rapid section of the Grand Chess tour.

The three leaders at this point are followed by Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian, a full point behind, and USA's Wesley So, Dominguez and Nakamura, who share the fifth on nine points apiece. Not far behind are Nodirbek Abdusatoorov of Uzbekistan and last year's tour winner Fabiano Caruana of the United States on eight points each and Praggnanandhaa is a distant 10th.

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