Praggnanandhaa wins Paracin Open chess title with a dominant, unbeaten run

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa. Pic/PTI

Young Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa added to his growing reputation as a star of the future by winning the Open A section of the 15th International Chess Open Paracin held in the town of Paracin in Serbia.

Playing in the Open A section of the event, the 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa garnered eight points from nine rounds, finishing half a point ahead of his nearest rival, Alexandr Predke, a Russian player playing under the flag of FIDE, the sport's world governing body.

In the ninth and final round on Saturday, Praggnanandhaa, the Grandmaster from Chennai, played out a draw with Serbia's Alisher Suleymenov while Predke defeated India's V Pranav on the second board with white pieces to move up to 7.5 points. Suleymenov finished third with seven points after a tie with India's Al Muthaiah, who defeated Arystanbek Urazayev of Serbia to move up to seven points in the classical chess tournament.

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Praggnanandhaa, who had twice beaten world champion, Magnus Carlsen, in the Meltwater Champions Tour rapid chess tournament in recent months, remained unbeaten in the nine-round Swiss League tournament as the second seed won seven games and drew two.

Among the other Indians in the fray, V Pranav finished fifth after a tie on 8.5 points with seven other players including compatriots Arjun Kalyan and Harshavardhan G B, both of whom finished in the top 10.

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