Chess: Carlsen crushes Praggnanandhaa; Erigaisi wins

IMAGE: Magnus Carlsen, with the two.5-0.5 demolition of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, received the Meltwater Champions Tour Finals in San Francisco, with a spherical to spare. {Photograph}: FIDE/Lennart Ootes

Teenaged Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi scored a tremendous win over velocity sport specialist Quang Liem Le however his compatriot Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was outplayed by World No 1 Magnus Carlsen within the penultimate spherical of the Meltwater Champions Tour Finals in San Francisco, on Sunday.

Erigaisi moved as much as fourth place with the two.5-0.5 win over his Vietnamese opponent whereas Praggnanandhaa slipped to seventh after the sixth spherical.

In the meantime, Carlsen with the two.5-0.5 demolition of the 17-year outdated Indian GM, received the Tour Finals with a spherical to spare. The Norwegian celebrity has 17 factors and is 5 factors away from the remainder of the sector.

American Wesley So outclassed Polish GM Jan-Krzyszstof Duda 3-0 to rise to second within the standings with 12 factors. Erigaisi has 9 factors.

Within the day’s different match, Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Anish Giri of the Netherlands 2.5-0.5.

Mamedyarov and Giri are in sixth and eighth spots respectively.

It has been some comeback from Erigaisi, who suffered defeats within the first three rounds and has since received three straight matches.

In his match towards Liem Le, the 19-year outdated Erigaisi received the primary sport with black items in 66 strikes after which took the subsequent in 46 strikes. The third sport was a 24-move draw and it was sufficient for the Indian to wrap up the match.

Carlsen, who has been dominant within the occasion, received the opening sport in 55 strikes with black items to take the lead. The subsequent sport was a 74-move affair with the world champion popping out on high. The third was a draw and enabled the Norwegian to win the match 2.5-0.5 to keep up his unbeaten run.

Within the remaining spherical on Monday, Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa tackle one another.

Eight gamers certified for the Finals after a sequence of occasions within the Meltwater Champions Tour. The full prize fund for the Tour finals is USD 210,000. Every win within the round-robin earns the participant USD 7,500.

The winner is the participant with essentially the most wins and most prize cash.