Indian GM Praggnanandhaa wins Reykjavik Open chess

This was R Praggnanandhaa first win in any form of chess against Magnus Carlsen. (Photo: ANI)

Young Indian Grandmaster R Pragganandhaa on Tuesday won the prestigious Reykjavik Open chess tournament here with 7.5 points from nine rounds. The 16-year-old Pragganandhaa defeated compatriot GM D Gukesh in the final round to emerge sole winner.

Praggnanandhaa turned things around in the all-Indian battle after his opponent blundered when he appeared to be losing. The highly-rated Indian remained unbeaten through the nine rounds and finished with wins over Matthieu Cornette (France) and Gukesh in the last two rounds.

He also posted four other wins, including the one over American Abhimanyu Mishra, who last year became the then youngest Grandmaster at the age of 12 years and four months. Praggnanandhaa (ELO 2624) gained 13.2 ELO points from the triumph.

He had recently hogged the limelight after stunning world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in an online tournament. Gukesh, who logged six points, finished 17th while GM Abhijeet Gupta took the eighth spot, securing 6.5 points.

The Netherlands GM Max Warmerdam took second place with seven points ahead of Mads Anderson (Denmark), who also scored the same number of points. Abhimanyu Mishra picked up seven points and finished fifth.

Among the other Indians, IM Tania Sachdev (6 points) claimed 21st spot while experienced GM B Adibhan scored 5.5 points and settled for 34th place.

(With PTI inputs)