Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated the reigning and four-time women's world champion Wenjun Ju from China in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters here.
The victory made Praggnanandhaa the only player in recent times to have beaten both the reigning world champions in open and women's categories. Just a week ago in the same tournament, the Indian ace had beaten Ding Liren of China. Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri from Holland and D Gukesh are now giving Praggnanandhaa the company at the top of the table, with 5.5 points from the first nine rounds.
Abdusattorov scored the quickest victory of the round against Jorden van Foreest (The Netherlands) while Gukesh drew against compatriot Vidit Gujrathi, who is just half a point behind the leaders' pack. Praggnanandhaa made short work of Wenjun out of a two knights opening, wherein the Indian threw caution to the winds with his trademark complicated play.
Wenjun did not realise as Praggnanandhaa took the initiative quite early in the middle game and by the time the dust subsided, the Indian had a huge attack against the black king. The game lasted a mere 33 moves. It turned out to be an easy day for Gujrathi as he could do nothing wrong against Gukesh out of a Petroff defence game. With the draw, Gujrathi ensured that he will be in the thick of things towards the business end of the tournament.
In the challengers section being held simultaneously, Leon Luke Mendonca won a grueling battle against Jaime Santos Latasa (Spain) after 111 moves to remain on the second spot and will look forward to prepare his challenge for the masters section next year.
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