Airthings Masters: 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa fails to qualify for knockouts

Chennai, February 23: The 16-year-old Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa has failed to qualify for the knockouts in the ongoing Airthings Masters, an online rapid chess tournament.

Praggnanandhaa finished at the 11th spot in the standings and hence he failed to make the cut. Only eight qualified for the knockouts from the round-robin stage. Earlier, Praggnanandhaa had stunned world champion, Magnus Carlsen, in the eighth round of the ongoing Airthings Masters.

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Carlsen's revival after a tough first day of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour was pegged back by the youngest player in the field. Carlsen had racked up three wins in a row as he ominously cranked up the gears.

But against 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa, he blundered badly, and the Indian star held firm for the win. It was Praggnanandhaa's first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian and came on the back of having lost three games in a row.

16-year-old R Praggnanandhaa registered two more victories against Andrey Esipenko and Alexandra Kosteniuk in rounds 10 and 12.

Praggananandhaa had registered two more wins and he also drew against Nodirbek Abdusattorov on Tuesday.

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-PTC News