Praggnanandhaa ends disappointing Super Chess Classic Romania campaign with another draw as Keymer wins title

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa ended his Super Chess Classic Romania campaign with an easy draw against Anish Giri while Vincent Keymer crushed Jorden Van Foreest to clinch the title on Saturday.

Praggnanadhaa, the defending champion at the event, could register only one win in nine rounds. He also lost only one match but drew the other seven to finish with a score of 4.5/9 which tied him and four others at the fifth place. As per official rankings, he was put at the ninth place in the 10-man table. In fact, the only person to finish below him was Alireza Firouzja, who had withdrawn from the tournament with one point after round five.

READ | Caruana makes big statement on Praggnanandhaa after ending his unbeaten run: 'We both kind of provoke each other'

Both Praggnanandhaa and Giri were already out of title contention coming into the final round.

Keymer wins title

Giri was clearly disappointed coming into the last round as he did not try for more with his white pieces against Praggnanandhaa.

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For the record, it was a Nimzo Indian defence wherein the Capablanca variation by Giri gave the Indian an easy equality and subsequent exchanges led to a drawn Bishop and pawns endgame. The game was over in 31 moves.

Meanwhile, Keymer was the only one to get a decisive result on Saturday and that helped him break his tie with Fabiano Caruana to win the title. Keymer ended the tournament on six points from four victories, four draws and a lone loss against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan.

Caruana finished second after a draw with Vachier-Lagrave finishing with a tally of 5.5 points.

Wesley So of the US played an easy draw with Sindarov in the finale to end joint third with the Uzbek on five points and it was a five-way tie thereafter with Praggnanandhaa, Giri, Foreest, Vachier-Lagrave and Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania ending on an identical 4.5 points.

Keymer was clearly the star of the tournament. Playing the white side of a Sicilian with a closed centre, the German showcased his growing positional sense against Foreest.

The middlegame saw an uneven battle and Foreest missed a tactical stroke leading to loss of a rook against minor pieces.

It was not the easiest of tasks to convert but Keymer made it look like child’s play and romped home after 46 moves.

Keymer bagged the winner’s purse of USD 100000 and made a strong bid to qualify for the finals of the Grand Chess tour scheduled later this year.

Caruana also tried his best going for a Sicilian defence but a momentary lapse of concentration cost an opportunity that was handed to him on a platter.

Instead of playing the winning move, Caruana chose something defensive and Vachier-Lagrave gave nothing away thereafter.

Superchess Classic Romania Results (final round)

Vincent Keymer (Ger, 6) beat Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 4.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 4.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 4.5); Wesley So (Usa, 5) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 4.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 5.5); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou, 4.5) got a walkover Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 1)

(With PTI inputs)