R Praggnanandhaa finishes joint third; Gukesh sixth at Zagreb Grand Chess Tour; Alireza prevails

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa bounced back with a decent effort on the final day to finish tied third in the Croatian leg of the Grand chess tour here on Monday.

France’s Firouzja Alireza bagged the top honours with 23.5 points.

Praggnanandhaa shared the third sport with another Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, logging 21.5 points.

The Indian star began the final day with a loss against Vincent Keymer but then did well to score 6 points out of the last eight games. His other loss came against compatriot D. Gukesh but Praggnanandhaa's main victim was Alireza.

After a splendid start in the blitz on the opening day when he scored 8 points out of a possible nine, Alireza had a rather forgettable final day and could only make 5 points, allowing Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov to catch up with him in the overall standings on 23.5 points.

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It led to a tie-break finale wherein the first two games ended in draws and after that the Frenchman drew with Abdusattorov in the Armageddon to be crowned the champion as he only needed a draw as black.

German Keymer scored 20 points in all, 1.5 points clear of reigning world champion Gukesh, who finished sixth.

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri ended seventh on 17 points while Deac Bogdan Daniel was declared eighth on 15.

Holland’s Jorden Van Foreest came ninth in the 10- player field scoring 12.5, while local star Ivan Saric came 10th with just seven points in his kitty.

Alireza won USD 47000 for his efforts, Nodirbek got USD 42000 while Praggnanandhaa and Vachier-Lagrave shared USD 25000 each.

In the Grand Chess tour standings, Fabiano Caruana of the United States remains at the helm on 20 points while Keymer is in second spot on 19, a point ahead of Alireza.

For Praggnanandhaa, it’s a tough road ahead as he has 11.5 points for his current sixth spot.

The Indian needs to really come back much stronger if he has to make it to the finale of the GCT scheduled later this year.

The next two events on the tour will be held in St. Louis. There will be one rapid and blitz followed by one classical event.

Points table

1. Firouzja Alireza (Fra) 23.5; 2. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 23.5) 3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 21.5) R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 21.5); 5. Vincent Keymer (Ger, 20); 6. D Gukesh (Ind) 18.5; 7. Anish Giri (Ned) 17; 8. Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou) 15; Jorden van Foreest (Ned) 12.5; 10. Ivan Saric (Cro) 7.