Saint Louis (US), Aug 17 (PTI) Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanadhaa showed an improved performance in blitz chess but could not avoid finishing last in the Saint Louis rapid and blitz tournament.
On the final day of the event, Praggnanadhaa scored eight points in blitz, an improvement over the four points he had previously scored in the rapid category.
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He finished the Grand Chess Tour event with a total of 12 points, while Frenchman Alireza Firouzja emerged victorious with a total of 23 points – 11 points in rapid chess and 12 points in blitz chess.
It was a dominant performance from Firouzja, who won the event with two rounds to go.
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After a convincing performance in rapid chess, the Iranian, who now plays for France, showed no mercy in blitz chess and collected 12 points from 18 games.
The win earned him $40,000 out of a total prize pool of $175,000.
This result also puts Firouzja at the top of the Grand Chess Tour rankings, ahead of Fabiano Caruana of the USA, who has been a shadow of his former self after his two victories in the last events.
Firouzja is clearly ahead of Caruana with 30.58 points, while Caruana is 26.75 points.
Praggnanandhaa, who started the event third on the Tour leaderboard, slipped to fifth place with 17.25 points and will need a miracle for a podium finish in the final event – the Sinquefield Cup – which begins in just two days.
The Indian will be accompanied at this event by D. Gukesh, the challenger for the world championship.
Final score: 1. Alireza Firouzja (France) 23; 2. Wesley So (USA) 20 3; Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 19.5; 4-5. Levon Aronian (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) each 19; 6-7. Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID), Fabiano Caruana (USA) each 18; 8. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 16; 9. Lenier Dominguez (USA) 15.5; 10. R Praggnanandhaa (India) 12.5. 21.07.2024
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