Struggling for form, R. Praggnanandhaa punished Vidit Gujrathi for a misjudged pawn-capture and posted his second win in the Masters section of the Tata Steel chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam, on Wednesday.
The result kept Praggnanandhaa (3.5 points) in the 13th spot in the 14-player field but brought down Vidit (5.5) from the overnight joint third to tied fifth.
Magnus Carlsen (7) continued to lead after a 16-move draw in 20 minutes with Sergey Karjakin. After the final rest day, action resumes on Friday.
Playing white, Vidit looked in control until the 33rd move when he faltered by taking an unguarded pawn on the king’s side. That was enough for Praggnanandhaa to seize his chance.
The youngster used his proactive queen and rook well to keep Vidit under pressure. Once the queens were off the board on the 50th move, Praggnanandhaa established a one-pawn advantage on the king’s side and continued accurately to end Vidit’s resistance in 78 moves.
In the Challengers section, Arjun Erigaisi (8.5 points) maintained his overnight two-point lead after a draw with former World junior girls’ champion Polina Shuvalova.
The results (10th round): Masters (Indians unless stated): Vidit Gujrathi (5.5) lost to R. Praggnanandhaa (3.5); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 5.5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 7); Anish Giri (6.5) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 4.5); Sam Shankland (USA, 4) drew with Shakhriyar Memdyarov (Aze, 6); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5) lost to Richard Rapport (6); Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 5.5) bt Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4.5); Daniil Dubov (Rus, 3.5) lost to Nils Grandelius (Swe, 3).
Challengers (involving Indians): Arjun Erigaisi (8.5) drew with Polina Shuvalova (Rus, 3.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5) bt Zhu Jiner (Chn, 2.5).
