Praggnanandhaa wins St. Louis Rapid and blitz

St. LOUIS — Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa clinched his maiden Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz title in emphatic fashion, sealing the championship with a round to spare here.

The 20-year-old finished with 23.5 points, comfortably ahead of Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, one of the contenders for the world championship cycle.

Not losing any games on the final day of the last rapid and blitz in the Grand Chess tour, Praggnanandhaa jumped to second spot in the GCT which almost guarantees a place in the grand finale scheduled later this year. The Indian will just have to keep up his form in the last tournament of the season which will be played under Classical system.

After winning the rapid section with a marginal lead against Sindarov, Pragg lost only one game in the blitz and scored the requisite victories to end up with 11.5 points out of a possible 18.

Sindarov, who was trailing Praggnanandhaa by a full point after the rapid section, had to be content with the second spot on 22 points whereas Wesley So of United States came third, scoring 20 points overall.

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Praggnanandhaa jumped to second spot in the overall GCT rankings following his triumph and much would depend on how he performs in the last tournament slated to start on the weekend.

The withdrawal of Alireza Firoujza of France from the GCT has impacted positively on the lone Indian in the tour. Firoujza cited some scheduling issues ahead of the last two events and his entire points earned thus far were removed as per the pre-agreement.

Praggnanandhaa will have to watch it out in the Classical event that starts on Sunday and if he ends up in top three it will be another great result for the Indian who won the Norway Classic ahead of Magnus Carlsen earlier this year.