Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa proved himself better than his peers and finished clear fourth while Magnus Carlsen came up with a rousing 8/9 performance on the final day to seal his place at the top of the tables in the Superbet rapid and blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
Leading by a huge 2.5 points margin going in to the last day with nine rounds of blitz still remaining, Wei Yi of China had to be content with a second place finish after a below par 5 points in the last nine games.
Carlsen won by a whisker getting past Yi in the closing stages of the tournament. The World number one was visibly tired after nine games yesterday followed by another four games in an event that he played online.
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However, when it comes to crunch situations, Carlsen reminds why he is hailed as one of the best ever player in current times. Scoring one win after another, the Norwegian won seven and drew just two games to reach the magical 26 points, a half point more than Wei Yi in the overall standings. This was almost a dead-heat wherein Carlsen nosed ahead.
Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland saved his blushes for the last and finished third on 19.5 points and Praggnanandhaa was right behind him a half point adrift.
Erigaisi Arjun finished fifth on 18 points, ahead of Nodirbek Abdusattorov on 17.5. Kirill Shevchenkov who had started off with three brilliant wins on the opening day in rapid ended sixth on 17 points in all for his seventh place finish while Anish Giri washed off his earlier blues in the tournament to finish eighth eventually on 14 points.
Vincent Keymer of Germany ended ninth on 13.5 a full point ahead of world championship challenger D Gukesh who clearly struggled here.
Final results rapid:
1. Magnus Carlsen 26
2. Wei Yi 25.5
3. .Duda 19.5
4. Praggnanandhaa 19
5. Arjun 18
5.. Abdusattorov 17.5
7. Shevchenko 15
8. .Giri 14
9. Keymer 13.5
10. Gukesh 12.5.
Source Agencies
