Pragnananda remained at the top of the five-day tournament. Sindarov gave him a tough fight until the last day, but the Indian grandmaster maintained his lead.
R Pragnanananda won the ‘St Louis Rapid and Blitz title: India’s young grandmaster R Pragnanananda has created history by winning the ‘St Louis Rapid and Blitz’ chess tournament held in America. He dominated the entire tournament, scoring a maximum of 23.5 points.
The 20-year-old Pragnanananda topped the points table after the rapid round. In the penultimate round, he drew against Javokhir Sindarov and was crowned champion with one round to spare. He scored 23.5 points out of 35 to win his first career GCT Rapid & Blitz title, 1.5 points ahead of second-place Sindarov (22 points). For this victory, he received a prize money of 50 thousand dollars (approx. ₹ 48 lakh) and 13 GCT points.
Pragnananda remained at the top of the five-day tournament. Sindarov gave him a tough fight until the last day, but the Indian grandmaster maintained his lead. In the last nine rounds of the Blitz, he won three matches, drew five and lost just one match.
The next tournament on the Grand Chess Tour, the Sinquefield Cup, will begin on August 10. This is the last tournament before the GCT Finals. The top-4 players will then advance to the GCT Finals, where the winner will receive $200,000 (around 1.65 crore rupees) in prize money.
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