Superbet Rapid 2024 R7-9: Praggnanandhaa draws with Carlsen, halts Wei Yi's winning streak
Wei Yi (CHN) continued his winning streak from the previous day at Grand Chess Tour Superbet Rapid and Blitz 2024. He defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) and D Gukesh to register his fifth consecutive win. R Praggnanandhaa halted his winning spree as the teenager drew with him in the ninth round. Wei topped the Rapid event scoring 13/18 and gained sole lead. Before the draw, Praggnanandhaa started his day with a solid draw against Magnus Carlsen (NOR) and then had another lukewarm draw against his good friend Arjun Erigaisi. Magnus is now trailing Wei by one point at 12/18, followed by Praggnanandhaa at 10/18. Nine rounds of Blitz games will be played today. Round 1 starts today from 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Wei Yi tops the Rapid event, emerges sole leader 13/18
It was a tough day for Arjun Erigaisi as he had two draws before finishing the day with a loss against Vincent Keymer. D Gukesh had even a tougher day as he drew only one game against Arjun, lost the next two against Wei Yi and Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
Round 7: Magnus - Praggnanandhaa: 1-1
After the FIDE World Cup 2023 Finals, Magnus Carlsen (NOR, 2828) and Praggnanandhaa (2704) played only one rated game at World Rapid 2023. It ended in a draw. This time also the game ended in a draw, although it was a much longer game than their previous encounter. Computer might say the world no.1 have a clear advantage at one point but it was not that much practically.
Wei - Abdusattorov
After a few positional inaccuracies by Black, 31...Qd5? was a big mistake as it dropped the e5-pawn giving White a decisive advantage 32.g4 Rg5 33.Be7 Rg6 34.Rxe5 and White went on to win the game.
Round 8: Gukesh - Wei: 0-2
D Gukesh (2649) defeated Wei Yi (CHN, 2758) earlier this year at 86th Tata Steel Masters 2024. However, he lost the Playoffs. Wei outplayed Gukesh positionally to score his fifth win in-a-row.
Keymer - Carlsen
Vincent Keymer (GER, 2647) needed to play unnatural move 28.Re3 Rb2 29.Qxc3 Rxf2 30.Kh1 and White is doing fine according to computer. However, he blundered 28.Qa4?? Try to find out the winning continuation for Black.
Round 9: Wei - Praggnanandhaa: 1-1
The sole game between R Praggnanandhaa and Wei Yi earlier this year at 86th Tata Steel Masters 2024 ended in a draw. This time the outcome was also the same. However, the difference is, Praggnanandhaa stopped Wei from scoring a double hat-trick of wins.
Arjun - Keymer
The endgame should end in a draw. However, the one thing White cannot afford to do is venture his king away from the protected passed a-pawn. It is exactly the mistake which White did 53.Kd3?? a3-+ and Black went on to win the game.
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Schedule and Format
Superbet Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 8th to 10 May. The Blitz event will take place on 11th and 12th May. It will be a double round-robin event for the Blitz which means nine rounds will be played on each day. Round 1 starts at 1 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control for Rapid will be 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment.
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000.
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Round 9 results
Standings after Rapid Round 9
