Wijk aan Zee: Teenage Indian chess superstar R Praggnanandhaa defeated world champion Ding Liren of China in the fourth round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament here, a win that also helped him surpass the great Vishwanathan Anand as the top-rated Indian player. .
After the win late on Tuesday night, 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa has 2748.3 points in the FIDE live ratings, while five-time world champion Anand has 2748 points. The World Chess Federation publishes ratings at the beginning of each month.
With the victory in 62 moves with the black pieces, Praggnanandhaa became the second Indian after Anand to defeat the reigning world champion in classical chess.
Praggnanandhaa had also defeated Liren in the 2023 Tata Steel tournament.
He is now ranked third in the Masters event with 2.5 points.
“It feels good!” Praggnanandha said after the victory.
Explaining his playing strategy, Praggnanandhaa said, “Right from the beginning, I was the one pushing. I got a piece early and I felt like I was pushing into a position without any risk, Which is a bonus with black.” At this time his focus is only on giving his best.
“My personal target in this tournament will be to give my best. It is a very tough tournament. Usually there are nine rounds in the tournament but this one has 13 rounds. So it is like playing a tournament and playing. I want to give my best and Want to see how it goes,” Praggnanandha said.
The teenage Indian GM has been in good form in recent times, having finished runner-up to Magnus Carlsen at the World Cup last year and qualifying for the Candidates Tournament in April to identify the challenger to Liren.
In the Masters group, Dutch player Anish Giri emerged as the sole leader till the first rest day. Giri’s end game skills earned him a win against teenage Indian GM D Gukesh, giving him 3.5 points.
Alireza Firozha is half a point behind the leader with 3 points. The third Indian player, Vidit Santosh Gujarati, was held to a draw by Jordan Van Forest in the fourth round. He has 2 points in four rounds.
In the fifth round on Thursday, Praggnananda will face leader Anish Giri, while his compatriots Gukesh and Gujarati will take on Ian Nepomniachtchi and Max Warmerdam respectively.
