Praggnanandhaa Crushes China’s Wenjun To Join Leaders – News18

Wijk aan Zee (The Netherlands), Jan 24: Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated the reigning and 4-time girls’s world champion Wenjun Ju from China within the ninth spherical of the Tata Steel Masters right here.

The victory made Praggnanandhaa the one participant in latest occasions to have overwhelmed each the reigning world champions in open and ladies’s classes. Just every week in the past in the identical match, the Indian ace had overwhelmed Ding Liren of China.

Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri from Holland and D Gukesh at the moment are giving Praggnanandhaa the corporate on the prime of the desk, with 5.5 factors from the primary 9 rounds.

Abdusattorov scored the quickest victory of the spherical in opposition to Jorden van Foreest (The Netherlands) whereas Gukesh drew in opposition to compatriot Vidit Gujrathi, who’s simply half some extent behind the leaders’ pack.

Praggnanandhaa made brief work of Wenjun out of a two knights opening, whereby the Indian threw warning to the winds along with his trademark difficult play.

Wenjun didn’t realise as Praggnanandhaa took the initiative fairly early within the center recreation and by the point the mud subsided, the Indian had an enormous assault in opposition to the black king. The recreation lasted a mere 33 strikes.

It turned out to be a simple day for Gujrathi as he may do nothing fallacious in opposition to Gukesh out of a Petroff defence recreation. With the draw, Gujrathi ensured that he will probably be within the thick of issues in the direction of the enterprise finish of the match.

In the challengers part being held concurrently, Leon Luke Mendonca received a grueling battle in opposition to Jaime Santos Latasa (Spain) after 111 strikes to stay on the second spot and can look ahead to put together his problem for the masters part subsequent 12 months. PTI COR DDV

.

(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – PTI)