IMAGE: R Praggnanandhaa outclassed World No 1 Magnus Carlsen to finish tied for the first spot on 4.5 points out of a possible seven in his group and advance to the quarter-finals. Photograph: FIDE/Lennart Ootes
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa took down World No 1 Magnus Carlsen to advance to the top-bracket quarter-finals along with Arjun Erigaisi at the US$ 750,000 Freestyle Grand Slam Tour in Las Vegas.
Praggnanandhaa continued the recent trend of Indian players outsmarting Carlsen and sent the Norwegian’s campaign haywire on Wednesday. Carlsen has in recent weeks also been beaten by reigning World champion D Gukesh, who is not competing at this event.
The 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa was in his elements as he effectively deployed his pieces right from the word go and even though Carlsen got some chances, Praggnanandhaa crashed through with some imaginative manoeuvres.
The loss against Praggnanandhaa had such a cascading effect on Carlsen that he lost another game against Wesley So in the next round and was shockingly eliminated from the top bracket by Levon Aronian of United States 2-0 in the final tiebreaker for the fourth spot that ensued.
The 16-player event was divided into two groups of eight each and the top four from each pool advanced to the quarter-finals after playing once with each of the other participant.
The rules have been framed in such a way that those who do not make the top bracket in the first set of qualifiers can no longer win the event and Carlsen can at best finish third if he wins the remaining matches.
Erigaisi was the other Indian from the second group who made it to the quarter-finals. It was a fine come-from-behind
performance by Erigaisi, who faced some initial struggles.
Praggnanandhaa tied for the first spot on 4.5 points out of a possible seven in his group with Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sandarov, along with Aronian, finishing on four points.
Carlsen ended fifth ahead of Vincent Keymer of Germany, Wesley So and lone woman participant Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan.
In the second group christened black, Hikaru Nakamura topped the standings with an astonishing 6/7 with his American country-man Hans Niemann finishing second on 4.5 points.
Erigaisi finished tied third on four points with another local star Fabiano Caruana.
Another American trio of Leinier Dominguez Perez, Sevian Samuel and Robson Ray finished 5-7 in the second group with Indian Vidit Gujrathi ending on the last spot.
In the quarter-finals, Praggnannadhaa will meet Fabiano Caruana of United States while Erigaisi will have to tackle Abdusattorov.
Results (Qualifiers Group White): 1-3: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind); Abdusattorov Nodirbek (Uzb) Javokhir Sandarov (Uzb) 4.5 each; 4-5: Levon Aronian (Usa) Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 4 each; 6-7: Vincent Keymer (Ger), Wesley So (Usa) 3 each; 8. Bibisara Assaubuyeva (Kaz, 0.5).
(Group Black): 1. Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 6); 2. Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 4.5); 3-4. Arjun Erigaisi (Ind), Fabiano Caruana (Usa) 4 each; 5. Leinier Dominguez Perez (Usa, 3) 6-7: Sevian Samual (Usa), Robron Ray (Usa) 2.5 each; 8. Vidit Gujrathi (Ind, 1.5).
Pairings Quarter-finals: Praggnanandhaa vs Caruana; Abdusattorov vs Arjun; Aronian vs Nakamura; Niemann vs Sindarov.
Lower bracket: Carlsen vs Gujrathi; Robson vs Keymer; Dominguez vs Assaubayeva; Samuel vs Wesley.
