SOCHI (Russia), Jul 20: Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated veteran Michal Krasenkow 2-0 in the rapid tie-break in the third round of the FIDE chess World Cup here on Tuesday.
The 15-year old Praggnanandhaa, playing in his maiden World Cup, won a see-saw second tie-break game to book a fourth-round match with a 3-1 margin against the winner of the Maxime Vachier-Lagrave-David Paravyan clash.
The 57-year old Krasenkow fought hard before the Indian teenager secured a win in 67 moves in the second tie-break game.
Praggnanandhaa had taken the lead in the two-game mini match before the Polish veteran bounced back to force the tie-break.
The experienced P Harikrishna, who beat Constantin Lupulescu (Romania) 1.5-0.5 on Monday, will face Iran’s M Amin Tabatabaei in the fourth round on Thursday.
The Indian challenge in the women’s section ended when D Harika lost to Valentina Gunina in the third round late on Monday night. (PTI)
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