Chess WC: Praggnanandhaa enters fourth round

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)