Indian teenage grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa advanced to the quarterfinals after finishing second and fourth respectively in the preliminary stage of the Julius Baer Generation Cup online rapid chess tournament on Thursday. The quarterfinals are scheduled to be played late on Thursday (22 September).
World champion Magnus Carlsen finished with 34 points, much ahead of runner-up Erigaisi, who finished with 25 points. American Hans Niemann finished in third place with 24 points.
Praggnanandhaa, who started strong with three wins on the first day, finished with 23 points. He has five wins, eight draws, and two defeats.
Erigaisi suffered initially as he lost to Vincent Keymer (Germany) and Dutch GM Anish Giri after starting with a draw against Poland’s Radoslaw Wojtaszko. However, despite these losses, the Indian GM managed to finish in second place. He recorded seven wins, four draws, and four losses.
Carlsen has been in great form, winning his last five matches including three on the final day of preliminaries to finish with 10 victories. He only lost to Niemann, against whom he resigned just after making a single move, which shocked everyone.
17-year-old Praggnanandhaa started the day with a defeat to American Levon Aronian before settling for a draw against Giri. His victory over Croatia’s Ivan Saric in the 15th and final round saw him finish a point behind Niemann in 23rd alongside Keymer.
Baskaran Adhiban, the third Indian in the tournament, scored 10 points and finished 16th.
The Julius Baer Generation Cup is part of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour and features 16 players from three generations and is being held in a round-robin-cum-knockout format.
