Sports News | Chess World Cup: Vidit Advances; Praggnanandhaa Bows out

Sochi (Russia), Jul 23 (PTI) India No. 3 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi registered a 2-0 win over Jeffrey Xiong on Friday to advance to the fifth round in the FIDE chess World Cup here.

However, the good run of teenaged Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa ended with a 0.5-1.5 defeat to Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the fourth round.

The French GM came back strongly after having drawn the first game with a 33-move win in the second to send the highly-rated Indian prodigy packing.

Gujrathi, riding high after a good win in Thursday's first game, sealed a spot in the fifth round with a 43-move victory over his American opponent in a Pillsbury Defence opening.

The 15-year old Praggnanandhaa (Elo rating 2608), playing in his maiden World Cup, had posted three impressive wins, including one over veteran Michal Krasenkow in the third round, before Vachier-Lagrave proved his superiority.

Tournament favourite and world No.1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway was held to a draw in the second game by Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland) and the two will play a tie-break on Saturday.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)