Pragg beats Nihal in epic 103-move rapid battle with a cheeky ending
In a round-five game of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid, the Tamil Nadu GM edged his good friend from Kerala.
In a round-five game of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid, the Tamil Nadu GM edged his good friend from Kerala.
In a round-five game of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid, the Tamil Nadu GM edged his good friend from Kerala.
Two of India's brightest young minds, R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin, fought an exhaustive 103-move chess battle with a cheeky ending. Tamil Nadu GM Praggnanandhaa (19) won the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid round-five game against his close friend, GM Nihal from Kerala (20), in Kolkata on Thursday.
About 38 moves into the game, both players were left with a rook and a bishop each. Praggnanandhaa had three pawns to Nihal's two. Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who commentated on the game for the official channel, felt straightaway that it was winning for Praggnanandhaa but was curious to see how the youngsters carried on with the tactical battle.
Praggnanandhaa managed to capture Nihal's isolated pawns and pushed for a rook-ending with a two-pawn advantage.
The rapid game started with 25 minutes on the clock for either players with a 10-second increment per move. By the time the game reached the halfway stage, both players were down under 20 seconds and appeared to be shaking as they calculated quite rapidly to find the optimum moves.
Nihal tried his best to push for a stalemate, but Praggnanandhaa found a cheeky killer move by offering his rook, followed by promoting a pawn for a bishop, prompting his buddy to resign.