A heartbroken Vidit Gujrathi shared the following message on Twitter after being knocked out of the FIDE World Cup by Nijat Abasov:
Was probably one win away from Candidates. Proud of playing some good games and reaching QF of World Cup, again, but disappointed to come so close and get knocked out.
The 28-year-old was well aware of the huge opportunity he had just let slip away. Out of the four Indian players who made it to the quarterfinals, up to three could have qualified to the Candidates Tournament, but in the end it was the second-youngest of the group who reached the all-important double round-robin: Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
Pragg was paired up against his good friend Arjun Erigaisi, and remarkably managed to tie the score on demand after losing the first classical game in the quarterfinals. Despite facing each other in such an important stage, Pragg and Arjun continued to take walks together at night. Commentator Irene Sukandar shared a photo of the two on Twitter.
Thursdays rapid and blitz tiebreaks were nothing short of exhilarating. Two draws were agreed in the 25-minute encounters, and then Pragg took the lead by turning the tables (with black) froma clearly inferior position.
White has all the trumps in this position, with an extra pawn, a passer on the a-file three squares away from promotion,andthe more active major pieces. Both 45.Qc6 or 45.Qb7, protecting the a-pawn, would have kept Whites advantage, while Arjuns 45.Qc4, allowing a queen swap, prompted the engines to evaluate the position as balanced.
Unfortunately for Arjun, another mistake eight moves later allowed his opponent to take the drivers seat. Pragg, unlike his friend, made the most of his chances and won the game.
Two fierce competitors | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Arjun had no trouble bouncing back in the next 10-minute game. Two more wins with black followed, which meant the Indian prodigies would decide the match in the sudden-death games a single win is needed from that point on to reach the next stage.
Amazingly, once the clocks were started (in a 3-minute game), Pragg was not sitting at the board. His mom looked worried as he speed-walked to what would turn out to be the final encounter of a tension-filled match. Pragg won with white to obtain the biggest achievement of his life, one that could potentially lead to him playing a match for the World Championship.
Official photographer Maria Emelianova captured a couple of heart-warming moments and shared them on Twitter:
Calculation Training for 1400-1600 players
Mastering these tactical motifs is essential to deepen your understanding of the game and become a better player. After all, you neither want to overlook the given chances by your opponent, nor blunder yourself!
So Pragg is set to face Fabiano Caruana in the semifinals, which start on Saturday after a very deserved rest day!
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and his mom | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Replay games from all round at Live.ChessBase.com
One match went to tiebreaks in the semifinals of the womens tournament. Nurgyul Salimova, who came from upsetting Polina Shuvalova, faced ninth seed Anna Muzychuk. After beating the Ukrainian grandmaster, this is what Salimova had to say about her opponent:
I grew up watching Annas matches. She was like my idol when I was a kid, and still I respect her a lot, and of course she was the clear favourite. But I didnt think about this, because it doesnt help thinking about this. I just prepared for my matches.
Wins with black were traded in the first two 25-minute games, as Salimova found a nice tactical trick to score a full point in the first encounter of the day.
29...Bf5 invited 30.Qxb8, which Muzychuk played, failing to notice that now she either had to give up a lot of material or let her opponent go for a mating attack.
There followed 30...Kh7 31.Qf4 Bh6 32.Qf2 and it is mate-in-three for Black.
Muzychuk resigned after 32...Bc2+. In case of 33.Kc1 there is 33...Bd3 34.Kd1 Qc2#
Improve your chess with Tania Sachdev
On this DVD, well-known Indian WGM Tania Sachdev shows you how to evaluate certain positions and then find the right concepts and plans on the basis of her own games.
In the 10-minute section, Salimova got ahead on the scoreboard by winning a remarkable game in just 23 moves. A draw in the final game gave the 20-year-old from Krepcha a ticket to the gruelling events final and, perhaps more importantly, a spot in the 2024 Womens Candidates Tournament.
Nurgyul Salimova | Photo: FIDE / Stev Bonhage
Replay games from all round at Live.ChessBase.com
Full schedule | Pairings and results
All games with computer analysis: Open | Womens
See original here:
World Cup: Pragg and Salimova win tiebreakers - ChessBase
- The Silicon Gambit: How AI is Reshaping the World's Oldest Game - Chess.com - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Gukesh wins Candidates: The boy raised without chess engines wholl challenge Ding Liren at World Championships - The Indian Express - April 24th, 2024 [April 24th, 2024]
- Stars of the future shine in chess's ancestral homeland - Washington Times - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- The 15 Best Episodes of Cowboy Bebop - MovieWeb - September 19th, 2023 [September 19th, 2023]
- Charge of the knight brigade: Indian teens storm global chess - IndiaTimes - August 20th, 2023 [August 20th, 2023]
- Knowing when to insist - ChessBase - August 20th, 2023 [August 20th, 2023]
- What do F-16 and MiG-29 fighter jets do? - Times of Oman - August 20th, 2023 [August 20th, 2023]
- Xbox game releases August 21 to 27 - TrueAchievements - August 20th, 2023 [August 20th, 2023]
- Go! Guide Aug. 17 - The Republic - August 20th, 2023 [August 20th, 2023]
- MinStrength: An Alternative to Performance Rating - ChessBase - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Mittens (chess engine) - Wikipedia - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- AlphaZero - Chess Engines - Chess.com - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- 2022 U.S. Chess Championships, Round 3: Earning Respect! | US Chess.org - uschess.org - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Go! Guide Oct. 13 - The Republic - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Events, sales and more things happening Downriver The News Herald - Southgate News Herald - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Chess cheating drama: What are the different ways to cheat in chess? - The Indian Express - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Formula 1 2022: How to Watch the Italian Grand Prix Today - CNET - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- The Machines That Made 500 Years of Circumnavigation Possible - Popular Mechanics - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Formula 1 2022: How to Watch the Belgian Grand Prix Today - CNET - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Kids want to grow, learn; are we planting seeds of knowledge? - Las Cruces Sun-News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- New: 3.h4 against the Kings Indian and Grnfeld - ChessBase India - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- A bright chess champ emerges from Thiruvallur - The New Indian Express - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Interviewing The Coach Of Olympiad Sensation Gukesh - Chess.com - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Virtual Psychiatry is Here to Stay - Psychiatric Times - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Whatever Happened to the Transhumanists? - Gizmodo - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Beyond Carlsen: the devaluation of the World Chess Championship - TheArticle - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Go! Guide July 21 - The Republic - July 27th, 2022 [July 27th, 2022]
- Chennai Chess Olympiad and AI - Analytics India Magazine - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Go! Guide July 23 - The Republic - June 24th, 2022 [June 24th, 2022]
- Was Basman right? Iconoclasm, ridicule and chess - TheArticle - June 20th, 2022 [June 20th, 2022]
- Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Is Today: How to Watch the Race Live - CNET - June 20th, 2022 [June 20th, 2022]
- Sentience is the wrong discussion to have on AI right now - TechTalks - June 20th, 2022 [June 20th, 2022]
- Headlines at 10:30 am on 20th June 2022 - The Indian Express - June 20th, 2022 [June 20th, 2022]
- 5 Chess Brilliancies That Stockfish Hates - Chess.com - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Carlsen Wins, Leads, Hits A 2870 Live Rating - Chess.com - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- 21 things to do with kids in San Diego County in June - The San Diego Union-Tribune - June 11th, 2022 [June 11th, 2022]
- Is This Cooling Technology Company Ready To Heat Up? - Benzinga - Benzinga - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Calendar of events and activities throughout Downriver - Southgate News Herald - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- Tilting Point partners with Polygon on Web3 games - VentureBeat - May 11th, 2022 [May 11th, 2022]
- Online booking agents have been behaving like kings - it's time to topple them - City A.M. - April 17th, 2022 [April 17th, 2022]
- Chess Games - Play Chess Games on CrazyGames - March 29th, 2022 [March 29th, 2022]
- A tale of two universities and two engines - Chess News - March 26th, 2022 [March 26th, 2022]
- Charity Cup: Anton wins three in a row to reach knockout - Chess News - March 26th, 2022 [March 26th, 2022]
- Formula 1: How to Watch the Bahrain Grand Prix and F1 Racing in 2022 - CNET - March 26th, 2022 [March 26th, 2022]
- Praggnanandhaa, 16, becomes only third Indian to beat Magnus Carlsen in stunning upset - ESPN - February 21st, 2022 [February 21st, 2022]
- Is Artificial Intelligence as Intelligent as We Think it is? - Analytics Insight - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Didnt Become a Hostage- Former World Chess Champion Calls Magnus Carlsen the Bridge Between Traditional and Modern Chess - EssentiallySports - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Can the academy rein in Big Tech? - Times Higher Education - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- FIDE World Women's Team Championship Final: Russia Wins Gold In Victory Over India - Chess.com - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Researchers warn that social media may be fundamentally at odds with science - TechCrunch - February 15th, 2022 [February 15th, 2022]
- Battle of the Sexes: Men triumph! - Chessbase News - February 9th, 2022 [February 9th, 2022]
- Battle of the Sexes: Men increase lead - Chessbase News - February 5th, 2022 [February 5th, 2022]
- Chairman of the board | Boris Starling - The Critic - February 5th, 2022 [February 5th, 2022]
- Using AI in Recruiting - Onrec - February 5th, 2022 [February 5th, 2022]
- Arena Download - Complete GUI for chess engines that will ... - January 24th, 2022 [January 24th, 2022]
- A hundred years of exactitude: Jos Ral Capablanca - TheArticle - January 24th, 2022 [January 24th, 2022]
- Intel Core i5-12400 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Face-Off: The Gaming Value Showdown - Tom's Hardware - January 24th, 2022 [January 24th, 2022]
- software - Why dont chess engines use Node.js? - Chess ... - December 29th, 2021 [December 29th, 2021]
- Stockfish - Chess Engines - Chess.com - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]
- Top 10 Strongest Chess Engines In 2021 - Hercules Chess - December 23rd, 2021 [December 23rd, 2021]
- The 10 Greatest Blitz Chess Games Of All Time - Chess.com - December 23rd, 2021 [December 23rd, 2021]
- Ninja, the worlds top streamer, on how video games can make you smarter about money and investing - MarketWatch - December 17th, 2021 [December 17th, 2021]
- 8 Reasons To Play In The 2022 Daily Chess Championship - Chess.com - December 15th, 2021 [December 15th, 2021]
- World Chess Championship - the Arena - Chessbase News - December 7th, 2021 [December 7th, 2021]
- The World Chess Championship Opens With An Endless Knight-Rook Dance - FiveThirtyEight - November 27th, 2021 [November 27th, 2021]
- Play chess: online and computer chess on real boards in the test - Market Research Telecast - November 27th, 2021 [November 27th, 2021]
- The 5 Best Computer Chess Engines - Chess.com - November 15th, 2021 [November 15th, 2021]
- 10 Strongest Free Chess Engines [all above 3000 ELO] at ... - November 15th, 2021 [November 15th, 2021]
- Chessprogramming wiki - November 3rd, 2021 [November 3rd, 2021]
- Stockfish can crush you at chess even more efficiently in the 14.1 update - Neowin - November 3rd, 2021 [November 3rd, 2021]
- Grand Swiss: Shirov and Najer join Firouzja in the lead - Chessbase News - November 3rd, 2021 [November 3rd, 2021]
- Deadmau5's 'Oberhasli' is what it looks like when the metaverse comes for music fans - Mashable South East Asia - October 26th, 2021 [October 26th, 2021]
- Deadmau5's 'Oberhasli' is what it looks like when the metaverse comes for music fans - Mashable - October 24th, 2021 [October 24th, 2021]
- Deep Blue - Chess.com - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- AlphaZero Crushes Stockfish In New 1,000-Game Match - Chess.com - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- Free UCI-Compatible Chess Programs for the Stockfish Engine - HobbyLark - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- CORRECTING and REPLACING RazerCon Is Back for Round II: Tune in for a Keynote By CEO Min-Liang Tan Filled With Exclusive New Announcements and Guest... - September 29th, 2021 [September 29th, 2021]
- Going back in time in La vie sans applis - The Concordian - September 8th, 2021 [September 8th, 2021]
- The Road to 2030 in the Age of Intelligence - Huawei - September 8th, 2021 [September 8th, 2021]
- India's kings and queens of chess - Jordan Times - August 26th, 2021 [August 26th, 2021]