Super Chess Classic: Praggnanandhaa draws with Alireza Firouzja in opener
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa survived a small scare before settling for a draw with Alireza Firouzja of France in the first round of the Super Chess Classics, the first Classical event of the Grand Chess Tour, here on Thursday.
It turned out to be an exciting affair after a dull Queen’s gambit declined by Firouzja as black. As many as three minor pieces changed hands early and it looked like the game was headed towards a dull draw when Praggnanandhaa went for the complexities by allowing black to have connected passed pawns on the queen side in exchange for a strong center.
The Iranian-turned-French found some excellent resources in the middle game and was able to nearly rip apart the Indian’s king side but the position was so complicated that it was nearly impossible to find all the best moves for the human brain.
An error on move 35 led to a level rook and pawns endgame even though Praggnanandhaa was still a pawn less and the draw was a just result thereafter. The longest game of the day lasted 60 moves.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France drew with Dutchman Anish Giri in the other keenly contested game wherein the latter had a slight pull according to the machine. The Catalan opening as white did not yield much for the French GM and a few exchanges led to a dynamically balanced middle game. Giri might have had some chances but decided to play it safe and drew with repetition after 32 moves.
World Championship challenger Javokhir SIndarov could do little with his black pieces against Romanian Deac Bogdan-Daniel.
The difference between white and black pieces came to fore here as Deac just went for a drawn variation against the King’s Indian defense and got his desired result.
Last minute replacement Jorden Van Foreest of Holland, who filled in for American Levon Aronian as the full tour player, started his campaign with a draw against top seed Fabiano Caruana of United States. The Nimzo Indian defense by the American was good enough to equalize early and after a pawn sacrifice, Foreest made sure he was able to take home half a point.
The other game of the day between Wesley So of United States and Vincent Keymer of Germany also ended in a draw, making it an all-drawn day in the first round. The closed Berlin led to an unclear middle game wherein both players fought for initiative. However, it was another rook and pawns endgame on the board wherein both players were left with just a pawn and a rook each. The peace was signed in 56 moves.
The Super Classic is a nine-rounds event among ten players with a total prize pool of USD 350000 from which a USD 100000 is reserved for the winner.
Results Round 1: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind) drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra): Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Anish Giri (Ned); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb); Wesley So (Usa) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger); Jorden Van Foreest (Ned) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa).
