Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa defeated compatriot Arjun Erigaisi 5-4 via the sudden death tie-break to enter the semi-finals of the Fide World Cup chess tournament here on Thursday.
The 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa will face off against American ace Fabiano Caruana in the last-four battle.
With world No.1 Magnus Carlsen, who has also made the semis, saying he is likely to skip the Candidates meet, Praggnanandhaa is set to be only the second Indian after five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand to feature in the prestigious meet.
The top three finishers in the ongoing World Cup will qualify for the 2024 Candidates event, which will be played to decide the challenger to current world champion Ding Liren.
The teenage chess ace from Chennai had bounced back after losing the first game of the two-game classical series to win the second on Wednesday to force the tie-break.
On Thursday, in the first 5+3 blitz game, Praggnanandhaa played fantastic to take down Erigaisi.
The 19-year-old Erigaisi, who is also Praggnanandhaa’s good friend, hit back in the next to level the match.
The script remained similar in the following games to force the quarter-final contest to a sudden death decider, where Praggnanandhaa prevailed.
Earlier in the tournament, Praggnanandhaa had stunned second-seeded Hikaru Nakamura to enter the last 16. After the two classical games ended in draws, the Indian humbled the American GM in the tie-break games.
Noted coach RB Ramesh said on X, formerly Twitter: “What an epic match! Well played both young lions! Proud of both players for their fighting spirit throughout! @rpragchess @ArjunErigaisi.”
Two other Indians — 17-year-old D. Gukesh and 28-year-old Vidit Santosh Gujrathi — had crashed out in the quarters, losing to world No.1 Carlsen and Nijat Abasov, respectively.
With inputs from PTI
