Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa has easily entered the finals of the final stage of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) with an impressive 19-9 win over Germany's Vincent Keimer. Praggnananda will face the title contender and current champion Fabiano Caruana of America in the final.
Praggnananda started the semi-finals with a draw in the first classical game. After this, in the second classical game he took the lead by defeating Keymer. In the rapid format, Praggnananda won both the games and secured his place in the final.
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Keymer reduced the margin of defeat in blitz
The Indian player had taken a huge lead of six points before the final day after winning the second classical game. He entered the finals by defeating Keymar in two consecutive rapid matches and taking an unassailable lead of 17-3. After this, another win in the first game of the blitz took his points tally to 19. Keymer came back by winning the last three blitz games but this only reduced the margin of defeat.
On the other hand, Caruana won 18-9 on the basis of his excellent performance in the blitz game. This American player took full advantage of the opportunities and defeated his compatriot Wesley So.
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The winner will get around Rs 1 crore 91 lakh
The total prize money of GCT Finals is 4 lakh 50 thousand US dollars, out of which 2 lakh US dollars (approximately 1 crore 91 lakh Indian rupees) will be given to the winner. The player who loses in the final will get 1 lakh 25 thousand US dollars (about 1 crore 19 lakh Indian rupees). Keymer will face Wesley So in the third-place play-off. The top three players here will qualify directly for next year's Grand Chess Tour.