Desk. India’s young Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa has created history by winning the ‘St. Louis Rapid and Blitz’ chess tournament held in the US. He was leading the tournament from the beginning. In the second-last match of the blitz round, he drew the match with Uzbekistan’s Zavokhir Sindarov, which ensured his victory even before the last match. He scored the highest 23.5 points out of 35 in the entire tournament and won the first Grand Chess Tour trophy of his career. With this impressive victory, he received a prize money of approximately Rs 48 lakh ($50,000) and 13 valuable tournament points.
Praggnanandhaa remained in first place throughout the five-day tournament. Uzbekistan’s Sindarov gave him a tough fight until the final day, but the Indian Grandmaster held his own. In the final nine games of the blitz round, he won three, drew five, and lost just one. He not only won the main trophy but also secured the highest points in both the rapid and blitz categories. After his victory, he said, “Looking at the scoreboard, it seemed like an easy win, but it wasn’t. Sindarov gave me a tough fight right until the end.”