Praggnanandhaa conquers the historic Kvika Reykjavik Open 2022

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/04/2022

GM Praggnanandhaa joined the long line of legendary winners of Reykjavik Open. Among the world champions, Mikhail Tal, Vassily Smyslov won the round-robin editions in the first ten years. Among the Indians, Harikrishna (2006), Abhijeet Gupta (2010 and 2016) and Adhiban (2018) won the presitigious event. Abhijeet, Adhiban and now Praggnanandhaa, each of them won clear first. Gukesh was moments away from winning the tournament when he blundered and lost the game. Apart from Pragg, Abhijeet Gupta is the only other Indian to finish in top 10. He scored 6.5/9 to finish at shared seventh place. IM Tania Sachdev scored 6.0/9 to win the Best Woman prize. She is the highest finisher among female participants.

Heartbreak for Gukesh

GM D Gukesh dominated the majority of the game against GM Praggnanandhaa. However, Pragg showed his never-give-up attitude and fought till the very end, hoping for some chances. His perseverance eventually paid off. Pragg won €5000 as his first prize. He performed at 2740 and gained 13.2 Elo rating points. His live rating is now 2637.2 In case you are wondering, his next tournament is 48th Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez de La Roda 2022 in Spain which starts today at 6 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. IST).

Champion - Praggnanandhaa R etched his name in history

Gukesh - Praggnanandhaa: 0-1

Initially it was GM Gukesh (2637) who could have gained the upper hand after GM Praggnanandhaa (2624) erred 15...Bd6.

Position after 15...Bd6

16.Nxd5 is the first thing that comes to mind. 16...Nxd5 17.Bxh7+ Kf8 18.Be4 and White is completely winning. Gukesh opted for the relatively quiet 16.Bb2 and Pragg prevented the idea Be5. However, Gukesh regained his advantage and he was winning for the better part of the game.

Position after 35...Qf5

It was still good for White, i.e. 36.h3 Qxa5 37.Qd2 Qa3 38.Qc2 is still good to push for a win. White made some consecutive errors in time trouble 36.Qe5 Qg4 37.Rg1?? Nd1 and now checkmate is unstoppable. White had to resign and Praggnanandhaa in a huge turn of events won the game and the tournament.

Gukesh vs Praggnanandhaa - Clash of the titans | Video: ChessBase India

The maestro Vishy Anand on Pragg and Gukesh's performance

Praggnanandhaa performed at 2740 and gained 13.2 Elo rating points, taking his live rating to 2637.2

Gukesh was seconds away from winning the tournament | Photo: Thorsteinn Magnusson/Reykjavik Open 2022

GM Abhijeet Gupta beat GM Bragi Thorfinnsson (ISL) comfortably to finish tied seventh 6.5/9 | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2022

IM Tania Sachdev drew with GM Matthieu Cornette (FRA) to score 6.0/9 and win the Best Woman prize | Photo: Hallfríður Sigurðardóttir/Reykjavik Open 2022

Replay Round 9 Live commentary by FM Ingvar Thor Johannesson with various guests | Video: Reykjavik Open Chess

A total of 244 players including 22 GMs, 27 IMs, 2 WGMs and a WIM took part from 39 different federations across the world. The tournament was organized by Icelandic Chess Federation from 6th to 12th April 2022 in the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. The nine-round Swiss league tournament had a time control of 90 minutes + 30 seconds for 40 moves, with an addition of 30 minutes + 30 seconds increment.

Replay Round 9 games

Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	9	GM	Andersen Mads	2582	6½	½ - ½	6½	GM	Warmerdam Max	2599	8
2	2	GM	Gukesh D	2637	6	0 - 1	6½	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2624	6
3	1	GM	Idani Pouya	2638	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Mishra Abhimanyu	2524	16
4	10	GM	Fier Alexandr	2573	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Libiszewski Fabien	2510	18
5	25	GM	Jarmula Lukasz	2434	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn	2542	12
6	3	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2637	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Thorhallsson Throstur	2422	27
7	7	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	2616	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Thorfinnsson Bragi	2419	28
8	11	GM	Cornette Matthieu	2569	5½	½ - ½	5½	IM	Tania Sachdev	2392	33
9	34	FM	Grieve Harry	2387	5½	0 - 1	5½	IM	Yoo Christopher Woojin	2532	14
10	15	GM	Maze Sebastien	2524	5½	1 - 0	5½	IM	Kolbus Dietmar	2312	49
11	65	CM	Villiers Thomas	2219	5	½ - ½	5	GM	Steingrimsson Hedinn *)	2538	13

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Typ	sex	FED	Rtg	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	Rp	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	6	GM	Praggnanandhaa R			IND	2624	2624	7,5	0,0	9	41,5	6	2740	9	7,5	6,18	1,32	10	13,2
2	8	GM	Warmerdam Max			NED	2599	2599	7,0	0,0	9	43,0	5	2666	9	7	6,18	0,82	10	8,2
3	9	GM	Andersen Mads			DEN	2582	2582	7,0	0,0	9	42,0	5	2612	9	7	6,47	0,53	10	5,3
4	12	GM	Gretarsson Hjorvar Steinn			ISL	2542	2542	7,0	0,0	8	41,5	6	2644	8	6,5	5,49	1,01	10	10,1
5	16	GM	Mishra Abhimanyu	U16		USA	2524	2524	7,0	0,0	8	37,0	6	2627	8	6,5	5,38	1,12	10	11,2
6	10	GM	Fier Alexandr			BRA	2573	2573	6,5	0,0	9	41,0	4	2592	9	6,5	6,15	0,35	10	3,5
7	3	GM	Niemann Hans Moke			USA	2637	2637	6,5	0,0	9	39,5	6	2582	9	6,5	6,92	-0,42	10	-4,2
	7	GM	Gupta Abhijeet			IND	2616	2616	6,5	0,0	9	39,5	6	2476	9	6,5	7,54	-1,04	10	-10,4
9	26	IM	Larkin Vladyslav			UKR	2424	2424	6,5	0,0	9	39,0	6	2438	9	6,5	6,11	0,39	10	3,9
10	31	IM	Korley Kassa			DEN	2400	2400	6,5	0,0	9	38,5	5	2532	9	6,5	4,70	1,80	10	18,0

Details

Links

Official site

Tournament regulations

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