Praggnanandhaa dominates Yugam 2021 International Online Blitz Open
GM Praggnanandhaa won Yugam 2021 International Online Blitz Open with a score of 8.5/9. He started with eight consecutive victories and then drew the final round game to finish a half point ahead of the competition. Both untitled Pranav V and GM Diptayan Ghosh made 8.0/9, suffering only one loss and zero draws. They were placed second and third respectively according to their tie-break scores. Total 281 players including 16 GMs, 20 IMs, 2 WGMs and 6 WIMs registered for this event from 13 different countries across the world. Photo: Amruta Mokal
Praggnanandhaa replicates his last Playchess triumph
Almost exactly eleven months later (a day short), GM Praggnanandhaa replicated his performance with eight consecutive wins and a draw in the last round to win Yugam 2021 International Online Blitz Open. He won ₹25000 cash prize for his efforts. Untitled 14-year-old Pranav V and GM Diptayan Ghosh both scored 8.0/9. They were placed second and third according to their tie-break score.
Total 281 players including 16 GMs, 20 IMs, 2 WGMs and 6 WIMs registered for this event from 13 different countries across the world including Australia, Azerbaijan, England, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Peru, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, USA and Uzbekistan.
Endgame prowess
GM Praggnanandhaa's best win of the event was against IM Terry Renato in Round 8.
Praggnanandhaa - Terry, Round 8
The game continued with 46.h6 which is not the best continuation. White eventually won the game after mutual errors but what was better continuation after 45...Rab2
Replay all games of Praggnanandhaa
Pranav's solid finish
After losing the fourth round game, untitled Pranav V made a strong comeback by winning the next five games including three wins against IMs in the final three games.
Pranav - Terry, Round 9
The game went on with 27.Bh3 but there was something which was immediate and much better for white. Can you find it?
Replay all games of Pranav
Diptayan's double hat-trick
GM Diptayan Ghosh lost his third round game against former National under-17 champion Vedant Panesar. However, he made a strong comeback by winning the last six rounds of the tournament. In the penultimate round, he scored a fine victory over GM Laxman R R.
Replay all games of Diptayan
Final Standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Typ | sex | FED | RtgI | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | TB5 | ||
| 1 | 4 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2608 | Chessworld1 | 8,5 | 51,5 | 55,5 | 52,00 | 0,0 | 8 | |||
| 2 | 39 | Pranav V | U15 | IND | 2348 | Pranav_vip | 8,0 | 47,5 | 51,5 | 45,00 | 0,0 | 8 | |||
| 3 | 7 | GM | Ghosh Diptayan | IND | 2541 | Diptayan | 8,0 | 46,0 | 49,5 | 43,50 | 0,0 | 8 | |||
| 4 | 16 | GM | Rasulov Vugar | AZE | 2478 | Vuqar | 7,5 | 51,0 | 55,0 | 44,25 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 5 | 5 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2606 | fighter64 | 7,5 | 48,5 | 53,5 | 43,75 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 6 | 23 | IM | Aronyak Ghosh | IND | 2436 | Strange | 7,5 | 45,5 | 49,5 | 40,25 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 7 | 12 | IM | Terry Renato | PER | 2504 | Terryr | 7,0 | 53,0 | 57,0 | 40,50 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 8 | 31 | IM | Sammed Jaykumar Shete | IND | 2412 | Champion111 | 7,0 | 50,0 | 54,0 | 39,50 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 9 | 21 | IM | Aditya Mittal | U15 | IND | 2438 | Vinniethepooh | 7,0 | 49,0 | 54,0 | 38,50 | 0,0 | 7 | ||
| 10 | 18 | IM | Das Arghyadip | IND | 2453 | Arghyadip | 7,0 | 49,0 | 53,0 | 40,00 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 11 | 24 | IM | Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh | IND | 2436 | Nubairshahshaikh | 7,0 | 48,5 | 52,5 | 38,50 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 12 | 38 | IM | Anuj Shrivatri | IND | 2350 | Anuj Shrivatri | 7,0 | 48,0 | 52,0 | 37,50 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 13 | 22 | IM | Pranesh M | U15 | IND | 2437 | Pranimastermuni | 7,0 | 48,0 | 50,5 | 35,50 | 0,0 | 7 | ||
| 14 | 32 | GM | Laxman R.R. | IND | 2411 | LAXMAN | 7,0 | 47,5 | 51,0 | 37,50 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 15 | 35 | IM | Nitin S. | IND | 2381 | snitin | 7,0 | 46,0 | 49,0 | 36,00 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 16 | 44 | FM | Samant Aditya S | U15 | IND | 2297 | Adityass | 7,0 | 45,5 | 49,5 | 36,00 | 0,0 | 7 | ||
| 17 | 25 | IM | Das Sayantan | IND | 2431 | Ambitious | 7,0 | 45,0 | 49,0 | 37,00 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 18 | 17 | IM | Arjun Kalyan | IND | 2477 | Arjunkalyan | 7,0 | 44,5 | 47,5 | 36,00 | 0,0 | 7 | |||
| 19 | 19 | IM | Mitrabha Guha | IND | 2445 | Babysnake | 7,0 | 42,5 | 45,5 | 33,50 | 0,0 | 6 | |||
| 20 | 49 | WFM | Savitha Shri B | U15 | w | IND | 2261 | savithashri | 7,0 | 40,0 | 43,0 | 30,50 | 0,0 | 7 | |
| 21 | 20 | IM | Rathanvel V S | IND | 2445 | vsr64 | 6,5 | 51,0 | 54,5 | 35,25 | 0,0 | 6 | |||
| 22 | 30 | FM | Srihari L R | IND | 2414 | lsr | 6,5 | 48,5 | 51,0 | 33,75 | 0,0 | 6 | |||
| 23 | 34 | IM | Kulkarni Bhakti | w | IND | 2391 | Bhaktikulkarni | 6,5 | 44,5 | 47,5 | 30,75 | 0,0 | 6 | ||
| 24 | 52 | FM | Aradhya Garg | IND | 2198 | Aradhya | 6,5 | 44,0 | 48,0 | 32,50 | 0,0 | 6 | |||
| 25 | 95 | AIM | Ashwin Sairam | U15 | IND | 1670 | ASHWIN23 | 6,5 | 42,5 | 45,0 | 29,75 | 0,0 | 6 |
Main Prize winners (Top 25)
| Rank | Name | Points | Prize |
| 1 | GM Praggnanandhaa R | 8.5 | 25000 |
| 2 | Pranav V | 8 | 15000 |
| 3 | GM Diptayan Ghosh | 8 | 10000 |
| 4 | GM Vugar Rasulov | 7.5 | 6000 |
| 5 | GM Karthikeyan Murali | 7.5 | 4000 |
| 6 | IM Aronyak Ghosh | 7.5 | 3000 |
| 7 | IM Terry Renato | 7 | 2000 |
| 8 | IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete | 7 | 1000 |
| 9 | IM Aditya Mittal | 7 | 1000 |
| 10 | IM Arghyadip Das | 7 | 1000 |
| 11 | IM Mohammad Nubairshah Shaikh | 7 | 600 |
| 12 | IM Anuj Shrivatri | 7 | 600 |
| 13 | GM Laxman R R | 7 | 600 |
| 14 | IM Nitin S | 7 | 600 |
| 15 | FM Aditya S Samant | 7 | 600 |
| 16 | IM Sayantan Das | 7 | 600 |
| 17 | IM Arjun Kalyan | 7 | 600 |
| 18 | IM Mitrabha Guha | 7 | 600 |
| 19 | IM Rathanvel V S | 6.5 | 600 |
| 20 | FM Srihari L R | 6.5 | 600 |
| 21 | Aradhya Garg | 6.5 | 600 |
| 22 | FM C J Arvind | 6.5 | 600 |
| 23 | Rohit S | 6.5 | 600 |
| 24 | GM Harsha Bharathakoti | 6 | 600 |
| 25 | Ritviz Parab | 6 | 600 |
Best Women
| 1 | WFM Savitha Shri B | 7 | 3000 |
| 2 | IM Bhakti Kulkarni | 6.5 | 2000 |
| 3 | WIM Vantika Agrawal | 6.5 | 1000 |
| 4 | WGM Nandhidhaa P V | 6 | 600 |
| 5 | WIM Priyanka Nutakki | 6 | 400 |
Rating Category: 1600-1899
| 1 | Ashwin Sairam (1670) | 6.5 | 1000 |
| 2 | Shubh Jayesh Laddha (1849) | 6 | 600 |
| 3 | Satria Duta Cahaya (1820) | 6 | 400 |
Rating Category: 1300-1599
| 1 | Kush Pipada (1440) | 5.5 | 1000 |
| 2 | Ved Danait (1332) | 5.5 | 600 |
| 3 | Sathvik Adiga (1358) | 5 | 400 |
Rating Category: 1000-1299
| 1 | Aneesh Krishna S (1032) | 6 | 1000 |
| 2 | Paras Dilip Bhoir (1236) | 5.5 | 600 |
| 3 | Nischala Y (1226) | 5.5 | 400 |
Best Unrated
| 1 | Srivathsa Venkataramanan | 5.5 | 1000 |
| 2 | Advait Ramachandran | 5 | 600 |
| 3 | Prathamesh Shashikant Deshmukh | 5 | 400 |
Under-9
| 1 | Parambrata Sarkar | 5 | 1000 |
| 2 | Joshi Aditya Shripad | 4 | 600 |
| 3 | Samarth Mudhol | 3.5 | 400 |
Under-12
| 1 | Ilamparthi A R | 6 | 1000 |
| 2 | CM Shreyas Royal | 6 | 600 |
| 3 | Jaiveer Mahendru | 5.5 | 400 |
Under-15
| 1 | IM Pranesh M | 7 | 1000 |
| 2 | CM Shahil Dey | 6 | 600 |
| 3 | CM Dev Shah | 6 | 400 |
Best Veteran
| 1 | Sankaran Ponnada Krishnaswamy (1227; 74 years) | 4 | 1000 |
Best Specially Challenged
| 1 | Shabari Nath Molugu | 2 | 1000 |
All prize winners must claim the prizes two weeks within the publication of this article. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize.
Feedback of the Participants
FM Aditya Samant
It was a great tournament. Well organised and I got to play with many strong players.
M Rakshith
Thanks a lot.
Vikas Ray
First of all, thank you for organizing this event. It was really a great experience. I would really appreciate it if you can keep bringing more online events, that would be great. Looking forward to your next event.
