Tata Steel India: Pragg leads, Vidit and Grischuk close behind

by André Schulz
9/9/2023 – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had a strong showing on day 1 of the Tata Steel India Blitz tournament. The youngster grabbed five wins in a row at the start of the event, but then suffered a few setbacks, which did not prevent him from ending the day as the sole leader. Vidit Gujrathi and Alexander Grischuk are sharing second place a half point behind Pragg. | Photo: Vivek Sohani

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Five out of five

In the rapid-chess section of the Tata Steel India event, the five Indian participants did quite well but did not excel. Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu was the best among the young superstars, as he got third place. Perhaps the World Cup runner-up needed some time to re-acclimatise after returning from Baku — the 18-year-old had an outstanding performance on the first day of the blitz tournament.

Praggnanandhaa started with five consecutive wins, including victories over the in-form duo of Teimour Radjabov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Vachier Lagrave, Maxime27270–1Praggnanandhaa R2727
Tata Steel India Open Blitz 2023
Kolkata08.09.2023[Schulz,A]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 The alternative is 4...Be7 5.Bg2 d5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 d6 8.0-0 0-0 9.e3 The move doesn't make that much sense. White will soon play e4 after all. 9.e4 e5 10.d5 Nb8 11.Ne1 a5 12.Nd3 Na6 etcetera, with many predecessors. 9...e5 10.Qc2 Re8 11.d5 Nb8 12.e4 a5 13.Ne1 Na6 14.Nd3 Nd7 15.Rae1 Ndc5 16.Nxc5 Nxc5= 17.f4 Bd7 18.Qc3 Perhaps better right away would have been 18.f5 f6 19.g4 b5 20.Rf2 18...b5 19.b3?! More direct is 19.Rf2!? b4 20.Qe3 a4 21.f5 19...b4 20.Qe3 a4 21.f5 f6 22.g4 axb3 23.axb3 Ra2 24.Ra1 Rea8 25.Rxa2 Rxa2
26.h4 Without a dark-squared bishop the pawn storm is not so dangerous. Be8 27.Bf3 27.g5 Bh5!? 27...Rc2 Another path was 27...Qd8 28.Bd1 Qa8 29.g5 Qa7 30.Rf2 Nd7 auch mit schwarzem Vorteil. 28.Ra1 Qd8 29.Bd1 Rc3 30.Qf2 Qb8 31.Kf1 Kf8 32.g5 Qd8 33.Qg2 Nd3 also with an advantage for Black. 34.Be2 Nf4 35.Qg1 Rc2 36.Ke1 Rc3 37.Kd1
37...Rh3 More precise was 37...Nh3 38.Qg2 fxg5 39.hxg5 Nxg5-+ 38.gxf6?! It was better to keep the bishop: 38.Bf3 Rxh4 39.gxf6 Qxf6 40.Ra8 with counterplay. 38...Qxf6 39.Nf3? 39.Bf3 is no longer good: Qxh4-+ Necessary was 39.Qg5 Rxh4-+ 39...Nxe2 40.Kxe2 Bh5 The knight can no longer be covered. 41.Ra8+ Kf7 42.Ra7 Bxf3+ 43.Kd2 Qh6+ 44.Qg5 Qxg5+ 45.hxg5 Bxe4 46.c5 Ke8 47.Rxc7 dxc5
0–1

The Indian then took revenge for his loss to Vincent Keymer in the rapid section. Victories over Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Pentala Harikrishna followed, before Alexander Grischuk managed to stop the Indian superstar’s winning run with a draw. The draw perhaps threw Pragg a little off track, as he went on to lose his games to compatriots Vidit Gujrathi and Dommaraju Gukesh. With a win over Arjun Erigaisi, Pragg concluded the first half of the event as the sole leader with 6½ points.

Grischuk and Vidit both collected 6 points in the first 9 rounds. MVL, the winner of the rapid tournament, only managed 4 points, finishing below the 50% mark.

Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk | Photo: Vivek Sohani

Keymer has not yet found his best form in the blitz tournament either. He started with a draw against Arjun and a win over Radjabov, but then suffered losses to Praggnanandhaa and Vachier-Lagrave and, after a win against Abdusattorov, three more losses to Harikrishna, Grischuk and Vidit followed.

The second half of the blitz tournament will take place on Sunday and will start one hour earlier than usual, at 10.30 CEST.

Arjun Erigaisi

Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Vivek Sohani


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Standings after round 9

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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