Indian GM ties classical series against Caruana
R Praggnanandhaa (18) is just a tiebreak away from a date with world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen for the World Cup chess title. The Chennai boy showed his defensive resource once again and held higher-rated American, Fabiano Caruana, for the second successive draw in the classical phase of their semifinal in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sunday. He thus took the match to tiebreaks slated for Monday in which he can fancy his chances.
Norway's Carlsen defeated local boy Nijat Abasov 1.5-0.5 to reach his maiden final of this knockout tournament. He had won the first game of the semifinal on Saturday.
The classical phase of the title clash in Azerbaijan's Baku is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday with a provision of tiebreaks on Thursday.
When Praggu (white) and Caruana agreed to split a point after 47 moves, both players had rook, knight and two pawns. They had drawn the previous game too.
Sunday's game started with the 'Anti Nimzo Indian' and then was transformed to the Catalan structure. They followed the Ding Liren vs Levon Aronian rapid game in the 2020 Skiiing Open, until Caruana deviated on the 12th move with the bishop taking the knight on f3.
Praggu's 15th move (Na3) seemed new and slightly subpar that could have made Caruana a bit optimistic.
Praggu keeps calm despite intense pressure
The world No. 2 spent 18 minutes at this point before pushing his pawn to g5. Caruana had better control of the queenside squares in the knight, rook and four connected pawns vs White's knight, rook and four pawns.
The 31-year-old former World Championship challenger posed questions to Praggu and the Chennai boy was up to the task. He played the 34th move (Na1 which looks positionally questionable but the only strong move was played in just 15 seconds.
Nearing the first time control, Praggu's king was exposed but active. Then, Caruana's f-pawn was just one square away from queening. But Praggu didn't panic. He pushed his 'a' pawn ahead and forced the trading of those pawns and steered the position to absolute safety.
Carlsen entered the title clash and there was some fun and some drama too. The Norwegian could have opted for a draw which was enough to seal the deal. But he fancied his chance and played on against the world No. 97.
It could have backfired. Playing with black pieces in the London System, Carlsen was on the verge of severe suffering in the light squared bishops and three pawns each. But he came up with two successive brilliant moves (56..Kc4 and 57..Bc6+) which the computer evaluated as probably the only moves that would save his position. The draw was agreed after 74 moves as Carlsen gave away his bishop for three pawns vs one pawn and bishop endgame.
Carlsen started the game punching Abasov's clock after an imaginary handshake in the air as his opponent reached his table late.
Caruana said after the game tonight, "I was pressing in both games. First game I had the biggest chance. But I took some practical decisions today because I didn't want to risk too much. Praggu is an excellent rapid player. But Nakamura blundered against him in opening. I didn't consider going to a tiebreak as too bad a thing before the match started."
Bulgaria's International Master (IM) Nurgyul Salimova, 20, suffered the agony of her life as she failed to clinch the women's World Cup title.
After drawing the first game against second seed and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, the 29th seed was winning. And not for a small patch but for a period of 10-15 moves, roughly from the 38th to 52nd move.
The computer evaluation gave her a clear advantage as she had two extra pawns (four vs three) in the double rook, double knight and dark squares bishop ending.
After the exchange of some pieces, Salimova also enjoyed a two-pawn advantage but failed to convert.
