Rising star R. Praggnanandhaa will face Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen in successive rounds of the $150,000 Airthings Masters online rapid chess tournament beginning on Saturday.
Drawn to play Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem in the opening round, the teen-talent is part of the elite 16-player field at the round-robin league stage.
Tough challenge
He is due to face formidable rivals like Ding Liren, Jan Krzysztof Duda and Levon Aronian in the succession from the third round before facing Giri and Carlsen in the sixth and seventh rounds.
Further, the youngster will play World championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi and the women World rapid champion Alexandra Kosteniuk in the 11th and 12th rounds.
In this first event of the $1.6 million 2022 Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, the top eight finishers from the league will advance to the knockout stage. The players get 15 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move to finish the game.
To encourage decisive battles, three points will be awarded for each win as against one for a draw. Considering the shorter time-format and Praggnanandhaa’s skills in speed chess, he is likely to cause a few upsets.
