Erigaisi Reaches Freestyle Chess Semifinals; Praggnanandhaa Falls To Caruana In Thriller

In a standout performance at the $750,000 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, India’s Arjun Erigaisi secured a place in the semifinals with a 1.5-0.5 victory over Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Their clash, the only Upper Bracket match to avoid tiebreaks, saw Erigaisi draw the first 30+30 rapid game and win the second convincingly after capitalising on an early exchange sacrifice by Abdusattorov that ultimately backfired.

The Indian prodigy showcased both composure and tactical precision, as he narrowly missed a win in the first game due to strong defence by Abdusattorov but made no such errors in the second, pushing through to the next round.

Praggnanandhaa Falls in Tiebreak Drama

Fellow Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa was not as fortunate. In a thrilling quarterfinal against American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, the duo traded victories in the 30+30 classical games, leading to a marathon tiebreak.

Praggnanandhaa drew first blood, winning the first game with the white pieces, but Caruana bounced back in the second, aided by a critical blunder from Praggnanandhaa in an otherwise balanced endgame.

The rapid 10+10 tiebreak also saw alternating wins, pushing the match into a pair of intense 5+2 blitz games.

In one of the most chaotic encounters of the tournament, Caruana edged out the first blitz with swift calculation during a time scramble.

Not to be outdone, Praggnanandhaa clawed back in the next, forcing the tournament’s first Armageddon decider. Despite choosing a bold bid of 4:27 for the black pieces, Caruana outbid him at 4:02, securing Black with draw odds. In the final clash, Caruana played a strong, composed game to claim victory and advance.

Joining Erigaisi and Caruana in the semifinals of the Upper Bracket are American GMs Levon Aronian and Hans Niemann. The semifinal pairings will see Caruana face Niemann, while Erigaisi takes on Aronian.

In the Lower Bracket, world number one Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Vincent Keymer, and Leinier Dominguez kept their title hopes alive by eliminating Vidit Gujrathi, Sam Sevian, Ray Robson, and Bibisara Assaubayeva, respectively.

These winners now enter the Intermediate Matches Stage 1, where they face Upper Bracket quarterfinal losers.

Upcoming Lower Bracket matchups include: Praggnanandhaa vs Carlsen, Sindarov vs So, Nakamura vs Dominguez, and Abdusattorov vs Keymer.

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