Tata Steel Chess India 2023: R Praggnanandhaa secures third place, Alexander Grischuk wins

At the Tata Steel Chess India 2023 event, World Cup runner-up R Praggnanandhaa secured an impressive overall third-place finish, while world champion Alexander Grischuk emerged as the champion in the Open Blitz category.

Praggnanandhaa displayed a strong performance throughout the tournament, remaining unbeaten in four games and briefly leading the competition. However, he faced setbacks in the 13th, 15th, and 16th rounds, where he suffered defeats against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alexander Grischuk, and Vidit Gujrathi, respectively, which ultimately cost him the top spot.

Indian chess player Arjun Erigaisi secured the second-best position among Indian participants, finishing overall fourth with 10.5 points. D Gukesh, India's top-ranked player, faced a challenging day with six defeats from nine rounds, including a loss to Praggnanandhaa in the penultimate round. This performance led to a disappointing eighth-place finish for Gukesh.

In contrast, Alexander Grischuk, a two-time world blitz champion, had a remarkable tournament with only one loss, which occurred when he was defeated by rising Indian talent Arjun Erigaisi in the 13th round.

The overall Blitz winners in different categories were:

Women's Category:

Rapid: 1st - Divya Deshmukh, 2nd - Ju Wenjun

Blitz: 1st - Ju Wenjun, 2nd - Koneru Humpy

Open Category:

Rapid: 1st - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2nd - Teimour Radjabov

Blitz: 1st - Alexander Grischuk, 2nd - Nodirbek Abdusattorov