The Hague, Jan 29 (IANS) Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi claimed the Tata Steel Chess Tournament title for the first time in the Netherlands on Sunday, beating Gukesh Dommaraju from India in a sensational tiebreak decider.

It was the 86th edition of the prestigious chess tournament held at Wijk aan Zee, a village on the Dutch west coast.

In the final, the 24-year-old grandmaster Wei, 16th in the FIDE world ranking, defeated Gukesh with a draw with the black pieces and a victory with white.

In the 13th and final regular round of the tournament earlier on Sunday, Wei beat Vidit Santosh Gujrathi from India, defending champion Anish Giri from the Netherlands defeated compatriot Max Warmerdam, Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan overpowered German Alexander Donchenko, and Gukesh tamed Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo.

The results meant four players finished on top on 8.5 points: Wei, Gukesh, Giri and Abdusattorov.

In the semifinals of the tiebreak, Wei beat Abdusattorov, and Gukesh defeated Giri.

Chinese reigning world champion Ding Liren, ranked fourth in the FIDE world ranking, the highest ranked player present in Wijk aan Zee, finished 8th with six points, and China’s Ju Wenjun, current and four times women’s world champion, finished 10th with 4.5 points.

New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed young Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa for his runner-up finish at the FIDE Chess World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Praggnanandhaa’s sensational run at the prestigious tournament came to an end after he lost to world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in the tie-break after the classical games in the final ended in a stalemate.

“We are proud of Praggnanandhaa for his remarkable performance at the FIDE World Cup! He showcased his exceptional skills and gave a tough fight to the formidable Magnus Carlsen in the finals,” PM Modi wrote on ‘X’, formerly Twitter.

“This is no small feat. Wishing him the very best for his upcoming tournaments.”

Chennai, Aug 24 (IANS) World No. 1 chess player by rating, Norwegian Grandmaster (GM) Magnus Carlsen (32) won the FIDE World Cup after defeating Indian prodigy GM R. Praggnanandhaa (18) in tie-breaker at Baku in Azerbaijan on Thursday.

Former world champion Carlsen clinched the title by winning the first tie-breaker game and then drawing the second one.

In the second tie-breaker, Carlsen with white pieces seemed to be in a hurry to wind up the game soon and went in for Queen exchange at the 17th move.

Soon after, the two players exchanged their bishops. At the end of the 22nd move, both players had four pawns, one rook, knight and a bishop each. The two then signed the peace treaty.

Playing with white pieces in the first game of the tie-breaker, Praggnanandhaa had an advantage in the initial stages and later maintained equality for a large part of the 47-move game.

However, the Indian player suffered a reversal from the 37th move onwards. At that point of time, the players were left with two rooks and minor pieces — two knights for Carlsen and a knight and a light coloured bishop for Praggnanandhaa.

The Indian player was also much behind on the clock and resigned on the 47th move.

It was the maiden World Cup title for Carlsen.

Baku (Azerbaijan), Aug 23 (IANS) India’s Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa held World No.1 Magnus Carlsen to a second successive draw in their two-game final in the FIDE World Cup here on Wednesday, taking the summit clash into the tiebreaker.

Praggnanandhaa, who had played out a draw with white pieces on Tuesday, held the Norwegian five-time World Champion in Classical Chess to another draw, this time with black pieces.

It was a quiet draw as Carlsen could not gain much advantage despite playing with white pieces.

The final will now be decided on Thursday via rapid chess tiebreak games.

During the final round of the FTX Crypto Cup in Miami on Monday, young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa outplayed world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen 4-2 by winning three straight games, including two in the blitz tie-breaks.

Nevertheless, after defeating Carlsen, the 17-year-old could only finish in second place overall.

Due to a superior score, the Norwegian took home the top honor. He earned 16 match points in all, compared to the Indian prodigy’s 15.

It’s never good to lose, but this is as good a moment as any! I’ve been playing poorly all day, but now I’m getting the results I deserve! Carlsen stated following the game.

A second highly regarded young prodigy, Alireza Firouzja, ended with 15 points as well but had to settle for third place because he had lost the match against Praggnanandhaa earlier.

In the Carlsen-Praggnanandhaa match, the first two games were tied before the world number one won the third to take the lead.

The fourth game was unexpectedly won by the Indian, sending the match into tie-breaks. By winning both games in the tie-break, he stunned the Norwegian.

The world champion has been defeated twice in online competitions by Praggnanandhaa, who has been in excellent form this year.

He also had a significant impact on the India “B” team’s recent bronze-medal performance in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai.

Praggnanandhaa commented after the game versus Carlsen, “I think it could have done better the last few days but I think overall 2nd is good.”

Firouzja, the fourth-ranked player in the world, was defeated by Praggnanandhaa to open his campaign. He also defeated Anish Giri and Levon Aronian.