Chess: Chithambaram in joint-lead

Aravindh Chithambaram

Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram delivered under pressure, beating Frenchman Alireza Firouzja in the final game to finish joint-first with 11 points after the end of the rapid section of the Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament here.

The Indian wild card entrant got a little lucky as Firouzja lost on time from what could have been a drawn rook and pawns endgame.

Also Read: Double Grand Slam champ Max Purcell banned for doping

Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa jumped to joint-fourth (10 points), scoring crucial victories over Romanian David Gavrilescu and Poland's Jan-Kryzsztof Duda in the last two rounds.

The 10 challengers will now face each other across 18 rounds of Blitz chess.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever