Arjun wins Tata Steel Rapid Chess \
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Arjun wins Tata Steel Rapid Chess

19-Nov-2021
Kolkata Nov 19 PTI Indian teenager Arjun Erigaisi held off a strong challenge from world number four Levon Aronian in the final round to clinch the Tata Steel Chess Indias rapid title here on FridayR Praggnanandhaa finished third while Vidit Gujrathi and Murali Karthikeyan took the remaining places in top-fiveArjun will now replace Adhiban Baskaran in the Blitz categoryHeading into the final round with a one-point advantage Arjun had to overcome the final hurdle -- arguably his toughest challenge in top-seed AronianAfter the customary fist bump things got underway as Arjun stuck with his pet opening The Petroff in response to Aronians 1 e4 as he needed a draw to seal the issueBut a well-prepared Aronian played out the initial moves quite quickly and on move 16 the Armenian No 1 cashed in on an opportunity to win a pawn putting Arjun in a spot of botherAs the game progressed the one-time World Cup winner tightened the screws on the 18-year-old Indian and created a passed pawn on the central fileIt looked like the game was slipping away from the Indian but he kept defending tenaciously from an inferior positionIn a dramatic turnaround the youngster found a series of moves with unreal precision under extreme pressure to seal a draw and retained his place atop the standingsWith a podium finish in sight Murali Karthikeyan went all out unleashing the Kings Indian Defense against R PraggnanandhaaIt was an extremely hard fought battle as both players brought in their A-gameThe two-time National champion managed to tick all boxes playing the Kings Indian bringing all his pieces into the gameOn the other hand young Pragg was solid and responded wellSoon the match entered an endgame with a slight edge for Murali but the game finally ended in a draw on move 73 PTI TAP BS BS
19-Nov-2021 National
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