While Indian Grandmasters Gukesh, Vidit Gujarathi and Arjun Erigaisi bowed out of the FIDE World Cup Chess tournament, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa advanced to the semi finals.
Gukesh lost to Magnus Carlsen and Vidit Gujarathi lost to Abasov of Azerbaijan. Pragg defeated India’s Arjun Erigaisi to reach the semifinals. At the age of 18, he became the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand to reach the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup.
After a day of rest, Pragg will play USA’s Fabiano Caruana while Magnus Carlsen will take on Nijat Abasov from Azerbaijan.
Magnus has officially declined to play in the Candidates tournament to be held in Toronto from April 2 to 25 in 2024 while Pragg, Caruana and Abasov are set to fill the three qualifying spots available from this competition.
