Chessable Masters final: India’s Praggnanandhaa loses to Ding Liren in tie-break | Chess News – Times of India

The 29-year old Liren used his experience to trump Praggnanandhaa in the second of the tie-break games. After the first blitz game ended in stalemate, the Chinese player won the next in 49 moves to dash the Indian teenager’s hopes.
Earlier in the second set which he needed to win to force a tie-break, Praggnanandhaa got the all-important victory in the second game in 79 moves.

The next game saw the two dish out a 106-move draw before another stalemate meant the title would be decided by the tie-breaker.
After the final, the Indian prodigy’s coach R B Ramesh praised his ward’s efforts and wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations Ding for beating both Pragg AND the mosquitoes! Proud of you @rpragchess, showed good nerves and character overall in tough situations.”

The Indian GM had defeated the highly-rated Dutchman Anish Giri in the semifinal to become the first Indian player to reach the final of a Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event.
He had beaten world No.1 Magnus Carlsen for a second time during the preliminary phase in which he finished fourth and got past Wei Yi of China in the quarterfinals.