Charity Cup R13-15: Heartbreak for Praggnanandhaa and Vidit

by Shahid Ahmed - 23/03/2022

Vidit Gujrathi needed a win against Magnus Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa a draw against David Anton Guijarro. Vidit drew and Pragg lost in the final round of the Prelims stage Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Charity Cup. Both of them had winning chances but it was certainly not easy. Thus, they both got eliminated from the tournament. Liem managed to escape Carlsen's grasp and salvage a draw against the world champion. The Vietnam no.1 topped the Prelims stage 32.0/45, followed by Carlsen 29.0/45. Praggnanandhaa handed Jorden his second loss of the event in Round 14. Quarterfinal matches start tonight at 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Amruta Mokal

Liem tops the Prelims

Ding Liren is the only person who has managed to beat the World Blitz 2013 winner, Liem Le Quang in the event so far. Both Magnus Carlsen and Jorden van Foreest have suffered only two losses each so far. Quarterfinal matchups are - Liem vs Navara, Carlsen vs Niemann, Jorden vs Ding and Anton vs Duda.

Pragg and Vidit were quite close to earning a Quarterfinal spot each | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Round 13: Jones - Navara: 0-1

Gawain Jones was completely winning against David Navara. Suddenly an inaccuracy completely turned things in the Czech no.1's favor.

Position after 26.Rxh7

26.Bf3 was the winning continuation. Find out why 26.Rxh7 is incorrect.

Liem - Carlsen: 0.5-0.5

Magnus Carlsen had a rare miss in an endgame against Liem Le Quang.

Position after 69.Kh2

It is not everyday when the world champion misses an endgame conversion. 69...f5 70.Rf4 Re2 would have been fine for Black. 70.gxf6 would have meant the fall of the bishop Rh5+ 71.Kg2 Rd1.

Duda - Harikrishna: 0-1

The endgame expert, Harikrishna showed his prowess against Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

Position after 32.Qd6

42.Qd6 allowed Black to invade with his queen Qe2+ 33.Kh3 Qxf3+ and things just fell apart for White in a hurry.

Round 14: Carlsen - Ju: 1-0

It was quite obvious that the world champion was upset for not being able to seize his advantage against Liem. Peter Leko described his win against the women's world champion, Ju Wenjun, a masterpiece.

Position after 19.Nxe5

When the knight goes to h5, there is always a possibility of Nxe5 discover attack. However, the g3-bishop is unguarded here. One would obviously not consider Nxe5 as a viable option. Well, when the one is the world champion, he can make anything happen. 19.Nxe5 Nxg3 20.Nxd7 Qxd7 21.Re1 d5 22.exd5 Ne7 23.Qg4 Ngf5? things start turning towards White 24.Rxe7 Qxe7 25.Qxf5 and White won the game in another twelve moves.

Praggnanandhaa - Jorden: 1-0

Praggnanandhaa extracted Jorden van Foreest's king out in the open after the latter went terribly wrong with a kingside break.

Position after 18...f5

19.gxf5 Bxf5 20.Be5 Bxh3 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Qd4+ e5 22.Rxe5 Kg8 23.Qe4 Kg7 24.Rxa7 and Black's position is completely destroyed.

Round 15: Anton - Praggnanandhaa: 1-0

Praggnanandhaa needed a draw against David Anton Guijarro to advance to the Quarterfinals.

Position after 32.h3

Considering the position Praggnanandhaa got, it seemed like he should be able to at least get a draw. 32...Red7 33.Bb7 Rxd2 34.Nfxd2 Bb5 would have maintained his advantage. Instead, he opted for 32...g5 33.Ne3 Kg7 34.Ba2 Rxd2 35.Nxd2 and things started turning into White's favor.

Vidit - Carlsen: 0.5-0.5

Vidit had a very good opportunity to beat Magnus Carlsen. Of course it is not easy to win against the world champion, even if you get a winning position.