Xplorich
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa secured his place in the final of the last leg of the Grand Chess Tour with a commanding 19-9 victory over Germany’s Vincent Keymer.Praggnanandhaa will now face pre-event favourite and defending champion Fabiano Caruana of the USA in the title clash.The Indian entered the final day with a six-point advantage after winning the second Classical game against Keymer. With the competition moving to shorter formats, Praggnanandhaa wasted little time in strengthening his position.He won both Rapid games against Keymer to establish an unassailable 17-3 lead. Another victory in the opening Blitz game took Praggnanandhaa to 19 points and confirmed his place in the final.The remaining Blitz games still had to be completed under the tournament rules, and Keymer managed to finish strongly by winning the final three Blitz encounters. However, the German’s late surge could not alter the outcome as Praggnanandhaa had already secured a decisive advantage.Caruana also booked his place in the final after defeating fellow American Wesley So 18-9. The defending champion’s performance in the faster formats proved decisive, particularly during the Blitz games.Caruana had not traditionally been regarded as a dominant player in faster formats, but his performance on Monday showed that he could challenge that perception when it mattered.The Grand Chess Tour finale carries a total prize purse of USD 450,000, with USD 200,000 going to the winner and USD 125,000 to the losing finalist.Although Caruana enters the final as the favourite, Praggnanandhaa has already shown he can thrive under pressure and will look to produce another strong performance against the defending champion.In the third-place play-off, Keymer will meet another American, Wesley So. The top three finishers at the event will earn direct invitations to next year’s Grand Chess Tour.Semifinal results:R Praggnanandhaa (India, 19) beat Vincent Keymer (Germany, 9)Fabiano Caruana (USA, 18) beat Wesley So (USA, 9)
