Praggnanandhaa Clinches Third Place in Superbet Rapid & Blitz Chess Tournament
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa delivered a powerful late performance to finish third at the prestigious Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament, part of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT), held in Warsaw. Slovenia’s Vladimir Fedoseev emerged as the clear champion with a dominant overall score of 26.5 points out of 36.
Making his debut in the GCT, Aravindh Chithambaram tied for seventh place alongside Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Despite a slow start in the blitz segment, Aravindh gained valuable experience in his first major outing.
Fedoseev, who entered the final day with a commanding 3.5-point lead, continued his blistering run in the blitz format by scoring 7.5/9. His lone defeat came at the hands of Duda, marking his only loss across all 27 games (9 rapid, 18 blitz). He walked away with the top prize of $40,000.
French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave claimed the second spot with 21.5 points, while Praggnanandhaa followed closely at 20.5, earning $25,000 for his efforts.
Praggnanandhaa’s day started slowly with just one point from the first five blitz games, but he bounced back with four consecutive wins against Duda, Topalov, Aravindh, and Gavrilescu to close the tournament on a high, scoring 5/9 on the final day.
Vachier-Lagrave now leads the overall Grand Chess Tour standings, with Praggnanandhaa right behind. Fedoseev, a wildcard entrant, must wait for future editions for a permanent GCT spot despite his dominant performance.
The GCT caravan now heads to Bucharest, Romania, for its first Classical event beginning May 7. The tournament will feature all nine core GCT players alongside one wildcard. From India, both World Champion D Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa will compete. Other participants include Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So (USA), and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan).
Final Standings:
- Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) – 26.5
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) – 21.5
- R Praggnanandhaa (India) – 20.5
- Levon Aronian (USA) – 20
- Alireza Firouzja (France) – 18.5
- Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Romania) – 18
7-8. Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland), Aravindh Chithambaram (India) – 17 - David Gavrilescu (Romania) – 11
- Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) – 9
