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On Tuesday, October 15, GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa defeated his mentor and fellow GM Viswanathan Anand 2-1 in the quarter-final of the WR Chess Masters Cup 2024 at the Langham Hotel in London. These two Indian players drew both their classical games before the Armageddon game saw Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa get the better of Viswanathan Anand in a must-win situation with the white pieces.
Notably, in their first classical game, Viswanathan Anand managed to build-up a near winning advantage with the black pieces, but the queen exchange at the inopportune time led to Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa claiming a draw in the end game. But, in the second classical game, Praggnanandhaa controlled the proceedings with the black pieces, but ultimately, Anand managed to find a three-fold repetition, to earn a draw.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa will be playing against Arjun Erigaisi in semi-final of WR Chess Masters Cup 2024
In the Armageddon game, Viswanathan Anand got the black pieces with just six minutes on the clock, but Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa had to secure a win with the white pieces in 10 minutes, to reach the semi-final of the WR Chess Masters Cup 2024. Praggnanandhaa employed the Scotch opening before going for a sideline, to get the better of Anand in just 26 moves, to make it through to the next stage of the tournament.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa will be taking on GM Arjun Erigaisi in the semi-final of the WR Chess Masters Cup 2024 after the latter got the better of GM Vidit Gujrathi 1.5-0.5. In the other quarter-finals, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave defeated GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2-1, while Alireza Firouzja had eliminated Raunak Sadhwani from the tournament with a 1.5-0.5 scoreline.
