May 16, 2025 11:46 PM IST
R Praggnanandhaa won the Superbet Classic title, winning in a three-way tie-break.
India’s R Praggnanandhaa clinched the Superbet Classic title in Romania after prevailing in a dramatic three-way tie-break, edging out Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja in blitz deciders. The 18-year-old Indian grandmaster held his nerve in the final game against MVL, sealing a memorable win in the opening leg of the Grand Chess Tour.
In the blitz tiebreaks, the first two clashes – Praggnanandhaa vs Firouzja and Vachier-Lagrave vs Firouzja – ended in tightly contested draws, leaving the title hanging in the balance. It was in the decisive third game that Praggnanandhaa stepped, defeating Vachier-Lagrave to win the title.
Earlier in the day, Praggnanandhaa played out a solid draw against American veteran Levon Aronian in the final round. Facing an early surprise with the French Defence, the teenager opted for a quiet setup, steering the game into an early queen exchange. As the game progressed, regular piece trades led to a draw.
The players agreed to split the point after 43 moves.
With the draw, Pragg joined Firouzja and Vachier-Lagrave in the lead. Both Firouzja and MVL had earlier registered wins to catch up. Firouzja turned the tables on local favourite Deac Bogdan-Daniel after being worse for large parts of the middlegame, while MVL capitalised on a late positional blunder by Jan-Krzysztof Duda to notch up a comfortable win.
The tiebreak featured two blitz games for each player, and in case of a further deadlock, an Armageddon decider was scheduled. However, Praggnanandhaa rose to the occasion and sealed victory by defeating MVL in the final blitz game to clinch the title.
Among the other Indian participants, D Gukesh ended with 4 points following a final-round draw against Fabiano Caruana. The American, meanwhile, finished fourth with 5 points. Wesley So and Aronian ended the tournament tied with Gukesh and Deac, while Duda, with just 3 points, brought up the rear.
