Hyderabad:

He displayed impeccable discipline and patience in a thrilling three-way tie with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja. Praggnanandhaa secured a nervy win over Vachier-Lagrave in the final game, and the title was decided in blitz tiebreaks.

 Indian Grand Master (GM) Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa scripted history by clinching the Superbet Chess Classic Romania title, overcoming the challenge posed by French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Iranian Alireza Firouzja. The 19-year-old became the only second Indian after Vishwanath Anand to win multiple Super tournaments.

Tiebreaker, blitz playoffs:

Tie-break 1: The game between Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw. Both players were awarded 0.5 points.

Tie-break 2: The game between the two French Grandmasters ended in a draw. Both players were awarded 0.5 points.

Tie-break 3: Praggnanandhaa defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in just 16 seconds and got 1 point to win the tournament.

The Indian teenager, hailing from Tamil Nadu, ended with a score of 5.5/9. He was awarded with the first prize of USD 77,667 (₹66.48 lakhs) and took home 10 GCT points following the title triumph. Praggnanandhaa clinched Grand Chess Tour Romania in tiebreaks to earn his second Super Tournament of the year, having won Tata Steel earlier this year.

In the tiebreaker, the players will play two mini games of 5 minutes each plus a two second increment and if the tie persists the winner will be decided through an Armageddon game. The Superbet Classic carried a total prize purse of USD 350,000 (₹2.99 Crores).

"Unbelievable feeling! Just won the #SuperbetChessClassic in Bucharest, Romania! Huge thanks to my team and supporters for their unwavering encouragement," Pragg wrote after his victory. It has certainly been a wonderful year for the 19-year-old as he not only won at the GCT but also defeated Gukesh in Wijk Aan Zee to clinch the Tata Steel Masters.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Gukesh, the current World Chess champion, could only finish 6th in the event. Gukesh won $17,125 (14.65 lakhs) and got 3.5 GCT points.

The next event SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia will happen in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia from July 1 to July 6.

Other Results: Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou, 4) lost to Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 5.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 5.5) beat Jan Krzysztof (Pol, 3); Wesley So (4) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 4) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5).

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