Picture Credit: Twitter
The world's third-youngest chess Grandmaster, India's Dommaraju Gukesh, set the La Roda Open stage ablaze the 15-year-old won the championship after beating Israeli GM Victor Mikhalevski in the final round. Gukesh who went into the final round with seven points, beat Mikhalevski with white pieces to finish with 8.0 points from nine rounds to stand at the helm of a field comprising 193 players.
As this was the first open title won by Gukesh and came soon after he had lost to compatriot Praggnanandhaa in the final round of Reykjavk Open a few days back, the 15-year-old sounded emotional in his tweet. "Thanks @48OpenLaRoda for inviting me to the wonderfully organised event!! Enjoyed the stay & hospitality in La Roda and more importantly clinching my 1st open title of the year especially coming after very near misses and heartbreaks," Gukesh tweeted on Monday. "Relieved and Thanks to all my supporters," he added.
The second and third positions at the 48th Open Ajedrez La Roda chess tournament were taken respectively by Armenian GM Haik M. Martirosyan who finished second with 7.5 points while Indian GMs R Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani, and three other players -- all five ending their campaigns with 7.0 points from nine rounds. Talking specifically, R Praggnanandhaa finished third on the tiebreak while Raunak Sadhwani finished fourth.
Vishwanathan Anand extends his wishes
At this big achievement by D Gukesh, Vishwanathan Anand extended his congratulatory wishes to the youngster. "@DGukesh wins La Roda. Sad Convincing win at the back of his great performance ! Congrats to @rpragchess too Waca boys to the fore," Anand tweeted on Monday.
Notably, Gukesh's victory was not a convincing one as he faced tough competition from R Praggnanandhaa and Raunak Sadhwani. But in the end, it was all smiles for the young Grandmaster as he won his last round game convincingly while compatriot Pragg was held to a draw.