Nothing changes for Pragg, Firouzja leads

Saint Louis (USA): Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa could not really change his fortunes for the better and remained in last spot going into the final day of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz chess tournament here.

Before that, he won a couple of games in the blitz section. Praggnanandhaa scored two wins at the expense of pre-event favourites Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and Hikaru Nakamura of Russia besides a lone draw with tournament leader Alireza Firouzja of France but lost the remaining six games in the first leg of blitz that kept him on the bottom of the tables with only nine rounds remaining in the blitz section.

Alireza Firouzja made most of his opportunities count to shoot into sole lead on 17.5 points and now enjoys 1.5 points lead over Wesley So of United States, who happened to score the most (7/9) in the blitz section, and Nepomniachtchi.

The other leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France slipped to fourth spot on 15.5 point, a half point clear of wild card Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian. Nakamura, who started off as a favourite in the blitz section, is in sixth spot on 13.5 points, ahead of tour leader and compatriot Fabiano Caruana who has 13 points. American Lenier Dominguez on 12 points is eighth at this point ahead of Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan who has 10 points in all.

Praggnanandhaa remains a distant last on 6.5 points, looking for a change in fortunes on the final day. Wesley So was the surprising star of the day winning six, drawing two and losing just one game against Firouzja in nine rounds of blitz.

The result propelled the American to joint second spot. However, Firouzja still remains set to win the crown given his 1.5 points lead and if that happens he can even overtake Caruana as the leader of the tour with just one event remaining in form of Sinquefield cup set to begin from August 18. (PTI)

Standings after the first day of blitz: 1. Alireza Firouzja (Fra) 17.5; 2-3; Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID), Wesley So (Usa) 16 each; 4. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 15.5 points; 5. Levon Aronian (Arm) 15; 6. Hikaru Nakamura (Usa) 13.5; 7. Fabiano Caruana (Usa) 13; 8. Lenier Dominguez (Usa) 12; 9. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) 10; 10. R Praggnanandhaa (Ind) 6.5.