Ding Liren took first place at last month’s Chessable Masters, the fourth event in the 2022 Meltwater Champions Tour. But it was his defeated opponent in the final, 16-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa from India, who stole the show. The teenager’s reputation is already well established, and he made headlines in the (non-chess) media in February when he beat Magnus Carlsen in a rapid game at the Airthings Masters, the first event in the tour. Remarkably, at the Chessable Masters, he added a second victory over Carlsen, who blundered in an almost even position in their game from the preliminary stage.
Even more impressive were the scalps he took in the knockout stages. In the quarter finals he scored a 2.5-1.5 upset over Wei Yi, which left him facing Anish Giri in the semi-finals. Giri had shown exceptional form throughout the event, but Praggnanandhaa took the lead in their match with the sharp game shown below.
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