Praggnanandhaa takes on Keymer as Grand Chess Tour semifinals begin in St Louis

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will face Germany’s Vincent Keymer in the Grand Chess Tour semifinals in St Louis. The Indian star, who topped the Sinquefield Cup standings, needs 15 points to enter the final in the mixed Classical, Rapid and Blitz format

St. Louis (USA): Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will take on Vincent Keymer of Germany in the semifinals of the Grand finale of the Grand Chess Tour here.

After finishing at the top of the tables on 35.5 points on conclusion of the Sinquefield Cup, Praggnanandhaa will have his task cut out against Keymer as the winner of the match proceeds to the finals while the other player has to fight for the third place play-off.

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This is not the first time that Praggnanandhaa, currently the top ranked Indian in live ratings, has made it to the last four stage. In the preceding year too, he was in the scheme of things but lost both matches and ended fourth.

The other semifinal will be played between Americans Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So who both showed amazing consistency throughout the tour to book their spot here.

Caruana is also the defending champion of the tour and the onus will be on him to deliver the goods in a mixed and exciting format consisting of three formats — Classical, Rapid and Blitz.

The USD 450000 event this year is a USD 100000 increase in prize fund compared to last year’s event at Sao Paulo in Brazil. And the think tank has done well to let the event remain in St. Louis where the tour was conceived.

The players will start the contest with two games in Classical wherein each victory will be worth six points and a draw will mean both players receiving three points each. After the two Classical games, the players will have to change gears and play the rapid and blitz games on the very next day.

In rapid, each victory will be worth four points and a draw will split that between the players. The two rapid games will be followed by four blitz games where each win will be worth two points and a draw resulting in one point for both players. In all cases the player that loses does not get anything.

A total of 28 points are at stake and anyone who scores 15 points qualifies to the finals while the losing semifinalist will play against each other to determine the third place finisher.

The top three from here will also get a direct invite to the next year’s Grand Chess Tour and the winner from this event will walk home with USD 200000.