Pragnananda from Tamil Nadu defeated three strong players on the first day of the Julius Baer Cup chess tournament.
The Julius Baer Cup Chess Tournament has started yesterday as the 5th tournament of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour 2022 season. 16 players including Carlson, Pragnananda, Arjun Erikaisi will participate in the tournament. The competition will be held online till September 25. Each player has to play 15 games each. 8 out of 16 players will qualify for the knockout round.
On the first day, Pragnananda defeated three famous players of India – Ivanchuk, Duda and Gelfand. However, he lost to Christopher Yu in the final match. Arjun Erikaisi lost to world champion Carlsen in the first round.
At the end of the first day, Carlson is at the top position with 10 points followed by Pragnananda, Ivanchuk, Hans Niemann and Arjun Erikaisi at the 2nd position with 9 points each.