16-year-old Indian GM Praggnanandhaa Wins 2022 Reykjavik Open

It’s been two years since the last Reykjavik Open due to the pandemic. This year the prestigious tournament opened its doors again in Iceland for the 36th time with GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa winning the tournament impressively. GM Abhimanyu Mishra and IM Tania Sachdev, also made a great appearance.

A bit more than a month after Praggnanandhaa became the youngest player to beat the World Champion Magnus Carlsen and hitting the headlines, the 16-year-old Indian GM won the 2022 Kvika Reykjavik Open.

In the last round, Pragg faced his compatriot GM Gukesh Dommaraju, while GM Max Warmerdam (Netherlands) and GM Mads Andersen (Denmark) who were also tied in the first place, faced each other. Their games shared two totally different mindsets, with Pragg fighting hard not to lose, while Warmerdam and Andersen moved to a 16 moves draw to ensure the prize money.

In the Gukesh-Praggnanandhaa game, Gukesh seemed to have a technically winning position with a pawn up after a middlegame blunder by Pragg. However, in the end, Gukesh missed a tactic and Pragg grabbed the opportunity to win the game and overtake Andersen and Warmerdam by half a point.

GM Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest grandmaster in the world, won the last round against GM Pouya Idani and finished second in a tie with Andersen, Warmerdam, and GM Hjorvar Steinn Gretarsson.

IM Tania Sachdev showed a tenacious spirit as well and had a great performance after nearly two years of absence from classical chess. Tania scored 6/9 and won the best Women Prize.