Recent from beating former World champion Vladimir Kramnik 3 times in a day, teen sensation D. Gukesh will open his marketing campaign towards Hikaru Nakamura in Division 1 of the $235,000 Airthings Masters on-line speedy chess event late on Monday.
Apart from Gukesh, who certified after successful a 140-player qualifier unfold over eight hours by scoring 7.5 factors from 9 rounds, one other Indian in Division 1 is Arjun Erigaisi.
Importantly, Gukesh remained unbeaten in his quest. He drew with Alireza Firouzja, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana whereas his most notable of six victims was Kramnik. Later, when Gukesh had the selection of six opponents, the teenager selected the Twelfth-placed Kramnik and beat him 2-0.
Within the new season, the opening occasion of the $ 2-million Champions Chess Tour has three divisions. Division 1 has eight gamers, Division two has 16 and Division three has 32 gamers. Every division follows a double-elimination knockout format. Even after a defeat, a participant has an opportunity to come back again into title-contention from the losers’ bracket.
The winner’s share in Division 1 is $30,000 (and 150 Tour factors), in Division 2 it’s $10,000 (50 factors) and in Division 3, it’s stored at $5,000 (20 factors). The highest three finishers from Division 1 and the winner of Division 2 earn qualification to Division 1 within the subsequent occasion on the Tour.
The quarterfinals of Division 1 are – Magnus Carlsen (Norway) v Alexey Sarana (FIDE), Alireza Firouzja (Fra)-Arjun Erigaisi; Wesley So (USA)-Rauf Mamedov (Aze) and D. Gukesh-Hikaru Nakamura (USA).
In Division 2, which has Kramnik, Caruana, Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov, amongst others, Raunak Sadhwani and Diptayan Ghosh current the Indian problem. Sadhwani faces China’s Yu Yangyi and Ghosh takes on Caruana within the first spherical.
The presence of R. Praggnanandhaa, P. Iniyan and V. Pranav ensures that Division 3 carries loads of Indian curiosity. Within the opening spherical, Praggnanandhaa performs Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei, Iniyan crosses swords with USA’s Aleksandr Lenderman and Pranav runs into Greek rival Nikolas Theodorou.
