Sans Carlsen, Pragg eyes another title

Warsaw: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will be the cynosure of all eyes as he takes on a strong field sans Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the Superbet Rapid and blitz tournament, a part of the grand chess tour, that gets underway here on Saturday.

With his buddy Aravindh Chithambaram as company, Praggnanandhaa is one of the front runners for the title as the absence of Carlsen after two winning triumphs has thrown the field wide open.

Alireza Firouzja, the Iranian-turned-French, starts as the hot bubble waiting to be busted while his compatriot Maxime Vachier-Lagrave would like to live on the legacy built for the French players in the last decade.

While there are only two Indian contestants among the 10 players, it remains to be seen who will win the Grand Chess Tour this year — a series of events that award points based on each performance. For the records, the total prize pool of the event is $175000 with an added attraction of being part of the grand prize at the

end of the season.