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R Praggnanandhaa tried hard but had to settle for a draw with David Navara of the Czech Republic in the final round of the Prague Masters chess tournament that concluded here on Thursday.
Praggnanandhaa can take heart from the fact that he goes into the candidates as the top-rated Indian slated to be held in about four weeks from now in Toronto.
It took a mammoth effort from FIDE and various channels to resolve the visa issue for the candidates but as of now, everything seems to be for one of the biggest events of the year.
With five draws happening between 10 players in the final round, nothing changed. Abdusattarov had won the event with a round to spare clocking 6/8 and he inched up to 6.5 points for probably his career-best performance.
Praggnanandhaa to his credit ended on a plus score clocking five points alongside Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and surprise packet Ngyen Thai Dai Van of the Czech Republic with all three of them tallying five points out of a possible nine.
Gukesh, Richard Rapport of Romania and David Navara, the local star ended on 4.5 points sharing the fifth spot followed by Bartel and Keymer having 3.5 points each. Vidit Gujrathi had to be content with a last-place finish of three points.
With the three candidates here in the fray from India, Praggnanandhaa seems to be best on form ahead of Gukesh and Gujrathi. But now that the dates for the challenger of the next world championship match are fixed it remains to be seen who has the best nerves.
Results final round (Indians unless stated): Parham Paghsoodloo (Iri, 5) drew with D Gukesh (4.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3.5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (3); Richard Rapport (Rou, 4.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattarov (Uzb, 6); R Praggnanandhaa (5) drew with David Navara (Cze, 4.5); Mateusz Bartel (Pol, 3.5) drew with Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze, 5).
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