Praggnanandhaa draws with Firouzja

 Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa survived a small scare before settling for a draw with Alireza Firouzja of France in the first round of the Super Chess Classics, the first Classical event of the Grand Chess Tour, here on Thursday.

It turned out to be an exciting affair after a dull Queen’s gambit declined by Firouzja as black. As many as three minor pieces changed hands early and it looked like the game was headed towards a dull draw when Praggnanandhaa went for the complexities by allowing black to have connected passed pawns on the queen side in exchange for a strong center.

The Iranian-turned-French found some excellent resources in the middle game and was able to nearly rip apart the Indian’s king side but the position was so complicated that it was nearly impossible to find all the best moves for the human brain.