Missouri: Indian grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna finished joint seventh in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz online chess tournament. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and American Wesley So finished joint winners with 24 points. A below-par performance in Blitz-2, Harikrishna managed only three points from nine rounds.
Harikrishna’s solitary win on the final day of the tournament came against American Jeffrey Xiong, the lowest-rated player in the field, as he suffered four losses to go with three draws. He was tied for seventh place with Xiong.
The final standings #STLRapidBlitz pic.twitter.com/OSQ7gIYY3X
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) September 19, 2020
Harikrishna had pulled off an upset win over Carlsen in Blitz-1, could not reproduce the good form and went down to the Norwegian world champion in the sixth round of Blitz-2 in a 47-move encounter. Carlsen and Wesley So received $45000 for finishing first. Where as Harikrishna received $14000 along with Xiong.
Final standings (Rapid, Blitz-1 and Blitz-2): 1. Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Wesley So (USA) 24 points, 3. Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 21 points, 4. Levon Aronian (Armenia) and Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 18.5 points, 6. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia) 18 points, 7. Jeffery Xiong (USA) and P Harikrishna (India) 15.5 points, 9. Alireza Firouzja (Iran) and Leinier Dominguez (USA) 12.5 points.
