Much could happen when nine rounds of blitz chess are played in a day. It certainly did at the National Library, on the first day of the open blitz event of the Tata Steel Chess India tournament on Friday.
R. Praggnanandhaa was looking unstoppable well into the half-way mark of the day’s proceedings. He won five games on the trot — the second of which came against the top seed and rapid champion here, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. He drew in the sixth, before tasting his first defeat in the following round.
