Gukesh convincingly defends Menorca Open title, Pranav Venkatesh

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Last updated 04 janeiro 2025

Gukesh convincingly defends Menorca Open title, Pranav Venkatesh

It is not everyday we get to see a 2700+ playing an open tournament, let alone win it for two years in-a-row. GM D Gukesh won the inaugural edition last year and became World no.80. Heading into the second edition, he was World no.20 who had 2730 Elo rating points. After nine rounds, he scored an unbeaten 7/9, defeated Pranav Venkatesh 1.5-0.5 in the Blitz Playoffs to retain his Menorca Open title. Although ten players finished with the same score 7/9, it was Gukesh and Pranav who had all three of their tie-break scores exactly the same. After penultimate round, Gukesh was World no.17 in the live ratings and he still is. The teenager is gaining two Elo rating points. In one year, Gukesh climbed from World no.80 to 17 and he did not forget his path towards becoming the Elite. Pranav V secured runner-up, Aryan Chopra fourth and once again GM Koustav Chatterjee secured tenth place.