GM R Praggnanandhaa was defeated in the second round by GM Liem Quang Le of Vietnam in the GMT Round 2 final. With this win, Liem Quang Le secured the GMT Masters title with a round to spare, marking his third consecutive title.
Praggnanandhaa, who drew his match in round 1 was unable to overcome the skillful play of Liem Quang Le in round 2, who won the match decisively. Liem, who was already in lead after securing a draw against Abhimanyu Mishra in round 1, continued his strong performance in round 2 and claimed the title.
In the GMT Challengers, R Vaishali succumbed to defeat against GM Alexander Donchenko of Germany.
After dominating the earlier part of the tournament, later setbacks caused her to drop in the rankings. With this defeat, R Vaishali finished in 3rd place, while GM Salem Saleh of UAE has already won the GMT Challengers.
Mendonca and Ayush to fight for MTO title
IM Ayush Sharma played out a huge win over fellow compatriot and GM Krishnan Sasikiran in round 9.
This win puts him in a tie for 1st place with Leon Luke Mendonca. Incidentally, Mendonca and Ayush are paired against each other for round 10 and final round, where they will battle for the Masters Tournament Open (MTO) title.