Indian GM Praggnanandhaa sails into semifinals of Chessable Masters
Chennai(PTI): Young Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa defeated China's Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 to book a spot in the semifinals of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Chessable Masters 2022 online tournament.
The 16-year-old Praggnanandhaa will take on Anish Giri (the Netherlands) in the semifinals. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen will take on China's Ding Liren in the other semifinal clash.
Giri and Carlsen scored comfortable 2.5-0.5 wins over Aryan Tori (Norway) and David Anton Gujjaro (Spain), while Liren defeated Azerbaijan's Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals against Yi late on Monday, the teenaged Indian star opened with a win with black pieces in 90 moves. He built on that fine start to take the second game of the four-game match to go 2-0 up.
The Chinese star bounced back to claim the third game of the series to reduce the margin. A draw in the fourth was enough for the Indian GM to seal a spot in the semifinals.
Praggnanandhaa had created a stir earlier in the preliminary phase by beating Carlsen in the sixth round. He finished fourth behind Anish, Carlsen and Ding Liren.
The two other Indian players -- P Harikrishna and Gujrathi in the 16-player field, finished outside the top 8 and failed to make the cut for the knockout bracket.
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Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
