WR Chess Masters 2024 | Round 2.1 | Anand vs Pragg, Vidit vs Arjun, Raunak vs Firouzja

With a very diverse field, the WR Chess Masters 2024 is about to begin today at p.m. IST (10 a.m. local time in London). It has a knockout format with 16 players. Each day 2 players will be pitted against each other for 2 classical games. Yes, you read that right! The time control is absolutely brand new! 60 mins for 30 moves, then 30 minutes for next 20 moves and then 30 minutes for remaining moves. There is no increment. So essentially the game will end in 4 hours (2 hours per side). The first game starts at 10 a.m. local time, the seconds at 5 p.m. If the match remains tied at 1-1, then we go to an Armageddon where White has 10 minutes and the player who bids lowest time gets black with that time and draw odds. The tournament has a very mixed field with youngsters like Arjun, Nodirbek, Firouzja, Pragg, Sindarov, Raunak, Vaishali experienced campaigners like MVL, Vidit, Maghsoodloo, Bologan, legends like Anand, Topalov, Kosteniuk and future champions like Bodhana and Shrey