Vidit Gujrathi drew with World No. 4 and second seed Fabiano Caruana to stay in joint lead after two rounds of the Masters section of the prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam, on Sunday.
The 23-move draw following a three-fold repetition of moves saw Vidit in the company of World champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) at 1.5 points.
R. Praggnanandhaa (1) followed his first-round draw with Anish Giri with another impressive draw against Duda. In this 40-move deadlock, the Indian youngster matched his much stronger rival move for move.
Carlsen nailed Anish in 36 moves after establishing a two-pawn advantage on the kings’ side. In the other decisive game, Hungary’s Richard Rapport defeated defending champion Jorden van Foreest.
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In the Challengers section, top seed Arjun Erigaisi (1.5) punished local Max Warmerdam for a tactical blunder in the middle game. Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1.5) drew with Lucas van Foreest. Both Indians were part of a three-way tie for second place, half a point behind 15-year-old Russian talent Volodar Murzin.
Second round results (Indians unless stated):
Masters: Vidit Gujrathi (1.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 1); R. Praggnanandhaa (1) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 1.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1.5) bt Anish Giri (Ned, 0.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1) drew with Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 1); Richard Rapport (Hun, 1) bt Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 1); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 1) drew with Daniil Dubov (Rus, 1); Sam Shankland (USA, 0.5) drew with Nils Grandelius (Swe, 0.5).
Challengers (involving Indians): Lucas van Foreest (Ned, 1) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1.5); Max Warmerdam (Ned, 0.5) lost to Arjun Erigaisi (1.5).
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