Grand Swiss chess: Sasikiran joint second after draw with Vachier-Lagrave

Indian GM K. Sasikaran draws with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the seventh round; P. Harikrishna beats Maksim Chigaev.

FILE PHOTO: K. Sasikiran is now unbeaten after seven rounds.

With another impressive performance, K. Sasikiran held World No. 10 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 30 moves to reach five points from seven rounds of the FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss chess tournament at Riga, Latvia, on Wednesday.

REPORT - SIXTH ROUND

Playing white, Sasikiran gave nothing away and the players drew following a three-fold repetition of moves. Sasikiran’s next round rival Alireza Firouzja (5.5 points) regained his half-point lead after beating Evgeniy Najer.

P. Harikrishna joined Nihal Sarin at 4.5 points after defeating Russia’s Maksim Chigaev. Sarin drew with Armenia’s Gabriel Sargissian. R. Praggnanandhaa battled hard to escape with a draw against Russia’s Peter Svidler while Arjun Erigaisi scored his second win in three rounds.

Among the women, D. Harika drew for the fourth straight round. Vantika Agarwal and Divya Deshmukh posted victories on lower boards.

Seventh round results (involving Indians)Open: K. Sasikiran (5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 5); Gabriel Sargissian (Arm, 4.5) drew with Nihal Sarin (4.5); P. Harikrishna (4.5) bt Maksim Chigaev (Rus, 3.5); Raunak Sadhwani (3.5) lost to Alexandr Predke (Rus, 4.5); Peter Svidler (Rus, 3) drew with R. Praggnanandhaa (3.5); Mihail Antipov (Rus, 3) drew with D. Gukesh (3); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (3) drew with Nijat Abasov (Aze, 3); Arjun Erigaisi (3.5) bt Vadim Zvjaginsev (Rus, 2.5); B. Adhiban (2.5) drew with Kiril Georgiev (Mkd, 2.5); Shamiddin Vokhidov (Uzb, 2.5) drew with S. P. Sethuraman (2.5). Women: Jolanta Zawadzka (Pol, 4.5) drew with D. Harika (4.5); Monika Socko (Pol, 3.5) drew with R. Vaishali (3.5); Vantika Agarwal (4) bt Carolina Lujan (Arg, 2.5); Padmini Rout (2) lost to Karina Cyfka (Pol, 3); Jovanka Houska (Eng, 2) lost to Divya Deshmukh (3).