Tata Steel Masters: Draw keeps Vidit in third spot; Carlsen stays in lead

India’s Vidit Gujrathi secures a draw in his ninth-round contest with Richard Rapport; Magnus Carlsen continues to be in the lead.

FILE PHOTO: Vidit Gujrathi has 5.5 points after nine rounds.

Vidit Gujrathi drew with Hungary’s Richard Rapport to hang on to the tied third spot in the Masters section after nine rounds of Tata Steel Chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam, on Monday.

A fifth draw took Vidit’s tally to 5.5 points and he joined Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who lost to leader Magnus Carlsen (6.5). Anish Giri (6) overpowered Sam Shankland to hold the second place.

A day of rest did not influence R. Praggnanandhaa’s form. The youngster crashed to his third successive defeat after running into Sergey Karjakin.

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In the Challengers section, Arjun Erigaisi (8 points) stretched his lead to two points after beating China’s Zhu Jiner in 52 moves.

However, Surya Shekhar Ganguly (4) tumbled to the ninth spot after this third loss in four games.

9th round results (Indians unless stated):

Masters: Richard Rapport (Hun, 5) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (5.5); R. Praggnanandhaa (2.5) lost to Sergey Karjakin (Rus 5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 6.5) bt Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 5.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 6) bt Sam Shankland (USA, 3.5); Nils Grandelius (Swe, 2) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4.5) drew with Daniil Dubov (Rus, 3.5); Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 4) drew with Andrey Esipenko (Rus, 4.5).

Challengers (involving Indians): Arjun Erigaisi (8) bt Zhu Jiner (Chn, 2.5); Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Den, 5.5) bt Surya Shekhar Ganguly (4).