Arjun holds Carlsen to a draw in Warsaw; Contestant champ Gukesh gets off to a smooth start – Firstpost

Warsaw: New FIDE Candidates champion D Gukesh got off to a tepid start, but compatriot Erigaisi Arjun held world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway to an easy draw in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament opener , which is part of the Grand Chess Tour.

World number seven Arjun also drew two more matches to stay within striking distance of early leader Kirilll Shevchenko of Romania after the third round of the tournament.

On a day when Gukesh lost his first two matches before drawing in the third, R Praggnanandhaa recovered in the third round to beat Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov with a score of fifty percent.

Shevchenko, the tournament’s lowest seed, emerged as the early leader with three consecutive victories in contrasting fashion.

The Ukrainian-turned-Romanian took advantage of a rare mistake from Gukesh in the first round, beat Praggnanandhaa in a brilliantly designed game, then showed his technical acumen to smash through the defenses of German Vincent Keymer.

With each victory in the rapid worth two points, Shevchenko has fought her way to six points and enjoys a two-point lead over her closest rivals Carlsen and Abdusattorov, who both have four points.

Arjun and Praggnanandhaa share fourth place with 3 points each with Keymer. Wei Yi of China shares seventh place with Giri and Duda Jan-Krzystof of Poland with two points in their kitty, while Gukesh is at the back of the pack with one point.

There are still six rapid rounds and 18 blitz rounds remaining in this tournament with USD 175,000 in prizes.

Arjun was clearly the pick of the day among three Indians showing a solid approach with three draws. While playing black against Carlsen, Arjun proposed the French defense and Carlsen surprisingly chose the exchange variation.

The midgame didn’t offer much for Carlsen and gradual exchanges led to a drawn rook and pawn endgame in which a draw was a fair outcome.

It was another rook and pawn endgame against Giri in an Indian Nimzo defense match. Playing his second black, Arjun once again gave nothing away and drew when the players were left with bare kings.

In his third match of the day, Arjun had some optical advantage but had to share the point with Wei Yi.

Gukesh tricked his queen into thinking about a checkmate that wouldn’t have happened in the first round against Shevchenko. It was a shock for fans of the challenger who had recently been crowned world champion.

As is often the case, it was difficult to deal with this oversight. In the second round also, Gukesh was doing well but made another mistake to find himself in a knights and pawns endgame lost to Abdusattarov. Gukesh finally recovered in the last match of the day and drew with Anish Giri.

Praggnanandhaa started with a draw against Duda but then fell prey to Shevchenko. The Indian once again showed nerves of steel and defeated Abdusattorov in the last match of the day to get back to fifty percent.

Ranking after round 3 Quick:

1. Kirill Shevchenko 6; 2-3: Carlsen, Abdusattorov 4 each; 4-6: Arjun, Pragganandhaa, Keymer 3 each; 7-9: Giri, Wei Yi, Duda 2 each; 10. Gukesh 1.