Tata Steel Masters: Praggnanandhaa draws with Gukesh

R Praggnanadhaa. Pic/PTI; (right) D Gukesh. Pic/AP, PTI

Grandmaster R Praggnanadhaa played out a solid draw with World champion D Gukesh in the eighth round of the Tata Steel Masters here. Playing the white side of a Berlin defense, Praggnanadhaa had slightly favourable position optically but Gukesh was always on guard to defend.

It was in the early middle game that Gukesh sacrificed a pawn to get his counterplay rolling and even though Praggnanadhaa tried to make use of it, the game was always closer to a draw. As the Queens got traded the players arrived at a rook and minor piece endgame wherein Gukesh found the best resources and even got an outside passed pawn. With Praggnanadhaa's rook having the lone task of working against the pawn, the result of the game was never in doubt.

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The game was drawn after 33 moves. With the draw, it is likely that both Praggananandhaa and Gukesh will continue to share the lead on 5.5 points as the other overnight leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan was also looking poised to share the point with fourth placed Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia. Among other Indians in the fray, Grandmaster P Harirkishna played out a draw with highest ranked Dutchman Anish Giri.

The Arkhengelsk variation in the Ruy Lopez as black gave Giri an easy equality in the early middle game and the pieces got exchanged in a heap. The players arrived at an absolutely level rook and pawns endgame where the draw was a just result. Harikrishna moved to four points out of a possible eight, while Anish took his tally to 3.5 following his seventh straight draw. Arjun Erigaisi played out a draw with Alexey Sarana of Serbia, while Leon Luke Mendonca also got the same result against Jorden van Foreest of Holland. Arjun on two points is a half point behind Mendonca.

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