Pragg and Gukesh share lead at Tata Steel Masters after draw

R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh draw in Round 8 of the Tata Steel Masters, both maintaining the lead at 5.5 points, alongside Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands): Continuing his fine form in the Tata Steel Masters, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a solid draw with world champion D Gukesh in the eighth round here.

Playing the white side of a Berlin defense, Praggnanandhaa had a slightly favourable position optically but Gukesh was always on the guard.

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It was in the early middle game that Gukesh sacrificed a pawn to get his counterplay rolling, and even though Praggnanandhaa 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 Praggnanandhaa’s rook having the task of working against the pawn, the result of the game was never in doubt. The game was drawn after 33 moves.

With this draw, both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh continue to share the lead on 5.5 points with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, who defeated Vladimir Fedoseev of Slovenia.

Among other Indians in the fray, Grandmaster P Harikrishna played out a draw with highest-ranked Dutchman Anish Giri. The Arkhengelsk variation in the Ruy Lopez with 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-pawn 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.

Erigaisi, on two points, is a half point behind Mendonca. In the Challengers section, Nguyen Thai Van Dam of the Czech Republic shot into sole lead on six points defeating 14-year-old Chinese Miaoyi Lu. R Vaishali was held to a draw by Arthur Pijpers of Holland while Divya Deshmukh lost another game in the event against Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan.

With five rounds to come, the battle comes to a halt with a rest day and the matches will resume on Tuesday. This will be the second rest day in the traditional event that has been running for almost nine decades.

Results: Round 8
Masters: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 5.5) drew with D Gukesh (Ind, 5.5); P Harikrishna (4) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 3.5); Leon Luke Mendonca (Ind, 2.5) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 3) Arjun Erigaisi (Ind, 2) drew with Alexey Sarana (Srb, 4.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 5.5) drew with Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo, 5); Max Warmerdam (Ned, 3) lost to Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5).

Challengers: Arthur Pijpers (Ned) drew with R Vaishali (Ind, 4.5); Benjamin Bok (Ned, 5) drew Frederik Svane (Ger, 4.5); Yakubboev Nodirbek (Uzb) beat Irina Bulmaga (Rom, 1); Divya Deshmukh Ind, 1.5) lost to Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz, 5); Nguyen Thai Van Dam (Cze, 6) beat Miaoyi Lu (Chn, 4.5); Suleymanli Aydin (Aze, 5) beat Faustino Oro (Arg, 2.5); Gurel Ediz (Tur, 4) drew with Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 5.5).