FIDE Grand Swiss: R Praggnanandhaa Held by Aryan Chopra; D Gukesh Draws with Rauf Mamedov – News18

Grandmaster and World Cup silver medallist R Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by compatriot Aryan Chopra while D Gukesh signed peace out of a theoretical opening against Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan in the first round of the FIDE Grand Swiss that got underway here.

On a day when Raunak Sadhwani held fourth seed Anish Giri to a solid draw, Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chithambaram and S L Narayanan turned out winners against Frederik Svane of Germany, Wu Li of Isle of Man and Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux of Canada respectively.

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In a shocking turn of events, Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi succumbed to Erwin L’ami of Holland. After nearly outplaying his Dutch counterpart, Gujrathi lost control towards the end, and some serious mistakes in the endgame cost him a rook for a knight. L’ami scored the upset after 65 moves.

Aryan Chopra is another young Grandmaster who hails from Delhi and is trying to make a mark in international circuit. Playing the black side of a Slav defense against someone who is, by consent, one of the best talents in the world, Chopra fought valiantly and held on to his own in a finely-paced game.

Praggnanandhaa traded queens early in the opening and dented the black’s pawn structure a bit and even stood slightly better for quite some time. However, the position was always closer to a draw and a flurry of exchanges led to an equal opposite-coloured Bishops endgame. The game was drawn after just 33 moves.

Gukesh never got a chance against Mamedov who is known as a theoretician. Playing the black side of a Sicilian Scheveningen, the Indian Grandmaster went for the Scheveningen setup and Mamedov went for an old variation that is solid in nature.

Against strong players, it is not easy to win with black if they are not trying to win as white, is the mantra that goes around. And that was the true case for Gukesh as, after a mere 23 moves, the players repeated the position and signed peace.

Meanwhile, top seed Fabiano Caruana of the United States scored a victory with black pieces against Ivan Saric of Croatia showcasing some fine understanding of a lesser-known opening system.

Saric sacrificed a rook for a knight in the early middle game but never got enough compensation.

Arjun Erigaisi came up with a fine show to beat Frederik Svane. The Indian was on a roll with white pieces in a Queen’s Gambit declined game and annihilated the opponent’s defence with a timely-exchange sacrifice to win in 37 moves.

In the women’s event being held simultaneously, Tania Sachdev played out a draw with D Harika in a game that was keenly contested.

Merurt Kamalidenova of Kazakhstan proved stronger than Vantika Agarwal but Savitha Shree came up with strong resistance to beat Marsel Efroimski of Israel when the latter blundered in to a checkmate from what looked like a tricky yet balanced endgame.

Also ending on the winning side here were R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh, who got the better of Oliwia Kiolbasa of Poland and Trisha Kanyamarala respectively.

Important and Indian results Round 1 (Indians unless stated): Ivan Saric (Cro) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA); Hikaru Nakamura, Hikaru (USA) drew with Rasmus Svane (Ger); Anish Giri (Ned) drew with Raunak Sadhwani; Rauf Mamedov (Aze) drew with D Gukesh; R Praggnanandhaa drew with Aryan Chopra; P Harikrishna drew with Henriquez Villagra Cristobal (Chi); Erwin L’ami (Ned) beat Vidit Santosh Gujrathi; Arjun Erigaisi beat Frederik Svane (Ger); Leon Luke Mendonca drew with Jorden Van Foreest (Ned); Eduardo Iturrizaga (Esp) drew with Nihal Sarin; Xiong Jeffery (USA) drew with Murali Karthikeyan; Abhijeet Gupta lost to Vladimir Fedoseev (Slo); B Adhiban lost to Predke Alexandr (Srb); S L Narayanan beat Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux (Can); Aravindh Chithambaram beat Wu Li (IOM).

Women: Tan Zhongyi (Chn) beat Fataliyeva Ulviyya (Aze); Sophie Milliet (Fra) lost to Anna Muzychuk (Ukr); Tania Sachdev drew with D Harika; R Vaishali beat Oliwia Kiolbasa (Pol); B Savitha Shri beat Marsel Efroimski (Isr); Vantika Agrawal lost to Merurt Kamalidenova (Kaz); Divya Deshmukh beat Trisha Kanyamarala (Irl).

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)