Pragg, Aravindh continue to lead after draws in sixth round

Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram continued to remain in joint lead after drawing their sixth-round games in the Prague Masters Chess tournament here.

Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by Sam Shankland of the United States, while Aravindh split the point with Quang Leim Le of Vietnam to be on four points out of a possible six. For the first time in the tournament, all the games were drawn on the day.

Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh continued to be followed by top seed Wei Yi of China, Anish Giri of Netherlands, Vincent Keymer of Germany and Quang Leim, all on three points apiece. Another half-point behind are the Czech duo of Nguyen Thai Dai Van and David Navara, Gurel Ediz of Turkey and Shankland.

With three more rounds to come, Praggnanandhaa is set to play the next two games with white pieces. Aravindh, on the other hand, has only one game with white left. Praggnanandhaa takes on Wei Yi next, while Aravindh will meet Giri, who has drawn all his games so far.