Praggnanandhaa maintains joint lead

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Poland’s Duda Jan-Krzysztof to maintain joint lead with 3.5 points after the sixth round of Superbet Chess Classics, a part of the Grand Chess tour.

Playing the black side of an English opening, Praggnanandhaa was subjected to some initial tactics by Duda but the Indian was quite up to task in not giving any free-way to the Polish opponent.

Duda showed his intent with a queen sacrifice for a rook and minor piece in the middle game and Praggnanandhaa was quick to realise that his chances were slim. The draw was the best result possible as neither player could make much progress.

The other overnight leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave could do little with his white pieces as he drew very quickly with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.

Srija in joint lead

Al Ain (UAE): Overnight sole leader Woman Grandmaster Srija Seshadri made sure she did not slip too much as she earned a hard-fought draw against the highest-ranked Indian woman player Vantika Agrawal to remain in joint lead after the seventh round of the Asian continental women’s chess championship here on Tuesday.

With her second draw in seven games, Srija took her tally to six points and now shares the lead with Mongolian Mungunzul Bat-Erdene, who put it across PV Nandhidhaa.

In the ‘Open’ section, things did not change much as the leader Bardiya Daneshvar was held to a draw by Ivan Zemlyanskii of Russia, while second-placed Indian Murali Karthikeyan also drew with another Russian Sergei Lobanov.

It is strange why the Russians are playing in the Asian event for the first time but the decision seems to have likely been taken because they can no longer participate in European tournaments due to the conflict with Ukraine.