Teen spirit as Arjun Erigaisi, Praggu in 1-2

New York, September 20

India’s teenaged Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi jumped to the top position with 17 points after eight rounds, while his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa is in the second place with 15 points at the Julius Baer Cup here.

The much-anticipated Praggnanandhaa-Magnus Carlsen clash in Round 8 ended in a draw. The Indian had beaten the Norwegian ace twice earlier this season in the online matches.

After the conclusion of the second day of the preliminary matches, Erigaisi is two points clear of Praggnanandhaa and world champion Carlsen (15 points).

Erigaisi started the day with a win over Hans Niemann (USA) and went on to beat Levon Aronian (Armenian). The all-Indian clash between Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa ended in a 67-move draw. Later in the eighth and final round of the day, he shared honours with Ivan Saric of Croatia.

Praggnanandhaa started the day with a draw against Polish Radoslaw Wojtaszek in the fifth round before taming the highly-rated German Vincent Keymer in the next game. The 17-year-old then held Carlsen to a draw in 67 moves.

Meanwhile, Carlsen resigned from his game against Niemann after just two moves.

The world champion had come into the sixth-round encounter after a defeat to the 19-year-old American in the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, following which he alleged his opponent of cheating and pulled out of the tournament.

Carlsen subsequently scored a win over Aronian in Round 7 before sharing honours with Praggnanandhaa.

Baskaran Adhiban, the third Indian in the fray, is languishing in the last place in the 16-player event with three points. He faces Praggnanandhaa in the ninth round.

Veteran Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk continued to impress and is in fourth place with 13 points.