Grand Chess Tour 2024, Round 3: Arjun holds Carlsen, quiet start for Gukesh

Newly-crowned FIDE Candidates’ champion D Gukesh had a subdued start but compatriot Arjun Erigaisi held world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway to an easy draw in the opener of the Superbet Rapid and blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.

World Number seven Arjun also drew two more games to remain within striking distance of early leader Kirilll Shevchenko of Romania after the third round of tournament.

On a day when Gukesh lost his first two games before drawing the third, R Praggnanandhaa recovered in the third round to beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan to be on a fifty percent score.

Shevchenko, the lowest seed in the tournament emerged as the early leader with three victories on the trot coming in contrasting fashion.

The Ukrainian-turned-Romanian benefitted from a rare blunder by Gukesh in the first round, defeated Praggnanandhaa in a brilliantly crafted game and then showed his technical acumen to crash throught he defenses of Vincent Keymer of Germany.

With each victory in the rapid worth two points, Shevchenko marched his way to six points and enjoys two points lead over nearest rivals Carlsen and Abdusattorov who both have four points.

Arjun and Praggnanandhaa share the fourth spot on 3 points apiece along with Keymer. Wei Yi of China shares the seventh spot with Giri and Duda Jan-Krzystof of Poland with two points in their kitty, while Gukesh is in the rear on one point.

Six more rounds in rapid and 18 in blitz still remain in the USD 175000 prize money tournament.

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Arjun was clearly the pick of the day among three Indians showcasing a solid approach with three draws. Playing black against Carlsen, Arjun came up with the French defence and Carlsen surprisingly chose the exchange variation.

The middle game did not offer much for Carlsen and gradual exchanges led to a drawn rook and pawns endgame wherein draw was a just result.

It was another rook and pawns endgame against Giri out of a Nimzo Indian defense game. Playing his second black, Arjun again gave nothing away and drew when the players were left with bare kings.

In his third game of the day, Arjun had some optical advantage but had to split the point with Wei Yi.

Gukesh blundered his queen away thinking about a check-mate that was not happening in the first round against Shevchenko. It was a shocker for the fans of the recently crowned world championship challenger.

As is usually the case, it was hard to deal with the oversight. In the second round too, Gukesh was doing fine but blundered again to walk himself in to a lost knights and pawns endgame against Abdusattarov. Gukesh finally recovered in the final game of the day and drew with Anish Giri.

Praggnanandhaa started off with a draw against Duda but then fell prey to Shevchenko. The Indian showed steely nerves yet again and defeated Abdusattorov in the last game of the day to come back on fifty percent.