Indian Chess Wrap, May 10: Praggnanandhaa in joint lead at Superbet Classic, Gukesh loses to Vachier-Lagrave

Grand Chess Tour: Superbet Chess Classic Romania 2025

World Champion D. Gukesh lost to France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the fourth round of the Superbet Classic in Romania on Saturday.

The other Indian in the competition, R. Praggnanandhaa settled for a draw against Deac Bogdan-Daniel. At the end of four rounds, he had 2.5 points, putting him in the joint-lead Fabian Caruana and Vachier-Lagrave.

Gukesh played with the black pieces and his opponent gained advantage through the middle game after a Scottish opening. Vachier-Lagrave managed to weaken Gukesh’s queenside and forced a resignation in 31 moves.

Gukesh was winless and in eighth place with 1.5 points at the end of the fourth round.

Asian Individual Chess Championships 2025

Indian GrandMasters Murali Karthikeyan and P Iniyan were in joint-lead on 3.5 points with Iranian Bardiya Daneshvar after the end of the fourth round at the Asian Continental Chess Championship in Al Ain on Saturday.

Karthikeyan defeated Iran’s Sina Mohaved while Iniyan got the better of Meng Yihan. Pranav Anand held top seed Nihal Sarin to a draw. Sarin had three points after the result.

In the women’s section, Srija Sheshadri was the best performing Indian with 3.5 points.

FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2024–2025

R. Vaishali lost to China’s Zhu Jiner on Saturday at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Austria.

The Indian opted for the Sicilian defense against the King’s Pawn opening by Zhu. The contest eventually moved to the French variation after Vaishali opted for e6 against Zhu’s Nf3.

The game moved towards a Rook-and-pawn end game, and the Chinese’s advanced pawns on the a and f files eventually forced a resignation in 59 moves.

The result meant Vaishali conceded her lead, and was joint-second at three points. Ukraine’s Anna Muzychuk was leading with four points from as many rounds.