Magnus Carlsen taking on Nihal Sarin at the Tata Steel India chess tournament. (PHOTO: Lennart Ootes)
World No 1 Magnus Carlsen was held to draws by India’s R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin in the rapid section of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz chess tournament at Kolkata’s Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium on Wednesday. The former world champion Carlsen ended the first day of the event with a win over Vidit Gujarathi in his third match of the day to stay in second position.
The man leading the open standings after Wednesday’s three rounds ahead of the world no 1 is Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
Abdusattorov scored 2.5 points out of a possible three, securing victories over talented German Vincent Keymer in round two and India’s Praggnanandhaa R in round three, while drawing his opening game with Daniil Dubov.
There are six more rounds remaining in the rapid event after which there will be a blitz section.
INTERACTIVE: How Carlsen was held to a draw by Praggnanandhaa
Playing with white, the Norwegian opted for a English Opening which saw a Neo-Catalan variation on the board soon enough. The game ended in a draw after 36 moves with the all-powerful queens exiting the stage by the 26th move.
INTERACTIVE: How Carlsen was held to a draw by Nihal Sarin
The Magnus versus Nihal Sarin game ended in a draw after 63 moves with Carlsen playing with black.
INTERACTIVE: How Carlsen defeated Vidit Gujarathi
The former world champion, playing with white pieces, forced Vidit to resign after 69 moves with just three pieces left on the board. Vidit threw in the towel after Carlsen moved his king in front of his f file pawn, meaning there was no way for the Indian to prevent Magnus’s pawn from promoting.
Vantika Agrawal shared joint lead
In the women’s section, India’s Vantika Agrawal shares the lead with Aleksandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno with all three players scoring two points from three rounds. Vantika achieved a significant victory over Valentina Gunina in the opening round and followed up with draws against Alexkandra Kosteniuk and Nana Dzagnidze. Meanwhile, India’s Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, and Divya Deshmukh each trail the leaders by half a point after drawing all three games on day one.
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