Gukesh draws with Nepomniachtchi

St Louis: World championship challenger Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh played out a thrilling draw with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi to be tied second after the second round of the Sinquefield Cup, the final event on the Grand Chess Tour this year.

After a relatively easy draw with reigning world champion Ding Liren of China, Gukesh had an exciting match against Nepomniachtchi out of a Catalan opening game on Tuesday. The Indian stood marginally better for the major part as white pieces but Nepomniachtchi, who has won the Candidates' tournament twice, stayed put with some fine defense and counter-attacks to steer the game to a draw in the knight and pawns endgame.

The game lasted 60 moves. Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa also stayed in the hunt after a draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. It was another Italian opening game as black for the Indian who did not get any chance against a solid Vachier-Lagrave.

The pieces got traded at regular intervals and the players arrived at a rook and pawns endgame that offered no chances. After a lone decisive game in the opening round wherein Alireza Firouzja of France defeated Fabiano Caruana of United States, the second round witnessed an all-draws day. Firouzja drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and Dutchman Anish Giri signed peace with Ding Liren. In the other game of the USD 3,50,000 prize money tournament, the all American duel between Wesley So and Caruana was also drawn.

Results round 2: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 1) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 1); Anish Giri (Ned, 1) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 1); Wesley So (Usa, 1) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 0.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 1) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, 1); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 1.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1).