KOLKATA: The focus was on the rising superstars of Indian chess, but Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi failed to shine on the opening day of the Tata Steel Chess India rapid tournament at the Bhasha Bhawan in the National Library of India campus on Tuesday.
D Gukesh, the new India No. 1 player, maintained an unbeaten run to stay on top with two points at the end of three rounds on the opening day to share the lead along with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Germany’s Vincent Keymar.
However, breathing down their necks, just half-a-point behind were Praggnanandhaa, Russian Alexander Grischuk and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
Keymar showed why he is so highly spoken about as one for the future as the 18-year-old defeated both Prag and Arjun, but lost to Radjabov. Prag, playing his first tournament in India after making the cut for the Candidates, began beating Radjabov with black pieces and then held Vachier-Lagrave. But the Chennai boy lost to Keymar in the last round.
Arjun failed to get going, suffering back-to-back losses to Keymar and GM Nodirbek, who arrived just on the morning of the tournament. The Warangal boy must be relieved to end the day with a win against experienced GM Pentala Harikrishna in the last round of the day. Members of India’s Asian Games bound side Hari finished at the bottom of the table with 0.5 points while Vidit Gujrathi managed just one point.
Radjabov, who started the day with a loss against Prag, bounced back with two consecutive victories against Keymar and Nodirbek to join the lead.
