Nihal Sarin continued his impressive run in the $425,000 FIDE Grand Swiss, beating Australia’s Temur Kuybovkarov with black pieces in the third round in Riga, Latvia, on Friday.
Nihal’s second victory put him joint second with 2.5 points behind leader Alireza Firouzja (3) of France.
D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, too, maintained their unbeaten run by drawing against higher-rated rivals. P. Harikrishna scored his first victory but B. Adhiban suffered a second straight loss. Surya Shekhar Ganguly and S. P. Sethuraman also lost.
In the women’s section, D. Harika defeated former World champion Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria) for her second victory to be among the nine leaders at 2.5 points.
The results (third round, involving Indians): Open: K. Sasikiran (2) drew with Parham Maghsoodhloo (Iri, 2); D. Gukesh (2) drew with Vladislav Artemiev (Rus, 2); R. Praggnanandhaa (2) drew with David Howell (Eng, 2); Temur Kuybokarov (Aus, 1.5) lost to Nihal Sarin (2.5); David Navara (Cze, 2) bt S. P. Sethuraman (1); Arjun Erigaisi (1.5) drew with Rauf Mamedov (Aze, 1.5); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1) lost to Dariusz Swiercz (USA, 2); P. Harikrishna (1.5) bt Ivan Fernandez Morovic (Chi, 1); Raunak Sadhwani (1) drew with Jordeen van Foreest (Ned, 1); B. Adhiban (0.5) lost to Volodymyr Onyshchuk (Ukr, 1.5).
Women: D. Harika (2.5) bt Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 1.5); Padmini Rout (2) bt R. Vaishali (1); Vantika Agarwal (2) bt Divya Deshmukh (0.5).
