Indian Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi opened their fast classical campaign with two draws each on the second day of the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot.
Praggnanandhaa drew both games against Germany’s Vincent Keymer in Group B, while Erigaisi shared points twice with American Grandmaster Hans Niemann in Group D. Both Indians finished the day with two points.
R Vaishali, the third Indian competing in the tournament, had a challenging day. She lost her opening game against French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave following a late error before drawing the return encounter.
With one point from two games, Vaishali was placed last in Group D, which was led by Vachier-Lagrave. The 25-year-old Indian is also scheduled to challenge Ju Wenjun for the Women’s World Championship title next year.
In Group B, Fabiano Caruana and Liem Le shared the lead with four points each. Praggnanandhaa and Keymer were tied for second place.
Erigaisi was among four players tied for second in Group D with Hans Niemann, Wesley So and Bibisara Assaubayeva.
Other group leaders included:
- Group A: Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, with four points each.
- Group C: Ian Nepomniachtchi, with four points.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, who won the blitz section on Tuesday, drew both his games against Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri.
The two players finished the day tied for third place in Group C with two points each.
Firouzja defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov in their opening encounter after capitalising on a critical mistake. Abdusattorov fought back in the return game and created winning opportunities, but Firouzja secured a draw.
Duda also collected four points after drawing his first game against Andrew Hong and winning the return encounter with White.
Caruana started his campaign with a victory over local favourite Richard Rapport while playing with the black pieces. Their return game ended in a draw, taking the American to four points.
Vietnamese Grandmaster Liem Le also reached four points against Vladislav Artemiev after drawing their first encounter and winning the second.
In Group C, Nepomniachtchi took the sole lead after defeating Abhimanyu Mishra in the opening game. Mishra secured a draw in their return encounter.
In the fast classical section, each player receives 45 minutes for the game, with an additional 30 seconds added after every move from the beginning.
