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Indian chess stars D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa settled for draws in the second round of the ongoing Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. Gukesh played out a draw against GM Ian Nepomniatchchi on Tuesday, August 20 in round two, whereas GM R Praggnanandhaa settled for a draw against French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (MVL). The sole leader for the tournament by the end of the second round is GM Alireza Firouza with 1.5 points.
Indian chess masters, on the other hand, are currently tied for second spot with other six grandmasters. All other games at the competition ended in a draw as GM Ding Liren forced a perpetual on GM Anish Giri to finish in a draw. Gukesh had an exciting clash against Nepomniachtchi, where he stood marginally better for the major parts as white pieces but Nepomniachtchi stayed put with some defence in a sixty minute-long game.
It’ll be an all-Indian affair in round three as Praggnanandhaa will take on compatriot Gukesh. On the other hand, Alireza is set to face MVL, World Champion Ding Liren will be up against Wesley So. Fabiano Caruana will face the Uzbek prodigy Nodirbek Abdusattarav and Ian Nepommniactchi is set to clash against the Dutch Anish Giri.
The results of round 2 look like: 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).
