Superbet Chess Classics: Gukesh draws with Praggnanandhaa

World Champion D Gukesh began his campaign at the Superbet Chess Classics with a draw against fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa in the opening round here on Wednesday. Gukesh enjoyed a stable advantage in the middle game arising out of a Queen pawn opening wherein Praggnanandhaa chose to play the Queen's gambit accepted. Interestingly, the same opening was used by Gukesh in the crucial game to qualify for the World Championship match, and Praggnanandhaa was only too aware of the situation.

It was a tit-for-tat battle in the early phase, but Gukesh seized the initiative that looked almost dominating by the 20th move. But right when Praggnanandhaa was trying to find the best defense, Gukesh erred a little and went for a queen grabbing for a rook and minor pieces, letting his Chennai city-mate walk back in the game. Another error by Gukesh led to a dynamic equality by the 26th move, and soon after, Praggnanandhaa won a rook for a knight to force parity. The game lasted 35 moves.

Meanwhile, Frenchman Firouzja Alireza and Wesley So emerged as the early leaders in the ten-players round-robin tournament defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania respectively.

In the other games of the day at the USD 350,000 prize money tournament, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour, Duda Jan Krzysztof of Poland played out a draw with Fabiano Caruana of the United States, while the other American, Levon Aronian, forced a truce with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. With eight rounds still to come, Alireza and Wesley are atop the table with a point each, and they are followed by Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Aronian, Abdusattorov, Caruana, and Duda, while Deac and Maxime are yet to open their account.

Results round 1: D Gukesh (Ind) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind); Levon Aronian (USA) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb); Duda Jan Krzysztof (Pol) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA); Firouzja Alireza (Fra) beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra); Wesley So (USA) beat Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou).