Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by Romanian Deac Bogdan-Daniel while France’s Alireza Firouzja decided to finally call it quits in the sixth round of the Super Chess Classic, part of the Grand Chess Tour.

Alireza, who played two games despite an ankle injury, decided it was not possible for him to continue and withdrew on the rest day of the ten-player, nine-round tournament. Germany’s Vincent Keymer was the one to benefit from Firouzja’s withdrawal as he stretched his lead to a full point after getting a walk over in this round.

While all the other games ended in draws, Keymer remained as the sole leader on 4.5 points, a full point clear of Holland’s Jorden Van Foreest and Anish Giri, top seeded American Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa who all have 3.5 point each.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Wesley share the sixth spot on three points apiece while World Championship challenger Javokhir SIndarov of Uzbekistan is close behind on 2.5 points. Romanian Deac Bogdan-Daniel is in ninth spot with two points and Firouzja ended his campaign on one point from five games.

Deac Bogdan-Daniel might be the lowest ranked but the Romanian has time and again proved why he is the local pick for the main event as a wild card.

Praggnanandhaa went for complications right from the opening by going for the Stonewall Dutch, but Deac did not flinch and matched the Indian move-for-move. The pieces got traded at regular intervals, and even though Praggnanandhaa picked a temporary pawn, the draw was a foregone conclusion. It was over in 68 moves.

Sindarov was at the top of his game just a little over a month back when he won the Candidates to earn the right to challenge Gukesh for the next world championship match. However, here the Uzbek is yet to win a game after six rounds as he played his fifth draw with Caruana.

It was an Italian opening in which Caruana had a semblance of an advantage but the American tried not to go far ahead and the position was almost level in the middle game when the players repeated moves.

In the other game of the day, Foreest drew with compatriot Giri.

There are three more rounds still remaining in the event, which has a total prize pool of $375000, with a $100000 reserved for the winner.

Results round 6: Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou, 2) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 4.5) walk-over Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 1); Caruana Fabiano (Usa, 3.5) drew with Javokhir SIndarov (Uzb, 2.5); Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 3.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 3.5).

Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Dutchman Jorden Van Foreest even as Germany’s Vincent Keymer surged ahead following a facile victory in the fourth round of Super Chess Classic in Bucharest.

With a sole win over Alireza Firouzja of France and three draws, Praggnanandhaa inched to 2.5 points out of a possible four while Vincent moved to sole lead on three points after beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

On a day when Anish Giri also got an easy draw against World Championships challenger Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, Wesley So was also held to a draw by Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania.

Firouzja abstained from playing the fourth round citing health issues.

Praggnanandhaa faced an irregular opening as black and did not have any trouble equalising.

Van Foreest, who is slowly gaining ground and is already in top 20 of world rankings, pushed harder for a win among the two. As it happened, the players decided to repeat and the truce was called in just 35 moves.

Keymer was a class act as Vachier-Lagrave was outdone in the middle game.

After an English attack against the Najdorf Sicilian, Keymer sensed his chances with white pieces and launched a central attack that worked well given that the Frenchman had clear weaknesses on the king side.

Keymer pounced on an opportunity that gave him a rook for a Bishop and just moments later, Vachier-Lagrave erred decisively to lose further material. It was all over in just 38 moves.

Results round 4: Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 2.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5); Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 1.5) vs Aiireza Firouzja (Fra, 0.5) game postponed; Wesley So (Usa, 2) drew with Deac Bogdan Daniel (Rou, 1); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 1.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3) beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2).

Indian Grand Master R. Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Vincent Keymer of Germany to stay in joint lead after the third round of the Super Chess Classic, part of the Grand chess tour.

After a well-deserved victory over Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan in the previous round, Praggnanandhaa took his tally to two points out of a possible three. He now shares the lead with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Dutch duo of Jorden Van Foreest and Anish Giri along with Keymer.

With half the field of ten-players sharing the lead, Americans Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So have both drawn all their games to be on 1.5 points while Iranian turned Frenchman Alireza Firouzja and local star Deac Bogdan-Daniel both have a half point apiece.

For Praggnanandhaa, the white pieces did not matter much. Keymer has been a consistent performer amongst the top players for quite some time and on this day too was in his element as he gave little chance to the Indian.

Praggnanandhaa went for the Capablanca variation against the Nimzo Indian and Keymer sacrificed a pawn early in the opening to restore parity. As it happened in the game, the players reached a rook and minor piece endgame wherein Pragg’s extra pawn was effectively dealt by a perfect blockade and the game was drawn after 64 moves.

Anish Giri proved why no one should take him lightly yet again as he scored his first victory in the event over Alireza Firouzja. The King’s Indian was the preferred choice by the French GM and Giri got a stronghold leading to a small sacrifice wherein Firouzja gave up his rook for a minor piece. The technicalities remain but one could on Anish to deliver the goods.

Foreest continued to surprise his detractors as he scored over Deac with black pieces. It was another King’s Indian wherein the initial skirmish led to wild complexities and clearly, Foreest was much superior in handling them compared to Deac.

The other two games of the day were drawn as Caruana could do little against Wesley while Sindarov recovered a bit by holding Vachier-Lagrave.

The Super Classic is a nine-round event between ten players with a total prize pool of $ 3,50,000, from which a USD 100,000 is reserved for the winner.

Results round 2

Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 0.5) lost to R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 1.5) Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 0.5) lost to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 1.5); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 1) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 1); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 1.5) beat Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou); Wesley So (USA, 1) drew with Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 1).