An extremely fortuitous D. Gukesh escaped with a 41-move draw against R. Praggnanandhaa to be joint second after six rounds of the 48th La Roda International Open chess tournament at Castilla La Mancha, Spain, on Saturday.
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The two prodigiously talented Indian teenagers battled hard for the second time this week. Praggnanandhaa, lucky to win their previous encounter in Iceland, held an overwhelmingly superior position but could not find the precise continuation after the 32nd move.
Gukesh fought gamely and once the queens were off the board, came up with the right defence to force a draw.
Raunak Sadhwani joined his compatriots at five points after beating Nunez Domingo (Spain). Armenia’s Haik Martirosyan leads with 5.5 points. Three rounds remain.