FIDE Grand Swiss Round 8: Divya Holds Gukesh To Six-Hour 103-Move Draw; Nihal Shares Lead

Reigning Women’s Chess World Cup champion Divya Deshmukh put on a masterclass, holding world champion Gukesh Dommaraju to a marathon six-hour, 103-move draw in round 8 of the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand.

Despite the 289-point gap in their ELO ratings, Divya’s precise play ensured the game ended in a hard-fought draw.

In other results, Nihal Sarin and Germany’s Matthias Bluebaum agreed to a swift draw after only 21 moves, keeping them tied at the top of the standings. Arjun Erigaisi and Shant Sargsyan also shared the points in a quiet, evenly contested game.

On the day when R Vaishali lost her sole lead after losing to Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan in the women’s section, the other defending champion Vidit Gujrathi also met his nemesis in Vincent Keymer of Germany.

Kateryna Lagno of Russia made full use of her white pieces to secure a solid victory over Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine. The win pushed Lagno’s score to 6.5 points out of a possible eight, putting her half a point clear of Bibisara Assaubayeva, R Vaishali, and Yuxin Song of China, who are all tied on six points.

Nihal, playing with the black pieces, opted for the Queen’s Gambit Accepted and faced little resistance from Bluebaum. While the German had impressed in earlier rounds, he did not press enough in the eighth, and the game was wrapped up in just 21 moves after a simple repetition of moves.

R Vaishali, on the other hand, was outplayed in the endgame by Assaubayeva. In a near must-win situation, Vaishali left a pawn hanging, which the Kazakh capitalized on with precise technique to claim full points.

Vaishali now faces Yuxin Song in the next round, a matchup that could prove decisive for her chances of staging a strong comeback in the tournament.

Important And Indian Results Round 8 Open (Indians Unless Specified): Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 6) drew with Nihal Sarin (6); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 5.5) drew with Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 5.5); Abhimanyu Mishra (Usa, 5.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 5.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 5.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 5.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 5.5) beat Vidit Gujrathi (5); Richard Rapport (Hun, 5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (5); Shant Sargsyan (Arm, 5) drew with Arjun Erigaisi (5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fid, 5) drew with V Pranav (5); Abhimanyu Puranik (4.5) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 4.5); P Harikrishna (3.5) lost to Anton Guijarro David (Esp, 4.5); Volodar Murzin (Fid, 4) drew with Leon Luke Mendonca (4); Aditya Mittal (3.5) playing Raunak Sadhwani (3.5); Shamsiddin Vokhidov (4) drew with S L Narayanan (4); D Gukesh (3) playing Divya Deshmukh (3.5); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 3.5) drew with Aryan Chopra (3.5); Murali Karthikeyan (3.5) beat Jaime Santos Latasa (Esp, 2.5).

Women: Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 6) beat R Vaishali (6); Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 6.5) beat Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr, 5); Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 5) lost to Yuxin Song (Chn, 6); Tan Zhongyi (Chn, 5.5) beat Tsolakidou Stavroula (Gre, 4.5); D Harika (4.5) drew with Olga Girya (Fid, 4.5); Dinara Wagner (Ger, 4.5) drew with Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 4.5); Vantika Agrawal (3.5) lost to Polina Shuvalova (Fid, 4.5).

With PTI Inputs