Nihal Sarin stays in second spot at Grand Swiss chess tournament

In-form Nihal Sarin maintained his joint second position following a draw with Russia’s Pavel Ponkratov to reach three points after four rounds of the $425,000 FIDE Grand Swiss chess tournament in Riga, Latvia, on Saturday. France’s Alireza Firouzja stayed ahead of the pack at 3.5 points.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for the 15-member Indian contingent.

P. Harikrishna posted his second straight victory, S.P. Sethuraman drew with Boris Gelfand while D. Gukesh and K. Sasikiran continued their unbeaten run.

Among the women, fourth seed D. Harika stayed unbeaten after drawing with China’s Zhu Jiner to share the second spot.

The results (fourth round, involving Indians): Open: Nihal Sarin (3) drew with Pavel Ponkratov (Rus, 3); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 2.5) drew with D. Gukesh (2.5); Vladislav Artemiev (Rus, 2.5) drew with K. Sasikiran (2.5); Samuel Sevian (USA, 3) bt R. Praggnanandhaa (2); Sergei Movsesian (Arm, 1.5) lost to P. Harikrishna (2.5); Sanan Sjugirov (Rus, 2.5) bt Arjun Erigaisi (1.5); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 2) bt Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1); Maxim Matlakov (Rus, 1.5) drew with Raunak Sadhwani (1.5); S.P. Sethuraman (1) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 1.5); Jonas Buhjl Bjerre (Den, 2) bt B. Adhiban (0.5). Women: Zhu Jiner (Chn, 3) drew with D. Harika (3); Padmini Rout (2) lost to Alina Kashlinskaya (Rus, 3); M. Anna Sargsyan (Arm, 2.5) drew with Vantika Agarwal (2.5); R. Vaishali (2) bt Meruert Kamalidenov (Kaz, 1); Divya Deshmukh (1) drew with Sophie Millet (Fra, 1).