In Chess, Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin’s hopes of making it to the Candidates tournament suffered a setback as he lost to Alireza Firouzja of France in the ninth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss at Samarkand in Uzbekistan yesterday. With just two rounds left in the tournament, Nihal remained on six points and will now need to win his last two games to compete for a top-two finish that assures a place among the eight slots available for the Candidates.

 

 

Meanwhile, R Praggnanandhaa was held to another draw by American talent Awonder Liang and needs a miracle now to finish in the top two. However, Praggnanandhaa is still likely to make it to the Candidates as he has a huge lead in his tournament scores this year over his nearest rivals.

 

 

On the other hand, it turned out to be another forgettable day for world champion D Gukesh as his hunt for an elusive victory continued for the fifth day running. Gukesh drew with Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia.

 

 

In the women’s section, R Vaishali drew with Yuxin Song of China and remained in joint second spot on 6.5 points. Russian Kateryna Lagno played out a lucky draw with Bibisara Assaubayeva and inched herself up to seven points. The Russian continues to be trailed by Vaishali, Yuxin and Bibisara, who are all a half point behind.