Kolkata: Arjun Erigaisi seems to be making up for the lost opportunity in the rapid meet as he led at the end of nine rounds of blitz open section with six points at the Tata Steel Chess India here on Saturday. The youngster lost his only game to Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who is just half a point behind the leader.
In a much improved show, Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine was leading with eight points after Day I in the women’s blitz, followed closely by India’s Vaishali Rameshbabu with seven points.
Rapid champion Nihal Sarin and D Gukesh, however, were off colour finishing the day with five and four points respectively. A decent show from Vidit Gujrathi kept the Nashik boy in the hunt with 5.5 points. R Praggnanandhaa, joining the tournament after receiving the Arjuna award earlier this week, had a poor day losing five games. Another Arjuna award winner this year Bhakti Kulkarni also lost five games.
Youngest contestant Savitha Shri created a flutter in the morning, winning her first three games before suffering reverses to end with four points. Mariya enjoyed an unbeaten run winning seven and drawing two games. Her elder sister Ana helped her cause by handing Vaishali her only loss of the day. tnn
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