Kolkata: Overnight joint leader Viswanathan Anand lost to Arjun Erigaisi but shared the lead with Nihal Sarin on 4.5 points after six rounds of the Rapid competition in the Tata Steel Chess India here on Thursday. Also on 4.5 points, Kateryna Lagno is the sole leader in the women’s section.
Having begun the day with a defeat, Anand bounced back into contention by defeating Hans Niemann and then Volodar Murzin. Sarin beat Niemann, the joint-leader after the first day’s matches on Wednesday, Murzin and Vidit Gujarathi.
Against Erigaisi, Anand appeared to be winning in the middlegame but ceded the advantage after a rook blunder. Erigaisi defended patiently before capitalising on an endgame error to secure an important win. A superior pawn structure and stout defence helped Erigaisi defeat Niemann before ending the day with a masterclass in the opposite coloured bishop middle game to beat Murzin.
Sarin downed Niemann exploiting the latter’s knight blunder, beat Murzin with a neat back rank combination and handled a knight endgame well to log the point against Gujrathi. Half a point behind the leaders is Wesley So with Erigaisi, R Praggnanandhaa and Niemann all on 3.5.
Lagno, winner of the blitz here in 2024, book-ended a draw against Dronavalli Harika with wins against Divya Deshmukh and Stavroula Tsolakidou. That took Lagno half-a-point ahead of Wednesday’s leader Carissa Yip, who lost to Nana Dzagnidze in round five. Going into the final day of Rapid, Yip is second on 4, Dzagnidze is on 3.5 and defending champion Aleksandra Goryachkina on 3.
