BUCHAREST: Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to remain in joint lead with the Frenchman after five rounds of the Superbet Classic, a part of the Grand Chess tour.
World champion D Gukesh recovered a bit to draw with Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland in what turned out to be a rather dull day with stalemates on all five boards in the 10-player round-robin event.
Levon Aronian of the United States fought till the end against Firouzja Alireza of France to earn a half point. It was a similar story for Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan who had to split the point with Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania.
Apart from Vachier-Lagrave and Praggnanandhaa, Fabiano Caruana remained as the third co-leader after a long-drawn battle against fellow American Wesley So.
Playing white, Praggnanandhaa faced the expected Sicilian Najdorf against Vachier-Lagrave and chose a lesser-known variation as his reply. However, Vachier-Lagrave, with his deep understanding on the opening, did not face any hurdles in maintaining parity even though Praggnanandhaa sacrificed a pawn in the middle game to put some pressure on the kingside.
Vachier-Lagrave came up with a timely sacrifice, parting his rook for a knight and the activity of his remaining pieces ensured that there was no trouble. Praggnanandhaa eventually allowed a repetition and the game was drawn after 45 moves.
Gukesh went for huge complications against Duda and could have lost another game. The Queen's gambit declined did not yield much for the Indian and he decided to sacrifice a piece. The game could have been drawn but Gukesh got a little ambitious and it took another blunder from Duda on the 43rd move for the Indian to get a draw.
Results (Round 5): R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3) drew with Maxime-Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3); D Gukesh (Ind, 2) drew with Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 2); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 2) drew with Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rou, 2.5); Wesley So (USA, 2.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 3); Levon Aronian (2.5) drew with Firouzja Alireza (Fra, 2.5).