Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa came out with all guns blazing to beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the second round of the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest, Romania, on Friday.
Pragg, was at his best with white pieces against the Grunfeld defense wherein the white's central pawn structure proved superior.
The Indian was in command after the trade of queens and was clearly at the top of his game once the players reached a rook plus opposite colours bishop endgame.
Pragg won with ease and looks poised for more.
Meanwhile D Gukesh, the youngest-ever world champion, had to be content with a draw for the second day running against Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania.
Gukesh, with white pieces, did everything he had on his hand but the Romanian at his defensive best when it required. The wild game was drawn eventually.
Nihal Sarin back in reckoning
At the Asian Individual Chess Championship in the UAE, top seed and title favourite Nihal Sarin registered his second win on the trot on Friday to be in joint second spot after the end of the third round.
Nihal was a cut above his opponent Reza Mahdevi of Iran as he carried out the Queen's gambit with the white pieces and never let go of the initiative with the slightly favourable colour.
The middle game was intense but the Indian never let the command go out of sight.
In the end, the two players arrived at a minor piece endgame where Nihal had two Bishops that did the talking.
Baradiya Danehswar of Iran emerged as the sole leader on three points.
L R Srihari proved his mettle against former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta while P Iniyan and Murali Karthikeyan can hope to be in the top group and be in top eight that will guarantee a place in the next world chess cup.
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