R Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by the world's youngest-ever Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra of the United States.
Arjun Erigaisi will start as the favourite against veteran Hungarian Peter Leko, while R Praggnanandhaa faces the inventive Daniil Dubov.
Harikrishna continued his success story with the seasoned Grandmaster, who famously assisted Gukesh in the World Championship title match, showcasing his skills as a brilliant attacker.
In the sixth round Gukesh survived another scare before steering the game to a draw with Firouzja.
Grandmaster Nihal Sarin played out a quick and effortless draw with Matthias Bluebaum of Germany to share the lead with the German on six points after the end of the eighth round of FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Friday.
Gukesh had another eventful game in a Queen pawn opening with black pieces.
Praggnanandhaa held by Sevian; Gukesh draws with Vachier-Lagrave.
Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and P Harikrishna had another good day as they sent veteran Peter Leko of Hungary and Swede Nils Grandelius packing in the fourth-round tiebreaker at the Chess World Cup, in Panaji on Thursday.
Looking to assert his supremacy across formats, reigning world champion D Gukesh of India began his campaign in the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, with a crushing victory over France's Etienne Bacrot in the first round.
World champion D Gukesh bowed out of the Chess World Cup, losing the third-round match to Frederik Svane of Germany, while Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa made it to the last-32 stage, in Panjim on Saturday.
Vaishali knew she had to win to remain in contention and her approach right from the start was in sync with the requirement of the tournament situation.
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa kept himself in hunt for an overall top four finish in the Grand Chess Tour after a draw with Wesley So of the United States in the eighth and penultimate round of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis (USA).
Women's World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh, who has also qualified for the Women's Candidates, has opted out of the women's section to compete with the best in business.
R Praggnanandhaa scored a fluent victory over Frenchman Alireza Firouzja to claim the joint lead after the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup.
While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.
World champion D Gukesh was held to a draw by the lone wild card Samuel Sevian, while fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa also split the point with Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
'Last year, I messed up some good positions against him, I think I did not beat him (in classical) for almost two years now, so finally it's good to get a win.'
R Praggnanandhaa sealed his spot in the Grand Chess Tour finale after finishing runner-up at the Sinquefield Cup.
World Champion D Gukesh suffered his second straight defeat at the FIDE Grand Swiss, losing to Greece's Nikolas Theodorou in the sixth round in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
D Gukesh put his opening-round blues behind him and scored an excellent victory over former world rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the second round of the Sinquefield Cup.
World Champion D Gukesh went down to world's youngest-ever Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra of the US in the fifth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss.
'While we expand into other areas, banca remains our primary channel, and we continue to be a banca-led organisation.'
Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin's hopes of making to the Candidates tournament suffered a setback as he lost to Alireza Firouzja of France in the ninth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Saturday.
World champion D Gukesh overcame a loss against Leinier Dominguez Perez to beat the American duo of Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana to stand at fourth spot.
Aronian sits on six points, followed closely by compatriot Fabiano Caruana on five after two wins and a draw. Gukesh shares the third place with another American, Wesley So, while Vachier-Lagrave and Leinier Dominguez Perez are tied for fifth with three points each.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland to maintain joint lead with 3.5 points
Like Gukesh, Aronian was just able to draw two games and lost one.
World champion Dommaraju Gukesh scored one win and four draws on the opening day to slip to joint-sixth in the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz chess tournament, a part of the Grand chess tour, in St. Louis (USA), on Friday.
Praggnanandhaa draws with Aronian, shares top spot at Superbet Classic
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa bounced back from a poor start in the rapid section to climb to second place in the overall standings at the end of the first half of the blitz section in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz tournament.
Aravindh Chithambaram had a good second day as he beat former World champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and drew the last two games to find himself on the sole third spot in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz chess tournament.
The CCS approved the proposal to buy 156 LCH 'Prachand' worth over Rs 62,500 crore from HAL, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
World champion Dommaraju Gukesh was beaten by compatriot Ramesh Praggnanandhaa and ended up two points behind Magnus Carlsen, with 15.5, in the Super United Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament in Zagreb, Croatia, on Saturday.
Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram finished joint first with 11 points after the end of the rapid section of the Superbet Rapid and Blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
Grand Chess Tour: Gukesh in joint lead with Carlsen and Wesley So after day one
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won the Superbet Chess Classic after defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave with white pieces in the final Blitz play-off game on Friday.
Grand Chess tour: Magnus wins Super United Rapid and blitz with a round to spare
Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram did not see any change in his fortunes in the blitz section and had to be content with a tie for seventh place in his maiden outing in the GCT.
Asian chess: Srija Seshadri in joint lead
Gukesh is currently sharing the 8th spot on 1.5 points along with Abdusattorov and Duda.
