Vidit Gujrathi draws 6th round game, stays top in Prague chess tourney

Indian Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi maintained a one-point lead after settling for a draw against Nikita Vitiugov of Russia in the sixth round of the Prague Chess Festival's Masters category here.

He has 4.5 points and is ahead of Vitiugov and top seed Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, both on 3.5 points.

The 25-year old Indian no.2 opted for a London opening in his game against the Russian GM and had to sign the peace treaty in 39 moves late on Tuesday.

Gujrathi's compatriot P Harikrishna had to be content with his fifth draw in six games, against lower-rated Spanish GM David Anton Guijjaro.

Harikrishna, who chose a Catalan opening against Guijjaro, shared the point in 30 moves. The India no.3 now has 2.5 points after the conclusion of six rounds.

Gujrathi and Harikrishna will meet in an interesting clash in the seventh round later Wednesday.

All the five games in the sixth round ended in draws with American Sam Shankland and Markus Ragger (Austria) being involved in a 76-move marathon.

Results of Round 6: P Harikrishna (IND) 2.5 drew with David Anton Guijjaro (SPA) 3; Nikita Vitiugov (RUS) 2.5 drew with Vidit Gujrathi (IND) 4.5; Alirez Firouzja (Iran) 3 drew with David Navara (CZE) 2.5; Markus Ragger (AUT) 2.5 drew with Sam Shankland (USA) 2.5; Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) 3.5 drew with Nils Grandelius (SWE) 2.5.