Candidates Chess: Gukesh loses to Alireza; Praggnanandhaa holds Caruana

Teen prodigy Gukesh slips in Toronto, while Nepomniachtchi leads; Vaishali struggles in women's section.

Grandmaster D Gukesh slipped from the joint top spot after suffering his first defeat, at the hands of Frenchman Firouza Alireza, but teen prodigy R Praggnanandhaa played out an easy draw with American Fabiano Caruana in the seventh round of the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto.

Following the loss, the 17-year-old Gukesh was down to the joint second spot on four points along with Caruana and Praggnanandhaa.

Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi regained his slender half-point lead inching to 4.5 points out of a possible seven at the half-way stage following a draw with American Hikaru Nakamura.

After a draw with Nijat Abasov, Vidit Gujrathi took his tally to 3.5 points to share the fifth spot with Nakamura while Alireza pulled himself up a little on 2.5 points to take the seventh spot. Abasov with two points is still in the last place.

In the women's section, R Vaishali seemed to have run out of steam as she suffered her third loss in the event. Tingjie Lei of China proved too good for the Indian on a day when the other three games ended in draws.

Zhongyi Tan of China remained half a point ahead of the pack after drawing with closest rival Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia.

Kateryna Lagno, Russia, played out a draw with Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria and in the other game of the day, Anna Muzychuk signed peace with India's Koneru Humpy.