Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi keeps lead in Tata Steel Masters

Praggnanandhaa scored his first victory of the tournament, beating Sweden’s Nils Grandelius

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi settled for a draw against Russia's Andrey Esipenko in the fourth round to stay in the lead with three points in the prestigious Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here.

Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, bounced back after a defeat in the third round and scored his first victory of the tournament, beating Nils Grandelius of Sweden late on January 18 to take his tally to 2 points.

Praggnanandha won a fine positional game in Gruenfeld Defence against Grandelius. After an instructive exchange of his dark-squared bishop for a knight in a closed position, the Indian seamlessly executed a classical plan of playing against the opponent’s so-called bad bishop and pulled out a well-deserved victory in a rook endgame.