Tata Steel Chess Wijk aan Zee: Arjun Erigaisi draws with Gukesh in round-3

GM Arjun Erigaisi played his second draw of the tournament in round 3 against his compatriot Gukesh Dommaraju at the Tata Steel Chess Wijk aan Zee on Monday.

Arjun, however, remained in joint lead with 4 other players, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Hans Niemann (USA), Matthias Bluebaum (GER) and Jordan Van Foreest (NED) with 2 points each.

Meanwhile, the defending champion GM Praggnanandhaa earned his first points on the board with a draw against Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czechia in round-3.

Earlier, Pragg lost to Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 2 with the black pieces, following his first-round defeat against Arjun Erigaisi.

Meanwhile, Aravindh Chithambram played his third consecutive draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov to remain unbeaten, trailing half a point behind 5 leaders.

Aravindh will next take on the current joint leader, Hans Niemann, in the fourth round on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Gukesh will have second consecutive all-Indian game against Pragg.

On the other hand, joint leader Arjun will aim to remain unbeaten against the Dutch GM Anish Giri with the black pieces in his fourth round matchup.

Wijk aan Zee is the first Super GM classical tournament of the year, with 14 participants in the Masters section, competing against each other in a single round-robin format.