St Louis, Aug 19:
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a fighting draw with Fabiano Caruana of the United States with black pieces and remained joint second after the end of the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup, part of the Grand Chess tour.
The draw took Pragcloser to a spot for a berth in the grand finale of the Grand chess tour scheduled later this year. The Indian took his tally to four points out of a possible seven.
Wesley So of the United States continued with his fine run in the tournament and drew with the super-solid Anish Giri of Holland to remain a half point ahead of nearest rivals. Along with Prag, Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France share the second position with four points apiece in their kitty.Giri is currently ninth on 3 points a half point clear with his compatriot Jorden Van Foreest Standing last.
The result between Caruana and Prag was never in any serious doubt as the Indian faced a rather early endgame in the Ruy Lopez opening. Caruana tried to put pressure not wanting to give much to the Indian but as things turned out the middle game without queens did not offer much hopes.
The pieces changed hands at regular intervals and Pragtook little time to get an absolute level position on board. The game was drawn in 56 moves with Praggnanandhaa having an extra Bishop with bare kings on board.