Grand Swiss Chess 2023: Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi in joint-lead at halfway stage; R Vaishali 2nd among women

Isle of Man, United Kingdom: Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi will have to bring out their best after the halfway mark despite being in joint lead, while R Vaishali, in joint second spot, is having a ball amongst the women in the FIDE Grand Prix Chess tournament in Isle of Man. With the only rest day slated on Tuesday, the Indians have some thinking to do as the dice has not quite been rolling in their favour except for three out of 20 participants in both men and women sections. As a matter of fact, the highest rated Indian at the start of the event — D Gukesh has fallen out of contention at the half way stage in the open section while R Praggnanandhaa is also struggling to make a comeback with just five rounds remaining in the strongest open of the year. With US$ 460000 and two qualifier berths at stake for the next Candidates’ event, Arjun and Vidit are the only two Indians who look in contention unless there is a huge burst coming from either Nihal Sarin, S L Narayanan, Aravindh Chithambaram or Praggnanandhaa in the last five games. Vidit and Arjun lead the tables with six others on 4.5 points out of a possible six but both of them are yet to play the top two seeds Americans Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. If and when they meet these players the course of the event will be decided for them. In the seventh round though, Vidit has a younger gun to burst in Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan while Arjun has a tough nut to crack in Andrey Esipenko of Russia. It may be recalled that all Russian players are playing here under the FIDE flag. Praggnanandhaa is meeting compatriot Abhijeet Gupta who has risen back after two losses in first two games. The star though is still looking for his first victory in the event and will hope it happens sooner than later. Though consistent, Narayanan, Nihal and Aravindh desperately need some victories to make a mark here. A few rating points gain is not exactly they are looking for. In the women’s section, Vaishali has been closing on her Grandmaster title and for that she looks determined. If her games are anything to go by, the Chennai-based player will look forward to another positive outing against erstwhile leader Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan and if she is successful she can hope for the best having played many top players, including the Ukrainian Muzychuk sisters in the event so far. Highest rated Indian, D Harika needs to pull herself up and score heavily in the last five for a podium finish. Important and Indian pairings of round 7 (Indians unless specified): Radoslav Wojtaszek (POL, 4.5) vs Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 4.5) vs Alexandr Predke (SRB, 4.5); Javokhir Sindarov (UZB, 4.5) vs Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi (4.5); Arjun Erigaisi (4.5) Andrey Esipenko (FID, 4.5); S L Narayanan (3.5) vs Levon Aronian (USA, 3.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 3.5) vs Aravindh Chithambaram (3.5); Frederik Svane (GER, 3.5) vs Nihal Sarin (3.5); R Praggnanandhaa (3) vs Abhijeet Gupta (3); P Harikrishna (3) vs Volodar Murzin (FID, 3); Nils Grandelius (SWE, 3) vs Aryan Chopra (3); Manuel Petrosyan (ARM, 3) vs Raunak Sadhwani (3); Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR, 2.5) vs Murali Karthikeyan (2.5); Max Warmerdam (NED, 2.5) vs B Adhiban (2.5); Elham Amar (NOR, 2) vs D Gukesh (2); Leon Luke Mendonca (2) Ediz Gurel (TUR, 2). Women: Aleksandra Goryachkina (FID, 4.5) vs Anna Muzychuk (UKR, 5); BIbisara Assaubayeva (KAZ, 4.5) vs R Vaishali (4.5); Mariya Muzychuk (UKR, 4) vs Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL, 4.5); Tan Zhongyi (CHN, 4) vs Stanroula Tsolakidou (GRE, 4); Sophie Milliet (FRA, 4) vs Marsel Efroimski (ISR, 4); Batkhuyag Munguntuul (MGL, 4) vs Leya Garifullina (FID, 4); Polina Shuvalova (FID, 3.5) vs Ulviyya Fataliyeva (FID, 4); Irina Bulmaga (ROU, 3.5) vs Dronavalli Harika (3.5); B Savitha Shri (2.5) vs Dinara Wagner (GER, 2.5); Ann Matnadze Bujiashvili (ESP, 2) vs Vantika Agrawal (2); Divya Deshmukh (2) vs Aulia Medina Warda (INA, 2); Gomez Barrera Javiera Belen (CHI, 1.5) vs Tania, Sachdev (2).