<p>Bucharest, Romania: World Championship challenger Grandmaster <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/d-gukesh">D Gukesh</a> played out a draw with tournament leader and top seed Fabiano Caruana of United States in the seventh round of the Superbet classic chess tournament here.</p><p>On another all-draws day, R <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/praggnanandhaa">Praggnanandhaa</a> signed peace with Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia leaving the lead positions intact like the previous round.</p><p>Caruana on 4.5 points remains in front with two victories and five draws, he is followed by Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja of France, who are all half a point behind the American.</p>.<p>Nepomniachtchi shares the fifth spot with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France with a fifty percent score, a half point ahead of the trio of American Wesley So, Dutch Anish Giri and Uzbekistan’s first son in chess Nodirbek Abdusattorov.</p><p>Just two rounds remain in the $350000 prize money tournament.</p><p>Gukesh's choice of Italian opening gave him an optical advantage against Caruana. After the initial tussle, the players reached a middle game wherein the Indian had an edge thanks to better placed forces but Caruana was up to the task in finding the defense to maintain the balance.</p><p>The pieces got traded at regular intervals in this encounter and the players arrived at a Queen and rook endgame where neither side had a real chance. The game was drawn after 62 moves.</p>.Learning ground of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa: How Velammal Institution is weaving a chess revolution in Chennai .<p>Praggnanandhaa had a relatively easy day against Nepomniachtchi despite playing black. Years of working with World number one Magnus Carlsen and his own expertise as the two-time world championship challenger has made Nepomniachtchi a leading theoretician but in the seventh round the Indian surprised him with what looked like a sensational preparation.</p><p>The next round would mostly decide the final outcome of the tournament as Caruana is facing Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh has a tough nut to crack in his final white game in Anish. Firouzja might also fancy his chances for a maiden victory in the Grand chess tour if he can conquer the machine-like precision of Nepomniachtchi.</p><p>Results round 7: Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, 3.5) drew with R Praggnaanandhaa (Ind. 4); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rom, 2) drew with Alireza Firouzja (fra, 4); Anish Giri (Ned, 3) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 4) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3.5) beat Wesley So (Usa, 3) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3). </p>
<p>Bucharest, Romania: World Championship challenger Grandmaster <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/d-gukesh">D Gukesh</a> played out a draw with tournament leader and top seed Fabiano Caruana of United States in the seventh round of the Superbet classic chess tournament here.</p><p>On another all-draws day, R <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/praggnanandhaa">Praggnanandhaa</a> signed peace with Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia leaving the lead positions intact like the previous round.</p><p>Caruana on 4.5 points remains in front with two victories and five draws, he is followed by Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Alireza Firouzja of France, who are all half a point behind the American.</p>.<p>Nepomniachtchi shares the fifth spot with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France with a fifty percent score, a half point ahead of the trio of American Wesley So, Dutch Anish Giri and Uzbekistan’s first son in chess Nodirbek Abdusattorov.</p><p>Just two rounds remain in the $350000 prize money tournament.</p><p>Gukesh's choice of Italian opening gave him an optical advantage against Caruana. After the initial tussle, the players reached a middle game wherein the Indian had an edge thanks to better placed forces but Caruana was up to the task in finding the defense to maintain the balance.</p><p>The pieces got traded at regular intervals in this encounter and the players arrived at a Queen and rook endgame where neither side had a real chance. The game was drawn after 62 moves.</p>.Learning ground of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa: How Velammal Institution is weaving a chess revolution in Chennai .<p>Praggnanandhaa had a relatively easy day against Nepomniachtchi despite playing black. Years of working with World number one Magnus Carlsen and his own expertise as the two-time world championship challenger has made Nepomniachtchi a leading theoretician but in the seventh round the Indian surprised him with what looked like a sensational preparation.</p><p>The next round would mostly decide the final outcome of the tournament as Caruana is facing Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh has a tough nut to crack in his final white game in Anish. Firouzja might also fancy his chances for a maiden victory in the Grand chess tour if he can conquer the machine-like precision of Nepomniachtchi.</p><p>Results round 7: Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, 3.5) drew with R Praggnaanandhaa (Ind. 4); Deac Bogdan-Daniel (Rom, 2) drew with Alireza Firouzja (fra, 4); Anish Giri (Ned, 3) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 4) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3.5) beat Wesley So (Usa, 3) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3). </p>