After three rounds of Rapid play on the opening day of the sixth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz tournament at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata, Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov led the Open category standings with 2.5 points.
In the first round, Nodirbek drew with Russian grandmaster Daniil Dubov. He later went on to win against German grandmaster Vincent Keymer and young Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa to grab two points.
Meanwhile, five times world champion Magnus Carlsen, the star attraction of this year’s tournament, had an underwhelming start, drawing his first two rounds. He played his opening game against Praggnanandhaa before a houseful crowd at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium.
Carlsen, in fact, faced Indian grandmasters in all of his three rounds on Wednesday. He drew with Nihal Sarin in the second round before winning his last round of the day against Vidit Gujrathi.
At fifth in the standings, Sarin ended the day as the highest-ranked Indian. He drew all his matches. Other than Carlsen, he also shared points with fellow Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigiasi and Dubov.
In the Women category, Russian grandmaster Aleksandra Goryachkina took the top spot after three rounds of Rapid play on the first day. She is followed by grandmaster Kateryna Lagno from her country and Indian grandmaster Vantika Agrawal, with all three holding a similar score of 2 points.
There will be a total of nine Rapid rounds in both the Open and Women’s categories. The final six rounds are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, with three rounds each day. The tournament will conclude with Blitz rounds on November 16 and 17.
