Nagpur: A day after forcing former world champions Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren to split points, Nagpur's first Grandmaster Raunak Sadhwani held India's best Arjun Erigaisi and legendary Viswanathan Anand to a draw on Day 2 of the World Rapid Team Chess Championship in Hong Kong on Thursday.
While Raunak continued to defend his position against the world's best, women's World Cup winner and Nagpur's Divya Deshmukh made her presence felt by remaining unbeaten in the four games she played representing the Hexamind Chess Team.
Raunak's Performance
In the eighth round, Raunak, representing Chessnut Nova, chose the Ruy Lopez opening with his black pieces to hold five-time World Chess Champion Anand to a quick 21-move draw. Earlier in the seventh round, Raunak suffered a defeat against Alireza Firouzja. The 21-year-old Raunak started the day with a marathon 65-move draw against India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi in the fifth round. Arjun later surprised world No. 1 Carlsen in the sixth round while Raunak outplayed Bilguun Sumiya.
Divya's Impact
For Divya Deshmukh, the rapid tournament has been a short and sweet affair as she played just four of the eight rounds in the tournament so far. When it mattered the most, Divya delivered for her team as she won three games and drew a round. Divya outplayed China's Yuxin Song and Zhang Xiao before stunning women's World Championship Challenger Vaishali Rameshbabu in the third round. Divya played a fifth-round draw with Prin Laohawirapap of Thailand.
With just four rounds remaining in the tournament, both the Nagpur masters are holding the fort with four points each.
