International Master Hemant Sharma produced a sterling effort to hold higher-rated compatriot P Harikrishna to a creditable draw in the first round of the Masters section of Gibraltar Chess festival on Wednesday. Playing with white, Sharma gave little away to Harikrishna and the resulting middle game was equal after exchange of queens. Not the one to give up easily, Harikrishna kept trying for a long time and it was only after 88 moves that truce was signed. Teenager Prithu Gupta was the other Indian to hog the limelight as he held world number 23 Le Quang Leim of Vietnam to a draw. The game was drawn in 51 moves.
The biggest upset of the day was caused by Anita Gara of Hungary who held top seed Levon Aronian to a draw.
The other top seeds like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, three-time winner Hikaru Nakamura of United States and David Navara of Czech Republic cruised to an opening round win. Among other Indians in the fray, Grandmasters SP Sethuraman, Abhijeet Gupta, MR Lalith Babu scored regulation victories over lesser-known opponents but Sandipan Chanda was held to a draw by Polish Michal Lercel.
The super-talented duo of Nihal Sarin and R Praggnanandhaa also got off to a flier in their quest for a Grandmaster norm. Praggnanandhaa has just around six weeks left to make two Grandmaster norms which will make him the youngest Grandmaster ever.
