Samarkand (Uzbekistan), Indian Grand Master Nihal Sarin Hope for the Candidate Tournament, suffered failure when he lost to Alireza Firouzja from France on Saturday. When there are only two rounds left in the tournament, Nihal remained on six points and now he will have to win his last two games to compete for top-DVA, which provides a place between eight slots available for candidates. Nihal fought for almost seven hours and almost pulled out a draw from the lower end game before Alireza hit. R Pragnanandhaa was held by another draw of the American talent Awonder Liang and now needs a miracle to finish in the first first. Pragggnanandhaa, however, is still likely to reach candidates, because this year he has a huge lead over his closest rivals in his tournament score. Indian hopes in the open section are now hard to rest on Nihal, Arjun Erigaisi, who came up with a great game to survive Samuel Sevian from the United States. Meanwhile, Alireza fired on a joint lead with the German duo Vincent Kemer and Matthias Bluebaum together with the Dutchman Anish Giri at 6.5 points, while Nihal and Arjun are in a group of players watching them carefully. It turned out that it was another forgotten day for World Champion D Gukesh, because his hunt for an elusive victory continued after the fifth day of running. Gukesh drew with Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia and for the first time since winning the world title. In the female section R Vaisali drew with Yuxin’s song by China and remained in the second place on 6.5 points. Russian Kateryna Lagno played happiness with Bibisar Assubayeva and set off for up to seven points. The Russian continues to be monitored by Vaisali, Yuxin and Bibisar, who are all half a point behind. Important and Indian Results of Bike 9 Open (India, if not mentioned): Nihal Sarin (6) lost with Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 6.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 6) was drawn by Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 6.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 5.5) lost with Vincent Kemer (Ger, 6.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 6.5) was defeated by Jorden Van Forest (Ned, 5,5); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 5.5) playing Abhimanyu Mishhra (USA, 5.5); R Pragngandhaa (5,5) was drawn by Awonder Liang (USA, 5,5); Arjun Erigaisi (6) Beat Samuel Sevian (USA, 5); In Pranav (5) he lost with the amino tabatabaei (IRI, 5,5); Shakhriyar Mamyedyarov (Aze, 5,5) defeated Abhimanyu Puranik (4,5); Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5) drew with Vladislav Artemiev (Fid, 4); Raunak Sahwani (4.5) reached with Daniel Dardha (Bel, 4.5); Andrei Volokitin (Uk, 4) Aditya Mittal (4); Sl Naryanan (4.5) reached with Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 4); P harikrishna (4.5) defeated Abdalik Abdisalimov (Uzb, 4); Divya Deshmukh (4) lost with Sjugirov Sanan (Hun, 5); Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM, 4) Drew SD Gukesh (4); Evgeniy Zajer (Fid, 4) Drew with Murali Kartheyan (4); Art Chopra (3.5) plays Aleksander Indjic (SRB, 3.5). Women: Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 7) drew Bibisara Assubai (Kaz, 6.5); R Vaishaali (6.5) drew with Yuxin song (Chn, 6.5); Irina Krush (USA, 6) defeated the Antoanet Stefanova (Bul, 5); Olga Giya (Fid, 5,5) drew with Guo Qi (Chn, 5); Mariya Muzychuk (ukr, 6) defeated Anna Ushenina (Uk, 4,5); Anna Muzychuk (Uk, 5.5) was defeated by Khamdam’s Afrime (UZB, 4.5); Polina Shuvalova (Fid, 5) stretched with Dinara Wagnerová (Ger, 5); Stavroula (Gre, 5) drew D Harika (5); Elnaz Kaliakhmet (Kaz, 4,5) defeated Vantika Agrawal (3.5). Pti
