Thiruvananthapuram: Indian siblings R Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali Rameshvabu experienced contrasting fortunes on the opening day of the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot at the Anantara New York Palace Hotel in Budapest, Hungary.
While Praggnanandhaa drew both his games against Germany's Vincent Keymer in Group B, his elder sister Vaishali had a tougher outing in Group D, losing her first game against French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave before managing a draw in the return encounter.
The 11-day tournament, which will conclude on November 20, began with an action-packed Fast Classic group stage on Wednesday. The event is designed to test players across different time controls, with the overall winner crowned the inaugural FIDE World Combined Champion which carries a total prize purse of $650,000 (approximately Rs six crore).
The opening day featured 24 elite players competing in two games each across four groups, with colours reversed in the return encounter. Ten of the 24 games produced decisive results, underlining the importance of the tournament's three-points-for-a-win scoring system.
World No. 10 Alireza Firouzja of France and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (28, Poland) share the lead in Group A, while Fabiano Caruana (3, the US) and Liem Le (16, Vietnam) are level at the top of Group B. Ian Nepomniachtchi (22, FIDE) and Vachier-Lagrave (28, France) lead Groups C and D, respectively.
Indians face contrasting starts
World No. 7 Praggnanandhaa and Keymer (9, Germany) could not be separated in either encounter, with both games ending in draws. The Indian grandmaster collected two points from the opening day's fixtures.
Women's World No. 24, Vaishali, meanwhile, was beaten by Vachier-Lagrave in their first game after a late error allowed the Frenchman to seize the advantage. The return game ended in a draw, leaving her with one point. Vachier-Lagrave's four-point tally put him in sole possession of the Group D lead.
The Fast Classic group stage continues on Thursday, with two more games per player as the contest for places in the knockout brackets gathers pace.
OTHER RESULTS
Group A:
Firouzja bt Nodirbek Abdusattorov (5, Uzbekistan) and drew the return game. Duda drew and won against Andrew Hong (134, the US).
Levon Aronian (29, the US) and Jorden van Foreest (24, Netherlands) split their two games, finished the day on three points.
Group B:
Caruana (3, the US) beat and drew Hungary's World No. 23, Richard Rapport.
Liem Le (16, Vietnam) beat and drew versus Vladislav Artemiev (66, FIDE).
Group C:
Ian Nepomniachtchi, World No. 22, FIDE defeated the youngest GM Abhimanyu Mishra of the US in their first game and drew the return encounter to take the outright lead with four points. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Anish Giri (11, Netherlands) drew both their games, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (27, Azerbaijan) and Haik Martirosyan (48, Armenia) shared their two encounters, each winning once.6