Chennai Grand Masters: Gukesh held to a draw Nihal Sarin in opening game | Chess News

2 min readChennaiUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 09:27 PM On a day of draws, French-Iranian grandmaster Alireza Firouzja was the only player to emerge from the first round of Chennai Grand Masters 2026 with a win, prevailing over young Pranesh M in 79 moves.
The day’s twin ‘friendship derbies’ — the games between D Gukesh and Nihal Sarin, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hans Niemann — ended in draws, as did Arjun Erigaisi’s clash with Dmitry Andreikin.
It leaves Firouzja as the sole leader in the seven-round tournament.
Against Sarin, the world champion, playing with white pieces, enjoyed a tiny edge out of the opening. But after 13 moves, the game had equalised even though Gukesh’s queen squatted over the h6 square eyeballing Nihal’s king on g8.
Gukesh spent 20 minutes on his 17th move to fall behind 40. the 19th move, Gukesh’s time had ticked down to just 22 minutes while his opponent had over an hour on his clock. This left open the possibility of Gukesh wading into trouble on the clock which could have led to a blunder on the board. But nothing of that sort happened as the Indian duo played out a draw in 47 moves.
The tournament holds pleasant memories for Gukesh as he began his trajectory to the world champion’s throne winning its inaugural edition in 2023, which earned him a spot at the Candidates the next year.
Both players are now rated 2717, with Arjun (2756) being the India no.1 and the only Indian in the top 10 in the live ratings above Praggnanandhaa (2750).Story continues below this ad
Arjun was the first Indian player to end his game, accepting a draw against Andreikin in 42 moves. At that time, Arjun held an advantage on the clock (19 minutes compared to his opponent’s two minutes) and on the board, with a rook while his opponent had a bishop manning the dark squares.
In the Niemann vs Abdusattorov game, the American held a +1 advantage at one stage after 16 moves. He was also a pawn up, but couldn’t convert that edge into a victory.
On Thursday, Gukesh will face tournament leader Firouzja while Arjun faces Abdusattorov. Pranesh will have the opportunity to bounce back from his loss against Andreikin while Nihal takes on Niemann.