Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands), Jan 16 (Chess News) Indian Grandmaster Vidit Santosh Gujrathi began his campaign at the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament with a win over American Sam Shankland, here.

After the rating favourites Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana (USA) and Anish Giri (the Netherlands) drew their games, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Gujrathi and Jorden van Foreest grabbed the lead with victories in round one, late on Saturday.

Gujrathi, the India No.2 behind Viswanathan Anand, took advantage of a mistake by Shankland, playing black, on the 33rd move to grind out a win in 73 moves.

The other Indian player in the fray in the Masters section of the Tata Steel chess tournament – Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa opened with a draw against Anish Giri (the Netherlands) in 44 moves.

The 16-year old Indian faced Giri in a rare line of the English Opening with Black. The Dutchman made a pawn sacrifice to grab the initiative, but the Indian youngster neutralised white’s threats and safely played out a draw.

World No.1 Carlsen of Norway was held to a draw by Russia's Andrey Esipenko in 21 moves as chose to play it safe against the highly-rated opponent.

Caruana had the upper hand against Sergey Karjakin (Russia) but missed a couple of good attacking opportunities and allowed his opponent to escape with a draw.

In the second round later on Sunday night, Gujrathi faces Caruana while Praggnanandhaa takes on Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland).

A total of 14 players are taking part in the round-robin tournament featuring 13 rounds with Carlsen headlining a strong field.

Meanwhile in the Challengers event, being held simultaneously, experienced Indian GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly began with a victory over Marc Andria Maurizzi of France. Arjun Erigaisi, the top-seed, was held to a draw by Lucas van Foreest (the Netherlands). 

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News Source : PTI