Malayali GM Narayanan makes solid start at Tata Steel Chess Rapid

Malayali Grandmaster S L Narayanan made a solid start to Tata Steel Chess India Rapid event in Kolkata on Wednesday.

After the first three rounds on day one, the GM from Thiruvananthapuram is tied on two points with American GM Wesley So and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads the pack with 2.5 points from a possible 3.

Narayanan defeated German GM Vincent Keymer in round-one before drawing the next two against, So and India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi.
Nihal Sarin, a second Malayali among the ten contestants, has 1.5 points from day one. Nihal drew his three rounds, against Erigaisi, Carlsen and Russian GM Daniil Dubov.

In the next three rounds to be played on Thursday, Narayanan will start with white against Carlsen before playing Dubov and Abdusattorov. Nihal's first game is against Abdusattorov before he sits opposite R Praggnanandhaa in round-one and finishes the day with black pieces against Keymer.