World Champion D Gukesh made a winning start to the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Thursday.

Gukesh defeated Frenchman Etienne Bacrot in round 1, while his popular compatriots R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi recorded draws in their respective games. Erigaisi drew with Maksim Chigaev, while India No 1 Praggnanandhaa was held to a draw by Jeffery Xiong.

Among other Indians in the contest, Vidit Gujrathi won his opening round, defeating German Alexander Donchenko.

S L Narayanan and Nihal Sarin, the two Malayali GMs in the event, drew against Alexander Grischuk and Rasmus Svane respectively.

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Meanwhile, World Cup-winner Divya Deshmukh lost to compatriot Abhimanyu Puranik. Divya chose to compete in the Open category instead of the women's section.

The Grand Swiss is a 11-round event that will run till September 15. It is an important contest in the World Championships cycle as top-two will qualify for the Candidates Tournament. The winner of the Candidates will face World Champion Gukesh in next year's match.

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For Gukesh, the event does not matter from a qualification perspective, but he would be eager to win it. Gukesh has not won a major tournament since becoming the World Classical Champion last December.

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