D Gukesh crushes Harikrishna

Wijk Aan Zee: World Champion D Gukesh grabbed the joint lead at Tata Steel masters, outplaying his world championship second P Harikrishna in the seventh round here. It was Gukesh's third victory in the event that put him on course for his maiden title here as he now shares the lead with fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan on five points.

Praggnanandhaa could not break the defenses of Jorden van Foreest while Anish Giri drew his sixth game on the trot with Abdusattorov.

Meanwhile local hopeful Max Warmerdam added to the woes of Arjun Erigaisi by handing the Indian his fourth defeat in the tournament. Having started the tournament on 2801 as the second seed just behind Fabiano Caruana of United States this has been a real let down by the Indian who has lost about 28 rating points and has slipped to sixth spot in live ratings.

The other Indian in the fray – Leon Luke Mendonca – seem to be getting into the groove as he held defending champion Wei Yi of China to a draw.