Arjun Erigaisi has half-a-point lead over Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian after nine rounds of blitz on the penultimate day of the Tata Steel Chess India at the National Library on Saturday. Erigaisi had won the rapid event on Friday.
Erigaisi has six points and barring Aronian (5.5), the 18-year-old Grandmaster enjoys one-point or more than a point lead over all his rivals.
In the last round, four of the five games produced decisive results as the only draw was between Erigaisi and Le Quang Liem. The youngster had the active pieces in an equal endgame, but it wasn’t enough to force a win.
Armenian GM Aronian and Nihal Sarin ended the day on a high with back-to-back wins in the last two rounds. While Nihal got the better
of Sam Shankland and Parham Maghsoodloo, Aronian edged past Vidit Gujrathi and Harika Dronavalli.