Overnight leader D Gukesh’s unbeaten streak came to an end as he lost to Vidit Gujrathi and slipped to third place on what was a challenging day for the Indians in the rapid open section of the Tata Steel Chess India on Wednesday.

World Cup silver-medallist Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa also lost one game in the rapid section as none of the Indians find themselves in the lead with three more rounds left on the final day of the rapid section.

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Gujrathi find themselves trailing by one-and-a-half points to sole leader Maxime Vachier Lagrave of France. The 2021 World Blitz champion, Maxime, leads the pack with 4.5 points, closely followed by 2019 World Cup winner Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan (4 points).

Maxime produced the upset of the day in Round IV when he outwitted 18-year-old German prodigy Vincent Keymar with an inspired exchange sacrifice, winning in the endgame on move 53. In the next round, Maxime settled for a draw with Gukesh and ended the day with a 47-move win over 2021 World Rapid champion Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.

Praggnanandhaa, who had a mixed day on Tuesday as well, suffered his second defeat in the competition when he went down to Pentala Harikrishna in the fifth round in an endgame battle.

Having lost to Keymer on Tuesday, Praggnanandhaa started the day in a positive manner, overcoming Abdusattorov in Round IV.