The day did not produce any decisive game like the first round and the lead positions remained unchanged.
Anton Korobov survived some anxious moments before signing peace with Krishnan Sasikiran while Parimarjan Negi pressed for sometime before splitting the point with Evgeny Alekseev of Russia at the AAI institute.
With just two rounds to go in the category-18 double round-robin tournament between six players, Korobov and Alekseev stay ahead of the field with 4.5 points each. They are trailed by Wojtaszek and Sasikiran on four points apiece. Negi and Gupta share the fifth spot another half point adrift.
Grandmaster Gupta came up with a strong opening Novelty on his 11th turn that put Wojtaszek in a long thought out of a Grunfeld defense.
Playing white, the Polish Grandmaster went for the most principled continuation that netted him two pawns temporarily but Gupta had prepared it much deeper.
Recovering one pawn Gupta went to a pawn-less endgame where the activity of his pieces ensured sufficient play and Wojtaszek felt the heat when he fell slightly worse in the endgame.
However, the game was never quite out of the boundary of a draw and the peace was signed in the ensuing rook and pawns endgame. The game was drawn in 56 moves. MORE