In Chess, Indian Grandmaster, Aravindh Chithambaram crashed through the defences of Germany’s Vincent Keymer in the second round of the Prague Masters in Prague, Czech Republic. Chithambaram, who has been knocking hard on the doors of elite circles, scored his first victory with black pieces after squeezing himself out of the danger zone in his first-round game against Czech Grandmaster Nguyen Thai Dai Van.

Another Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a second straight draw against Turkey’s Gurel Ediz in the second round. Praggnanandhaa and Ediz signed the peace on move 46 when it was evident the rook endgame did not offer chances for either of them.

With seven rounds to go, Chithambaram and Sam Shankland of the USA together lead with 1.5 points out of two games. They are followed by Giri, Le, Dai Van, David, Keymer and Praggnanandhaa.

In the challengers’ section, India’s Divya Deshmukh broke out of her shackles to score an impressive victory over Richard Stalmach of the Czech Republic.