R Vaishali, Pragg’s sister, downs former world champion Mariya Muzychuk at FIDE’s Grand Swiss

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Sicilian defence

The Sicilian defense by Vaishali was met with the Rossolimo Sicilian but she had some opening ideas that caught Muzychuk off guard, the resulting position was quite complicated but when it comes to calculating the deepest secret out of any position Vaishali has shown that she is the one to be relied upon.

Muzychuk did not stand any chance as she first lost a piece and subsequently walked in to checkmate web. Amazingly it took just 23 moves for Vaishali to seal her third victory in four games.

In the open section, Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi slipped from what looked like a cruise and was held to a draw by Alexandr Predke of Serbia.

Arjun looked in command and if the analysis engines were anything to go by, he should have converted another full point that would have taken him to 3.5 points.

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However, as it happened, Predke found some magical trick that helped him salvage a draw through perpetual checks after sacrificing his queen.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi, meanwhile, continued on his winning ways and recorded his third win in a row at the expense of former world championship challenger Alexey Shirov of Spain.

Vidit displayed his immaculate technique again with white pieces in a Slav defense game and won two Bishops for a rook. Shirov had no chance thereafter and called it a day quickly.

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