The Polish Grandmaster showed his intent with a queen sacrifice for a rook and minor piece in the middle game and Praggnanandhaa was quick to realise that his chances were slim. The draw was a just result as neither player could make much progress.

Gukesh, not at his best, suffered his second loss in the event and, in live rankings, slipped to number five with Arjun Erigaisi taking over as the new world number three. The game should have been a draw once the endgame reached after Alireza missed out on his chances in the middle game.

However, with a rook and Bishop on board besides just a pawn each, Gukesh made a huge blunder which was beyond recoverable.

Alireza, Fabiano Caruana of the United States, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Praggnanandhaa share the joint lead.

Caruana tried hard to break through with a piece sacrifice against local hero Deac Bogdan-Daniel but he had to settle for a draw as well.

The other overnight leader Vachier-Lagrave could do little with his white pieces either as he drew very quickly with Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.

Results after round 6: Duda jan-Krzysztof (POL, 2.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 3.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 3.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 2); Levon Aronian (USA, 3) drew with Wesley So (USA, 3); Firouzja Alireza (FRA, 3.5) beat D Gukesh (IND, 2); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 3.5) drew with Deac Bogdan-Daniel (ROU, 2.5). PTI Cor SSC SSC SSC