India's Arjun Erigaisi continued his strong start to the Chennai Grand Masters by holding the second-highest-ranked player in the tournament, American Grandmaster Levon Aronian, to a draw on Wednesday.
In the Challengers, Vaishali R, one of two female chess players debuting this year, earned her first points by holding top-seed Raunak Sadhwani.
The Chennai Grand Masters features two categories -- Masters and Challengers.
With a rating average of 2729, the Masters presents a more competitive field this time around.
The debuting Challengers, meanwhile, is designed to provide emerging Indian talent the chance to compete in a top-class tournament.
Playing with the white pieces, Arjun kicked things off with a Queen's Pawn Opening, met by Aronian's response in the Indian Game.
The two GMs pushed each other through every phase of the game before ultimately settling for a hard-fought draw.
Aravindh Chithambaram and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew their contest in a tactical stand-off.
Amin Tabatabaei scored a crucial win over Alexey Sarana, while Parham Maghsoodloo defeated Vidit Gujrathi, pushing the stakes higher in this FIDE Circuit qualifier.
Meanwhile, in the Challengers category, Pranesh M and Karthikeyan Murali played out a draw, while Leon Mendonca impressed with a strong victory over Harika Dronavalli.
V Pranav showcased his skill with a decisive win against Abhimanyu Puranik, adding momentum to his tournament run.
Raunak and Vaishali, in an intense face-off, battled admirably before agreeing to a draw.
After two rounds, it's a three-way tie at the top of the Master's category, with Arjun, Vachier-Lagrave, and Tabatabaei leading the charge.
Meanwhile, Leon and Pranav jointly lead the Challengers category, after two wins out of two.
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