Gukesh defeated compatriot Pentala Harikrishna in 46 moves in round 7 to surge into joint lead at the Tata Steel chess tournament.

Harikrishna was part of Team Gukesh as the 18-year-old from Chennai defeated Ding Liren in Singapore in November-December to become the youngest world champion in chess history. Harikrishna and Gukesh were also teammates in the gold medal winning Indian team at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year.

Harikrishna is, in fact, the second member of Team Gukesh that the teenager had defeated at the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Gukesh has also defeated German GM Vincent Keymar earlier in the tournament. Gukesh has now drawn four games while winning three.

Gukesh currently shares lead with compatriot Praggnanandhaa and Uzbek arch-rival Nodirbek Abdusattarov, who he had defied in round 6 to salvage a draw from an inferior position. All three players have five points each after seven games with six more rounds remaining. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa will clash in Round 8. Talking about facing Pragg, Gukesh said: “It’ll be a cool game. All of us youngsters will be playing a lot of games against each other and every game will be exciting. It will be a fun game.”