Paphos (Cyprus), March 30 Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played a straightforward draw against China's Wei Yi and remained in a joint lead with 1.5 points after the second round of the FIDE Candidates tournament here on Monday.
After a brilliant win in the first round against Anish Giri, Praggnanadhaa appeared in good form for the second day, putting some pressure on his Chinese opponent from a French defense game with black pieces.
Wei Yi decided against a complicated struggle, with the pieces changing hands regularly, leading to a drawn endgame with bishops of opposite colors.
Praggnanadhaa had an extra pawn, but the white position was simply impregnable. The game ended in 46 moves.
While the opening round provided fireworks with as many as three decisive games out of a possible four, the second game saw a calmer atmosphere. Anish Giri played solidly with his white pieces to draw with Fabiano Caruana of the United States, and Uzbek star Javokhir Sindarov drew with Matthias Bluebaum of Germany.
The other game of the eight-player double round-robin tournament was also poised for a draw as Hikaru Nakamura of the United States was trying to hold a theoretically drawn rook and pawn endgame against Andrey Esipenko of Russia.
In the women's section, Divya Deshmukh missed a huge opportunity to take the lead, as she made a blunder in a winning position against compatriot R Vaishali.
Divya spotted a tactical opportunity when both players were running out of time, and she capitalized on it just in time. However, the Nagpur-based women's World Cup winner quickly misplayed, allowing Vaishali to gain an advantage with a queen sacrifice.
Jiner Zhu of China also missed a nearly winning position that she squandered against Russian Kateryna Lagno. The game ended in a draw after Lagno found a rook sacrifice with little time left on her clock to force a split of the point.
Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan played her second draw in the event, drawing with Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia, while Zhongyi Tan also achieved a draw against last-minute replacement Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine.
In the women's section, none of the eight players have yet scored a win.
The Candidates tournament is a biennial event held to determine the challenger for the reigning world champions. The winner of the open section will play a match later this year against D Gukesh, while the women's champion will face Wenjun Ju of China.
Round 1 results (men): Wei Yi (Chn, 1) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 1..5); Anish Giri (Ned, 0.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 1.5); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 1.5) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 0.5); Andrey Esipenko (Rus) playing Hikaru Nakamura (Usa).
Round 2 results (women): Kateryna Lagno (Rus, 1) drew with Jiner Zhu (Chn, 1); Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 1) drew with R Vaishali (Ind); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 1) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (Rus, 1); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 1) drew with Zhongyi Tan (Chn, 1).