World Cup winner last year, Sindarov took his tally to 3.5 points with his third victory in four games here on Wednesday and this could well prove to be vital in securing a title match with reigning world champion D Gukesh later this year.

After losing to Sindarov in the previous round, Praggnanandhaa was in recovery mode and did not have any trouble in securing the draw as black against Bluebaum.

With 10 rounds still to come, Sindarov is still followed by Caruana in sole second spot on 2.5 points while Praggnanandhaa, along with Bluebaum and Anish Giri of Holland, is on joint third spot with two points.

In other two games of the day, Anish Giri bounced back and defeated Russian Andrey Esipenko while Wei Yi of China played out a draw with American Hikaru Nakamura.

In the women's event Divya Deshmukh suffered a setback at the hands of Chinese Jiner Zhu and R Vaishali played out a draw with Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia.

Last minute replacement following Koneru Humpy's withdrawal, Anna Muzychuk of Ukraine joined overnight leader Bibisara Assaubayev of Kazakhstan in pole position at the expense of Kateryna Lagno of Russia while Zhongyi Tan's hunt for an elusive victory continued after a draw with the Kazakh talent.

Muzychuk and Assaubayeva share the lead on 2.5 points apiece and are followed by Vaishali, Goryachkina, Zhu and Lagno on two points each. Zhongyi and Divya are not far behind with 1.5 points and one can hope for more fireworks after first rest day. Agencies