Erigaisi downs top-seed; Gukesh holds onto lead

India's Arjun Erigaisi defeated top-seed Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran with black pieces in the sixth round of the Chennai Grandmasters Chess Championship in Chennai on Wednesday to move into joint second spot in the standings.

It was the only victory on a day of draws in the penultimate round.

Erigaisi, who started slowly, caught up with the field with an improved performance as he got the better of Maghsoodloo in 40 moves.

Erigaisi took his tally to 3.5 points and now joins Grandmasters Pentala Harikrishna and Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) in second place.

Another Indian GM D Gukesh's two-match winning run was halted as he was held to a draw by Eljanov in a 30-move game. The local star, playing with white pieces, could not force the issue against the Ukraine player.

Gukesh is half a point clear of three players -- Harikrishna, Eljanov and Erigaisi -- in the eight-man field and looks set to strengthen his chances of qualifying for the Candidates tournament next year with a title win.

Harikrishna was held to a draw by Hungarian GM Sanan Sjugirov while Levon Aronian (USA) shared honours with Serbia's Alexandr Predke, who languishes in the last spot.

Pairing for the last round on Thursday:

Harikrishna vs Gukesh, Erigaisi vs Sjugirov, Predke vs Maghsoodloo, Eljanov vs Aronian.

Results of Round 6:

D Gukesh drew Pavel Eljanov, P Harikrishna drew Sanan Sjugirov, Arjun Erigaisi beat Parham Maghsoodloo, Levon Aronian drew Alexandr Predke.

Standings after Round 6:

1. D Gukesh 4 points, 2-4. P Harikrishna, Pavel Eljanov, Arjun Erigaisi 3.5 points, 5. Levon Aronian 3 points, 6. Parham Maghsoodloo 2.5 points, 7. Sanan Sjugirov 2.5 points, 8. Alexandr Predke 1.5 points.