India, July 3 -- Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa began his campaign in the Zagreb leg of the Grand Chess Tour with a victory over top seed Vincent Keymer of Germany before drawing his next two games to finish the opening day of the rapid section in joint second place. Praggnanandhaa held France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and compatriot and world champion D Gukesh in hard-fought draws to end the day on four points, here on Wednesday.

Alireza Firouzja of France emerged sole leader on five points after winning his first two games and drawing with Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the third round. With each rapid win worth two points, Firouzja moved ahead of Praggnanandhaa, Giri, Vachier-Lagrave and Keymer, who recovered from his opening-round def...