Samarkand (Uzbekistan), Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin’s hopes of making to the Candidates tournament suffered a setback as he lost to Alireza Firouzja of France in the ninth round of the FIDE Grand Swiss here on Saturday. With just two rounds left in the tournament, Nihal remained on six points and will now need to win his last two games to compete for a top-two finish that assures a place among the eight slots available for the Candidates. Nihal fought on for nearly seven hours and almost pulled off a draw from an inferior endgame before Alireza struck. R Praggnanandhaa was held to another draw by American talent Awonder Liang and needs a miracle now to finish in top two. However, Praggnanandhaa is still likely to make it to the Candidates as he has a huge lead in his tournament scores this year over nearest rivals. The Indian hopes in the open section now rest heavily on Nihal, Arjun Erigaisi, who came up with a fine game to outlast Samuel Sevian of United States. Meanwhile, Alireza shot to joint lead with German duo of Vincent Keymer and Matthias Bluebaum along with Dutchman Anish Giri on 6.5 points while Nihal and Arjun are in the group of players that closely follow them. It turned out to be another forgettable day for world champion D Gukesh as his hunt for an elusive victory continued for the fifth day running. Gukesh drew with Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia and for the first time since winning the world title. In the women’s section, R Vaishali drew with Yuxin Song of China and remained in joint second spot on 6.5 points. Russian Kateryna Lagno played out a lucky-draw with Bibisara Assaubayeva and inched herself up to seven points. The Russian continues to be trailed by Vaishali, Yuxin and Bibisara who all are a half point behind. Important and Indian results round 9 open (Indians unless specified): Nihal Sarin (6) lost to Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 6.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 6) drew with Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 6.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 5.5) lost to Vincent Keymer (Ger, 6.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 6.5) beat Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 5.5); Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 5.5) playing Abhimanyu Mishra (Usa, 5.5); R Praggnanandhaa (5.5) drew with Awonder Liang (Usa, 5.5); Arjun Erigaisi (6) beat Samuel Sevian (Usa, 5); V Pranav (5) lost to Amin Tabatabaei (Iri, 5.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 5.5) beat Abhimanyu Puranik (4.5); Leon Luke Mendonca (4.5) drew with Vladislav Artemiev (FID, 4); Raunak Sadhwani (4.5) drew with Daniel Dardha (Bel, 4.5); Andrei Volokitin (Ukr, 4) Aditya Mittal (4); S L Narayanan (4.5) drew with Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 4); P Harikrishna (4.5) beat Abdimalik Abdisalimov (Uzb, 4); Divya Deshmukh (4) lost to Sjugirov Sanan (Hun, 5); Robert Hovhannisyan (Arm, 4) drew with D Gukesh (4); Evgeniy Najer (Fid, 4) drew with Murali Karthikeyan (4); Aryan Chopra (3.5) playing Aleksander Indjic (Srb, 3.5). Women: Kateryna Lagno (Fid, 7) drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 6.5); R Vaishali (6.5) drew with Yuxin Song (Chn, 6.5); Irina Krush (Usa, 6) beat Antoaneta Stefanova (Bul, 5); Olga Girya (Fid, 5.5) drew with Guo Qi (Chn, 5); Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr, 6) beat Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 4.5); Anna Muzychuk (Ukr, 5.5) beat Afruza Khamdamova (Uzb, 4.5); Polina Shuvalova (Fid, 5) drew with Dinara Wagner (Ger, 5); Tsolakidou Stavroula (Gre, 5) drew with D Harika (5); Elnaz Kaliakhmet (Kaz, 4.5) beat Vantika Agrawal (3.5). PTI