Leko hints at a possible Nimzo-Indian Defense, at least if Arjun allows it (by bringing his queenside knight out).

the nimzo-indian!

Here we go, we enter the sharp and highly theoretical waters of the Nimzo Indian Defense, one of those opening systems considered absolutely top-tier.

Peter is first to bring his king to safety

This is one of the big advantages of this opening, that the Black side is by far the quickest to castle.

Arjun takes control over the center, one of the more ambitious systems against the Nimzo.

Leko breaks in the center before it's too late, since otherwise Arjun could have continued to march the pawns forward and compress the pieces a little too much.

Arjun pushes forward all the same, securing a big space advantage in the center.

The knight jumps onto the central square, profiting from the pin by the bishop.

Time to claim the bishop pair!

This is one of the big benefits for the White side in this opening. Leko could drop the bishop back but then he would lose a pawn in the center as knight takes knight would be possible.

A tense theoretical battle is unfolding, with Arjun having the two bishop advantage and more space in the center. But Leko has a lead in development and a strong knight.

Peter makes sure not to waste any time, and immediately begins to chip away at Arjun's center.

Arjun is trying to catch up on kingside development, at the same time pressuring the knight and potentially threatening to win a pawn by trading there.

Arjun keeps his central formation, but now his king is a little more out in the open, something that Leko may try to make use of soon.

Peter brings his knight out, threatening to take the pawn in the center.

Arjun brings his own knight out in support of the pawn.

A well-timed check, since now if Arjun blocks then he will lose his two bishop advantage.

Arjun shows his ambition

It's clear from his choice of system that he's playing for the win here, as his king loses castling rights in order to preserve the bishop pair and attacking chances.

Principled play!

Peter wants to try to get at Arjun's king, so he makes a pawn break (contact with enemy pawn) in order to open up lines of attack and dismantle the center.

Peter recaptures with the rook, threatening a devastating capture of the pawn directly in front of Arjun's king.

Arjun breaks the structure

He gives up his strong bishop, but now this leaves Peter with an ugly pawn structure in the center of the board.

Development first!

Arjun is not in any rush to try to capture the pawn in the center. That's a permanent weakness that he will pressure when the time is right. For now, it's all about completing his development and securing the center.

Leko knows his theory!

So far so good for the Hungarian, as he continues to play the best moves according to opening theory. The idea here is to break down Arjun's strong center as quickly as possible.

Arjun agrees to the pawn trade, since pushing forward is a little too risky as then Peter could have pushed that pawn of his forward one more square and created too much pressure against Arjun's queenside.

Peter takes back, and now has the benefit of pressure against Arjun's king along the diagonal.

Arjun sidesteps the pin

He brings his king over one more square to the right, immediately breaking the pin before Leko got the chance of adding to the pressure by bringing his light-squared bishop out along that diagonal.

Leko's first big think of the game

A 20-minute pause before Leko finally decides to go for this move. It's a very natural choice, bringing his bishop forward to indirectly guard his central pawn. Long term, he would love to anchor this piece in the heart of the center.

Arjun brings his knight forward

He's looking for the right moment to win this weak pawn, and likely he will manage it sooner or later. The thing is that from Leko's point of view, it shouldn't be a huge deal since that will open up the scope of his light-squared bishop.

Peter opens up the vision of his bishop

This move makes it unappealing for Arjun to win the pawn in the center, since if he were to do so then there would be a little too much pressure against his king.

The most natural move, hitting the queen and at the same time pressuring the bishop. Peter has to be careful where to go with his queen now, as his pieces are a little loosely defended.

Peter looking to keep risk low

He offers up a queen exchange, a move clearly designed to guide the game towards a drawish endgame if possible. It's clear he's not overly ambitious in this game, and would seem to be happy to bring the match to tomorrow's tiebreaks.

take!

Arjun decides to trade down queens after all, likely believing that he'll be able to keep some fairly risk-free winning chances here, owing to his healthier pawn structure.

Leko takes back with his bishop, since otherwise not only would his central pawn be hanging, but so would his bishop!

Arjun makes room for his king to move onto the second rank next. This is necessary in order to bring his corner rook into the game.

a clever move!

With this knight jump, I believe that Leko is coming incredibly close to securing that draw that he's aiming for. The reason is that now it's very hard for Arjun to avoid a knight trade. But if that happens, then it's going to be a case of opposite colored bishops. And such endgames are notoriously drawish!

Arjun aims to keep winning chances alive

He knows that if the knights are traded, Leko should have no trouble holding the draw. So he jumps forward to avoid this exchange, although this will cost him a bit of time and so it should also not be too worrisome for Leko.

Leko drops his rook back, away from the attack by Arjun's knight.

Arjun finally has the chance to step forward with his king, connecting his rooks and preparing to bring his last passive piece into play.

Peter rotates the knight towards the center, taking aim at a key weak square in Arjun's half of the board.

Arjun stops the knight jump, while also targeting Leko's undefended bishop.

Leko anchors his bishop

He's reached the ideal central square, from where it is safely anchored and at the same time defends both of his weak isolated pawns. So far so good for the Hungarian, in his quest to make a draw and take the match to tie-breaks.

Arjun invades with his rook

His goal is to bring his knight to bear down on the bishop next, combining with the rook to add uncomfortable pressure.

Peter spots that he can retreat his knight and chase the rook away.

Arjun returns with his rook to his half of the board.

Peter invites a repetition of moves

It's clear he would be perfectly content to see Arjun bring his rook up again. Splitting the point by a repetition of moves would suit him just fine, as if either side stands better it's Arjun.

play on!

Unlike Leko yesterday, Arjun is much less eager to make a quick draw from the White side. It makes sense, as he believes he has the better structure and slightly more active pieces, so why not keep probing.

Leko invades with his knight

The drawback for Arjun of avoiding the repetition is that now Leko is able to jump in with his knight. Objectively speaking, this active placement should be enough to keep comfortable equality.

Arjun adds to the pressure

He brings his rook forward, setting up a potential shift to the right in the future. That would put Leko's knight under immediate pressure.

Leko cuts out the knight maneuver

But I think this might actually be good news for Arjun and his many fans. The reason is that now Arjun can move his king forward and renew the threat of bringing the knight to that square. And at that point, it's not clear that Leko's rooks will be at all well-placed along this somewhat dead file.

Arjun forces Leko to calculate

The position is objectively equal after this move, and Leko can practically force a draw by pushing his pawn forward (green arrow). But this requires working out several tricky lines like rook takes knight as well as a couple of knight retreats. In this sense it's quite clever, as Arjun is forcing his opponent to trust his calculation in what is a very messy position.

Leko decides to play it safe

With not so much time on the clock, he instead just drops his knight back to avoid the threatened capture.

Arjun keeps tempting his opponent!

Leko is once again being invited down a path that is objectively strong, but that might be hard to pull the trigger on. It's now possible for him to push his pawn and hit the edge knight, and to then sacrifice the exchange for piece activity! Will Leko go for it?!

Leko continues to prefer solidity, and simply moves his edge pawn forward to make some space for his king and avoid any possible back rank tactics down the line.

Arjun pushes his pawn as far as it can go, locking in a dangerous structure that could pay dividends down the line. After all, this is the kind of pawn that can decide matters quickly if Arjun can find a way of winning Leko's own left-edge pawn.

Meanwhile, Leko steadily improves matters on the kingside for himself.

Patient play from Arjun, who signals that he's looking to introduce his king into the game via the center. In the distant future, he may even be hoping to invade via the queenside. This might become feasible if at least one pair of rooks get traded.

Leko continues to play strong chess, seizing control over an important kingside square and grabbing a bit of space in the process.

Arjun knows that his knight is about to come under fire, so he pushes his own pawn forward to stabilize the piece.

Peter brings his king to the best square available

Now that it's off the second rank, it's slightly less vulnerable to tactics than it was previously. Leko can also think about stirring up some counterplay of his own against Arjun's newly weakened pawn on the right hand side.

Arjun's knight wasn't playing much of an active role on the right hand side, so he drops it back to see if he can bring it into the game via a different route.

Leko slides his rook to the center

It's a safe choice, played quickly in order to avoid going down to too little time on the clock. It's hard to imagine what Arjun can do from here if he wishes to complicate matters. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if we saw a draw over the coming half-dozen or so moves.

Arjun brings his rook up

But there's no threat here, as Leko's position is perfectly solid. The only thing he might be thinking of doing is to maneuver his knight to the queenside in the coming moves.

Leko brings his knight to the kingside

It looks like he's taking aim at repositioning the knight next to his king, from where it would support his central bishop.

Arjun begins the march of his knight to a more active post.

We're heading to tiebreaks!

Peter Leko coasts to a draw against world no.5, Arjun Erigaisi.

The veteran Hungarian grandmaster is no stranger to elite level chess. In his prime, he was ranked as high as world number 4, while also having come tantalizingly close to winning the World Championship, back in 2004 in his match against Vladimir Kramnik.

All this to say, that Arjun was never going to have it easy. Though now 46 years old and largely retired, he maintains a great deal of his former strength. While his long-term relationship as the coach of Vincent Keymer ensures that he is not out of sync with modern trends and the latest in opening theory.

For Arjun Erigaisi, success was likely to come only in the event of a tactical melee. Here, Arjun could use his lightning-fast calculation speed to potentially overpower the veteran grandmaster.

But Leko proved to be all too aware of the risk, and when in the first game the position became too sharp and chaotic, the Hungarian was quick to force a draw by repetition. While today, he seized every opportunity to make piece trades, notably a near-forced exchange of queens on move 19. After that, it seemed that Arjun would not be able to break through, short of a blunder from his opponent.

Indeed, the blunder never came, and once any hint of danger was over, Leko was quick to offer a draw. Arjun accepted, and so tomorrow we shall be treated to some exciting tiebreaks - hope to see you then!